MONDO CHARLES BRONSON: HIS MOST UNUSUAL MOVIES

Charles Buchinsky, better known as Charles Bronson, was a World War Two veteran who went on to superstardom as one of the most iconic “tough guys” in film history.

Balladeer’s Blog has reviewed several of his westerns so far, but this time I’ll examine Bronson’s offbeat, uncharacteristic starring roles. 

SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR (1971) – This Eurothriller directed by Nicolas Gessner was also released as Two Minds for Murder. Charles Bronson stars as an amnesiac patient of sinister brain-surgeon and psychiatrist Laurence Jeffries (Anthony Perkins himself).

Jeffries knows his wife is cheating on him and subjects Bronson – billed as the Stranger – to unethical psychological programming to make him think the brain surgeon-psychiatrist’s wife is really his wife, then manipulate him into murdering her.

In the role of unfaithful wife Frances Jeffries is Bronson’s wife Jill Ireland, since we’re in the period when Charles dragged her into everything with him like she was Linda McCartney to his Paul. The story isn’t plausible, of course, but artsy Eurothrillers always accentuated atmosphere and “what if” situations over realistic plots. 

Anthony Perkins tones down his twitchiness a bit and Bronson is credible as the manipulated amnesiac thinking he’s met the wife his memory loss wiped from his mind.

To say anything more would give away too many spoilers.

MASTER OF THE WORLD (1961) – Bronson starring in a low-budget but fun Jules Verne adaptation targeted at early teens and under? Yes, and he performs satisfactorily as U.S. Secret Service Agent John Strock, who is out to defeat the world-conquering plans of a mad scientist with messianic delusions.

Richard Matheson combined two of Verne’s novels – Robur the Conqueror and Master of the World – into one script for this film. Vincent Price portrayed the scientist Robur, a character unjustly criticized as a pale imitation of James Mason’s Captain Nemo from Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

In reality, Captain Nemo is nearly without a detailed personality in Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues as it wasn’t until the sequel, The Mysterious Island, that Nemo’s past and motives were fleshed out. It was actually Disney’s writers who borrowed elements of Robur’s personality and rants for Nemo in their film.

At any rate, Robur has created a mammoth airship in which he wages aerial warfare on the nations of the 19th Century world in the name of ending war by uniting the Earth under his despotic rule. In addition to the devoted Agent Strock, Robur captures armaments tycoon Prudent, his daughter Dorothy and her less than admirable fiancee Phillip.

Since David McCallum wasn’t available, Phillip is played by David Frankham with enough negativity to drive Dorothy into Bronson’s arms. Strock nobly thwarts Robur’s plans and saves himself, Dorothy and her father from the mad scientist. The budget was far too low to do this tale justice.

RIDER ON THE RAIN (1970) – This French film was Charles Bronson’s favorite among his many projects. He even tried to have it remade in the 1980s in the U.S. Rider on the Rain made Charles a megastar in Europe. 

Marlene Jobert co-starred as Mellie Mau, wife of Tony Mau (THE Gabriele Tinti). After being sexually assaulted in her home while her spouse is away, Mellie righteously manages to kill her attacker. She dumps his corpse into the sea and tries burying the entire ordeal deep inside.   

Bronson’s character arrives, on the trail of her assailant – an escaped sex maniac. Is the enigmatic Bronson the private detective he claims to be? Or is he the social-climbing entrepreneur he poses as? Or maybe he’s actually a U.S. Army officer trying to recapture the escaped rapist. 

Our man notes that Mellie is withholding information about the fugitive sexual assailant, but a tragic misunderstanding makes him suspect her of being an accomplice hiding information on the criminal’s whereabouts rather than a victim afraid of facing the consequences for a slaying.

Things become clearer amid various Hitchcockian twists and turns. I’ll refrain from giving away spoilers.

Jill Ireland is along for the ride as Nicole. Bronson proved he could act as well as Clint Eastwood in this film.     

FAREWELL, FRIEND (1968) – Alain Delon, the French superstar, was impressed with Charles Bronson’s typically gritty performance in Roger Corman’s gangster movie Machine Gun Kelly. In fact, he was so impressed that years later he scooped up Bronson to costar with him in this project.

Charles atypically gets to display some existential ennui in Farewell, Friend as he and Delon portray a pair of former French Foreign Legion members now separately drifting into lives of crime in post-Algerian War France. 

Dino Barran (Delon) wants to break into a big-name bank in order to return stolen bearer bonds for a beautiful lady (Olga Georges-Picot), while the ambitions of Franz Propp (Bronson) run toward looting the bank’s main vault.

Circumstances force them to work together despite their different motives for the break-in. Bernard Fresson, who would later costar with Gene Hackman in The French Connection II, portrays Inspector Antoine Meloutis.

In addition to the reasonably exciting heist scenes, there are hints that Dino and Franz are being set up for unknown reasons. And there’s no Jill Ireland for as far as the eye can see!

Bronson and Delon would later costar with Toshiro Mifune in Red Sun, previously reviewed here at Balladeer’s Blog. 

TWINKY (1970) – This Black Sheep in Charles Bronson’s filmography was also released as Lola and London Affair. The very 1970s flick was trying to be a more “respectable” variation of Lolita by depicting a supposed consensual “love affair” between a teenage lady (Susan George herself) and a much older man (Bronson).

European sophisticates scoffed at American audiences who found this entire premise distasteful and dismissed them as puritanical. That attitude hasn’t aged well over the decades. Twinky is based on the semi-autobiographical account of the scriptwriter’s affair and marriage to a 16-year-old when he was 38. 

This turkey stars Bronson as an author of dirty books who becomes the object of a crush by teenager Sybil (George), who also calls herself Lola and Twinky. Their relationship turns sexual and when it’s exposed the couple flee the U.K. to the United States, where they get married.

Adding to the WTF feel is the fact that the movie costars Honor Blackman, Trevor Howard, Robert Morley and Orson Bean, and was directed by Richard Donner, the man who later helmed Superman and Lethal Weapon.

Under any title, this is one weirdass flick. Its most quoted line is Twinky’s remark about Bronson’s character – “Can’t eat, can’t sleep. All I want to do is be with him.”