TOUGH GUYS DO DANCE .... OR GET PAGE HITS

One of the fun things about doing a blog is being able to track who visits it, from where and why. I have tools on the blog that allows me to see how people find their way here ... luckily I don't have to know that once here they run away screaming in terror, I just assume that they did.

These tools let me track which particular posts get the most hits and they let me see the search words people have used that brought them here .. poor unwitting suckers.

Besides people searching for hairy porn links ... really I don't judge but if you can't find porn on the internet you may have some issues .... some of the popular searches have been: Last Emperor of China, Vikings, air shows. But the two most popular search phrases, way above and beyond everything else have been Audie Murphy and Charles Bronson.

I have written a couple of posts about Audie (This one for example) and a couple of posts with Bronson's name in it. I've written about Death Wish a couple of times but it was this post that really got things going or more correctly brought people here who were already searching for Mr Bronson

Both Murphy and Bronson have been gone for some time; Audie was a moderate movie star in his day but more correctly remembered today, I think, for his extraordinary military adventures. Bronson was a huge star in his day, at one point the most popular movie actor in the world but I have often wondered what his legacy is today; he made so many bad movies I fear that some of his very fine performances have been overshadowed by his persona as an unblinking killing machine

I can tell if people are searching for Charles Bronson but I don't know why: Are they searching for his movies, are they looking for images of wrinkly faced guys holding guns, are they searching for a new baby daddy, do they need something with which to scare their children ...

But for whatever reason, there clearly remains a strong interest in Charles Bronson. I'm getting almost daily hits from that name, from all over the world.

So, contrary to the title of a novel, tough guys indeed do dance .... or beat guys up on the screen, and we want to see them.

SEE THESE CHARLES BRONSON MOVIES OR HE WILL HIT YOU WITH A SOCK FULL OF QUARTERS

Yup, Charles Bronson

I've been a fan for years. Yes, he made a lot of god awful movies. Really really bad god awful movies. But he made a lot of terrific movies, many of which fell under the radar because they were "action" movies, often made in Europe. At one point, Bronson was the biggest box office draw in the world. Now I fear he is pretty much a parody of himself.

It's too bad, really, because those terrible movies aside, Bronson had a long career during which he made a lot of totally watchable movies, some quite famous, some more deserving of fame. He worked with well known directors and also helped make the careers of lesser known directors.

I've been thinking of Bronson lately mostly because of an upcoming Jason Statham movie titled The Mechanic. This is a remake of a Bronson movie from the early seventies. It is an interesting pick for a remake; the original Mechanic was a very serviceable movie but probably is not terribly well known at this time. It got me thinking of those great Charles Bronson movies and, what the hell, it's time for another list post

So here are some of my favorite Charles Bronson movies. They are, as usual, in no particular order.

I'm going to start with three of his most famous movies, big Hollywood ensemble action movies, that really helped to establish his career. Movies filled with other male actors, some already established, some about to break out but in all these movies I really do think Bronson stands out

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, directed by John Sturges, an American Western version of a Kurosawa film ... the movie that launched Bronson's careeer

Bronson plays the Mexican-Irish gunfighter who is watched over by a trio of young boys in the Mexican village. For all his toughness and that hammered metal visage of his, it is Bronson's ability to relate to these children that really draws our attention to him in this film. And he gets a great death scene. Shot, after saving a young boys life, the man who goes by an Irish names asks the boy what his names is and when they respond with his Mexican surname, Bronson barks "Damn right"

THE GREAT ESCAPE: Another big all male ensemble cast, again featuring Steve McQueen, this time in his break out role.

As Polish tunnel digger Danny, Bronson brings his physicality into play but once again it his ability to connect with his character's quieter aspects that allow Bronson to stand out. The idea of a claustrophobic tunnel digger is pure hokum but Bronson is able to pull it off. As he explains in his letter perfect Polish accent (Bronson was of Slavic background) he needs to "dig, dig all the time, to get away" in order to best his fear

THE DIRTY DOZEN: More macho men, more macho dying against all odds, more male stars both big and small

Bronson's role is a bigger one here, permitting him to literally stand shoulder to shoulder with the film's best known star, Lee Marvin. The scene that sticks in my mind is Bronson standing alongside Jim Brown and Clint Walker to defend their rag tag unit .. dude, seriously, that is just an awesome wall of manhood

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST: Movie legend states that Bronson was the first actor to be offered the Man with No Name roles that eventually made Clint Eastwood a huge star. I don't know if that is true, but Sergio Leone cast him in this, arguably the best spaghetti western ever made

In the earlier Hollywood ensemble movies, Bronson showed what he could do with dialogue. Here, he has so little dialogue he may as well be mute. As the mysterious gunfighter known as Harmonica, Bronson lets his instruments speak for him, those instruments being his harmonica and his six gun. This is Bronson doing what he could do better than most other actors, saying little, expressing little, but letting his physicality speak for him. Leone got Bronson; he could use static energy as effectively as he could motion.

RED SUN: OK, this movie comes with a caveat .. a freaking big ass caveat. I'm not sure one could consider this a truly great movie. But it is surely one big odd twisted multi cultural, cross cultural East meets West ball of pure eyepopping weirdness

Red Sun is a comedy, even if not all the actors involved realized that. Bronson realized that and he was not afraid to pull out all stops, throw caution to the wind and just roll with the weirdness. The film co stars another one of my favorite all time time actors, Tishiro Mifune in one of his rare English language roles. The neat little bit of irony here, of course, is that Mifune was in the Seven Samurai, the basis for Bronson's movie The Magnificent Seven. Mifune plays his famous samurai persona and is as stoic and disiplined as the steel blade of his katanna. Bronson in this movie is the opposite of Harmonica from Once Upon A Time; he is physically active, verbose and one could almost say .. lively. This one may not appeal to all tastes but its something I just have to watch from time to time

THE MECHANIC: So this is the movie that has just recently been remade. I have no idea what the new movie will be like, but given the current state of action movies, I can't imagine it being as low key and as cold blooded at this one

Bronson plays a professional hitman. I'm not sure how much the new movie will hove to the plot of this one so I will spare too many details. Suffice it be said that Bronson comes to take a young man under his wing, mentoring him in the way of assasination. That young man was a relatively unknown actor at the time called Jan Michael Vincent. Bronson is excellent in this stripped down thriller, at once cold and efficient but capable of expressing a growing affection for his young protege.

BREAKHEART PASS: This truly is one of my favorite Charles Bronson movies. Another low key B budget movie that really is almost letter perfect in its delivery.

Breakheart Pass takes place in the Old West, there are cowboys and Indians and trains but its really not a Western, it's a mystery and a pretty nifty one at that. Instead of a locked room murder mystery, we are given a rolling train murder mystery. Highlights are a rare Bronson smile presented at just the perfect moment and a fist fight on top of the moving train featuring Bronson and former heavyweight boxing champ Archie More.

HARD TIMES: This may be my favorite Bronson movie. A bare knucked boxing movie that is elevated above all other entries in this genre by its Depression era backdrop, some fine co stars (James Coburn again and Strother Martin) and Bronson's nailed down taciturn performance

This is Bronson back in his stone faced tight lipped persona, using his amazing body control to tell the story. And I just don't mean the beautifully staged and choreographed fight scenes. The way Bronson walks, the way he holds his body, the way he turns his whole torso and not just his head to look at someone tells you so much about his character and gives clues to how he has come to achieve his toughness. An early movie by macho director Walter Hill, there is so much that seems right about this movie, from the details of its New Orleans settings, to James Coburn's voice, to Bronson's character's physical strength that has helped him survive in Hard Times but makes him incapable of ever being soft and gaining the benefits of an easy life

DEATH WISH: Hard Times may be my favorite Bronson movie but this may be his best, certainly one of his very best starring roles

Forget all the horrible cheaply made sequels, Death Wish is a very fine movie. It is a serious exploration of the vigilante, of violence, of how violence purports violence, and how thin the line may be between good guy and bad guy. Bronson plays Paul Kersey as an everyman, a man who finds himself in unfamiliar territory, that of the vigilante, through circumstances beyond his control. After his wife is slain, daughter raped, Kersey does not go out into the night seeking vengence, or so he tells himself. His first weapon is a sock full of quarters and after he commits his first act of violence he is literaly sickened by it. Yet her persists, he ups his weapons, and the killing becomes easier. Death Wish does a nice job of examining the roles of the justice system and the media when it comes to the vigilante and Bronson is absolutely compelling as Kersey.

As I stated earlier, Bronson grinded out a lot of B movie thrillers, many of which are forgettable but I should honorable mention to a couple:

Mr Majestyk is notable mostly for the fact that is the only action movie I can think of where the hero is a watermellon farmer. Trust me, you will appreciated a melon more the next time you have one

Love And Bullets is a fairly efficient thriller that offers such delights as a car chase on a car train and Charlie going all McGyver and showing us the deadly side of a full length floor lamp and a sack of tenpenny nails

St. Ives was another movie more mystery than thriller and Bronson played a pacifist who was still capable of kicking ass when needed but I'm sure he felt bad about it later. It's actually a pretty decent little movie with a nice plot.

Bronson made a few TV movies in his later years, including A Family of Cops that was based on the novel Donato and Daughter. It spawned at least one sequel and is watchable if not compelling. Bronson got to play something almost age appropriate here, with adult children

There is a kind of American male actor that often inspires the "can he act" debate. Actors like John Wayne and Charles Bronson, who we come to associate so strongly with a character we convince ourselves they aren't really acting at all. I won't indulge that debate, I find it rather specious, all I know is when Bronson was at his best he was absolutely compelling, he was believable, you saw very little artifice. By all accounts the real Charles Bronson was terse and solitary. He didn't say much.

On screen, although he could handle dialogue as well as anyone, Bronson didn't need to say much. He was always worth watching. You just never knew when that sock of quarters was going to pop out.

PERSPECTIVE

My last post was entitled Perceptions but I guess it really should have been called Perspective. At any rate, here we go again.

This weekend Collette and I caught up with a movie called The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster. Huge fan of this actor, I really think she can do more with silence than most actors of any gender, can do with pages of script.

This movie is Death Wish (and a little bit of Taxi Driver) with a female protagonist. That's a genuine POV. Often when I'm struggling with some fiction storyline, particularly something with an adventure/action perspective, I can ingest new life into it by switching out the gender of the hero. There are differences between men and women (really Vic? wow, make a note of that). Changing that perspective forces you to look at your character and their situations in a new light.
So now we have The Brave One, switch out Charles Bronson for Jodie Foster. Same locale (New York City) same basic situation (innocent person falls prey to violence and begins to feel helpless) same conflict (in an attempt to feel safe the hero buys a gun but in so doing have they stopped being a victim or become a vigilante)


I was more interested in the differences between the two movies rather than the similarities. In Brave One, Foster is the direct victim of senseless violence, along with her boyfriend. In Death Wish, it is Bronson's daughter and wife who are assaulted. I find this fascinating. In the movie with the male protagonist, we had to have someone close to him, perhaps even helpless (his daughter) assaulted in order to spring our hero into action; was it that if Bronson had been assaulted we couldn't imagine him feeling like a victim? He needed the "protector" reflex to make his actions seem plausible. In the Brave One its not enough for Foster to be assaulted, her boyfriend needed to be killed as well. Losing the male in her life gives Foster that feeling of total helplessness required to justify her actions. If she herself have been assaulted alone, well, she would have had the boyfriend to help her, he would have become the avenger. Was the addition of the male character something to distract us from the rumours of Foster's sexuality?

In Death Wish, after his wife dies of her injuries and the daughter slips into a coma, Bronson goes to Arizona and is introduced to old west gun lovery (no, its not a word and yeh, I'm still going to use it). He gets himself a six shooter and returns to New York for some old school retribution.

In Brave One, things are different for Jodie Foster. She is the victim (ah, the perspective is different even beyond gender). It is more difficult for her than for Bronson. She struggle to come to terms with the fear, struggles to even leave her apartment. How the two acquire their guns is interesting; Bronson the avenger is given the gun, Foster the victim gets the gun herself.
This is Taxi Driver territory; Travis Bickle in the hotel room with the suitcase full of weapons. Except, Bickle was nuts and trying to defend Jodie Foster. This time, Foster has to do it herself.

I love this point. Foster gets the gun herself. Perhaps she gets it out of a feeling of helplessness at first, but she gets it herself. Bronson, a peace loving man in his movie, even after this terrible thing happens to his family is given the gun. In Arizona is almost seduced by his gun loving buddies into taking the gun. He needs to be pushed because his motivation would be more vengeance than protection. He doesn't need to protect himself, Foster does. Is it because one is male and the other female? Or because one was a third party victim and the other the hardcore, first person real deal.

There are more parallels between the movies. Both movies have a police officer as an important character. Death Wish has Vincent Guardenia. Brave One has Terrence Howard. The Death Wish cop enters the story later, once Bronson begins his vengeance trail; in Brave One we meet the cop earlier on, although the character does not become involved with Foster until she, too, goes on the hunt. In Death Wish the cop is after Bronson, there is a certain grudging admiration, but he has a job to do, even after public opinion builds in the vigilante's favour. In Brave One (Spoiler Alert) the cop takes a much more active role.

What informs this different perspectives on the two cops. In Brave One there is a definite relationship between Foster and Howard. It never becomes sexual but they touch each other, they connect with one another. He is divorced, her boyfriend is dead. Howard is black but Foster's boyfriend was Indian so hey, she could be into the interracial thing. In 1970s Death Wish there could never be any thought of a relationship between two men (though the gun nut Bronson meets in Arizona definitely had a twinkle in his eye). Bronson is still out there on his own. In Brave One, Foster pretty much acquires the cop as an aid, he does in fact help her in the end. Could it be we could never have that single woman fulfill her mission of old west vengeance without a man by her side?

Hannie Calder is an old Raquel Welch western. A true old west woman on the vengeance path flick. In that movie, Hannie needs the aid of a man (Robert Culp) to fufill her mission. But there is some practicality here, the Culp character teaches Welch how to handle a gun and kill men. In Brave One Foster teaches herself but in the final scene, she needs Howard's help; he saves her life and essentially grants her her freedom.

Death Wish is an ambiguous movie. Its a good movie. It certainly attempted to examine some of the issues around violence, vengeance, the vigilante myth. The Bronson character is never really portrayed as the Kick ass no nonsense Chuck Norris vengeance machine. Sometimes we see him going over the edge. And, in a truly great scene, we see Bronson, while going after a bad guy, try to illicit a gunfight that could result in his own death. As if he wants to die, knowing that all he is doing may have no purpose, cannot really correct all the wrong done to him and his.

Brave One takes a different tack. By having the cop actively assist Foster in getting the guys who hurt her, it feels more like justification of her actions. I think we are supposed to feel some conflict here but as Foster is leaves the scene, even able to recover her pet that the bad guys had taken from her, it feels more like a conclusion.

The last shot in Death Wish is chilling. The cop in that movie knows who Bronson is, knows what he is but, under the premise of "having no proof" allows him to leave. Is this aiding and abetting? Guardenia wants the vigilante out of his city and he feels there is too much public support for Bronson ever to go to prison. On the train platform, about to leave the city, Bronson kneels by his bag, looks up and with that enigmatic cryllic smile he could so well, cocks his finger and shoots. So perhaps there is some justification here as well.

These are two good movies. Two very good, very different performances. Changing the gender of the protagonists changes the POV, changes the perspective. Is one better than the other? Is either one more "honest" than the other?

Keep watching. Maybe the perspective will change again.

PS: Just a note from my POV, I wrote a blog all about vengeance and discovered I had no idea how to spell the word.