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Released by: Timeless Media Group
Released on: October 22nd, 2013.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg, John Huston/Lou Lombardo
Cast: Charles Bronson, Henry Silva, Jill Ireland/George Segal, Christina Raines
Year: 1979/1975
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The Movies:
This low priced double feature from Timeless Media Group offers up two solid slices of seventies action at a low price on one disc. Here's how it all plays out…
LOVE AND BULLETS:
Charles Bronson plays a detective on the Phoenix police force named Charlie Congers. An infamous New York City Mafioso boss named Joe Bompsosa (Rod Steiger) has recently been taken into custody and the police need Congers to go off to Switzerland and escort his mistress, Jackie Pruitt (played by Bronson's wife and regular co-star, Jill Ireland) back to the United States so that she can testify against him in court.
At the insistence of his fellow mobsters, Bomposa decides to take out a hit on Pruitt and have her assassinated before she can get out of Switzerland alive and send him to prison. She simply knows too much for her own good. In order to make this happen, Bomposa hires a cold-blooded Italian hit man named Vittorio Farroni (played by the always amusing Henry Silva).
Eventually, Congers realizes what's going on and that their lives are in danger and it's up to him and Pruitt to get out of Switzerland is quickly and quietly as possible with their lives intact. With Farroni and a few others on their trail though, that's going to be much easier said than done.
Filmed towards the end of the best years of Bronson's career, Love And Bullets manages to be a reasonably decent movie in spite of itself. Directed by Stuart Rosenberg (of Cool Hand Luke and The Amityville Horror), the film may very well have been an excuse for the cast and crew to head off to Switzerland, all expenses paid. It's a rather predictable and uninspired film that doesn't really attempt anything new with what it has to work with.
That being said, Bronson and Silva are always fun to watch and putting them in the same movie together can never be a bad thing, even if they don't share nearly enough screen time. You'd think that Wendell Mayes (who also penned Death Wish and The Poseidon Adventure) would have had the good sense to have Silva and Bronson scowl at each other a bit more, just to keep things interesting but instead we're treated to a lot of footage of Bronson's character riding the train and Silva is just barely used at all.
Jill Ireland, who isn't likely to top anyone's best actress list, does a pretty good job as the damsel in distress and Steiger is solid and believable as the Mafia drug kingpin who finds himself in some seriously hot water.
The scenery and cinematography is nice and captures a lot of very pretty scenery and locations quite nicely with some graceful sweeping camera movements and a few long tracking shots that work well. The action set pieces are also handled nicely though there aren't nearly enough of them. When they occur, they give the movie a much-needed shot of adrenaline but when they're not and the movie heads farther from Bullets and closer to Love, it tends to drift a little to the dull side.
Overall though, there is enough to like about the movie that it's certainly worth a look, especially for Bronson fans. He's his always-dependable self in this one, even if he's not treading any new ground. It's hard to think of an actor who better defined the strong, silent type than Bronson did, and he does it with ease in Love And Bullets.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE:
Up next is Lou Lombardo's 1975 film, Russian Roulette, in which George Segal plays Shaver, a disgraced plain clothes Mountie (that'd be an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for those not familiar with the term) operating out of Vancouver B.C.. He's assigned to bring a Russian immigrant wanted by the cops into custody before a Russian Premiere comes to the city for a diplomatic visit.
This starts off easily enough for Shaver but before you know it his mark has been kidnapped and someone seems to be putting into motion a plan to assassinate the premiere on his visit. Thankfully the lovely and talented Bogna (Christina Raines), is willing to help him and knows how to fight. But once the KGB steps in, will it be enough?
This is a fairly typical seventies action film that works in so many twists and turns that what starts off as a fairly serious and reasonably tense film eventually winds up a victim of its own ludicrous plotting. Before it's all over and done with bullets will fly and helicopters will be awesome and Segal will actually kick a surprising amount of ass. He does a pretty good job as a tough guy here, and while most will be more familiar with him from his comedic roles, this is actually a decent casting choice.
Christina Raines is onboard really just to give Segal a pretty girl to hang out with but in that capacity she's fine. Her fight scene is actually pretty impressive and she's easy on the eyes. The movie also features a small supporting role from Louise Fletchers as a switchboard operator for the R.C.M.P..
Shot on location in the heart of Vancouver (or at least if it isn't, it sure looks like it is), this one is entertaining enough so long as you don't have to take all of it completely seriously. A few name English actors pop up in supporting roles, Gordon Jackson being one of the more obvious examples, which makes sense once you realize this was co-produced by an English production company. This is entertaining enough, an interesting relic made towards the end of the Cold War that plays off of North American paranoia in regards to evil Mother Russia and that offers up a few gritty set pieces and some fun tough guy dialogue.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both movies are presented fullframe from what look like tape sources. Detail is understandably then more than a little soft and some compression artifacts are present. Colors are a bit faded here and there and these aren't particularly impressive transfers, but they're watchable enough.
The quality of the English language Dolby Digital Mono tracks are on par with the video in that they're a little flat and devoid of a whole lot of range. Dialogue is reasonably clear and what's here is serviceable enough, just not great.
There are no extras on the disc, just static menus offering movie selection and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Neither of these movies is going to rate as the best films in either Bronson or Segal's filmography but they're entertaining enough action films that offer some fun performances and decent suspense. The double feature DVD from Timeless Media certainly won't floor you with its quality, but it's priced right even if it is barebones.
