Main Cast: Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, David Sheiner, Norman Fell, Ralph Waite
Release Year: 1973
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The John Gardner novel A Complete State of Death became this bloody crime flick that united frequent action genre collaborators Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner. Bronson stars as Detective Lieutenant Lou Torry, a grizzled undercover New York City cop who ruins his career when he is caught going violently overboard while apprehending a ghetto punk. As punishment, Torry is banished all the way to the L.A. Police Department, where he begins investigating a mysterious chain of events involving ex-soldiers that seem to be Mob related. It turns out that Don Alberto Vescari (Martin Balsam), an aging Mafia chieftain, is planning the use of mentally disturbed Vietnam vets as assassins in a campaign of murder. With one broad, gory stroke, Vescari schemes to wipe out his underworld enemies, retaliating for a massacre that wiped out a generation of Sicilian mobsters 40 years earlier. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
The teaming of director Michael Winner and star Charles Bronson here results in a hard-boiled cop thriller with a high body count. Gerald Wilson's script, which is based on a novel by John Gardner, is pure pulp with a plot that lards its multiple twists and turns with an equal amount of bullet-riddled corpses. The dialogue might work in plenty of sermons on social ills (everything from race relations to the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans) but it never distracts from the action -- there's a punch-up, shootout or chase at least once every reel. The actors don't have much to work with as the characters are types instead of flesh-out characterizations but they all acquit themselves nicely: Bronson carries the film in usual stoic fashion but there is also nice support work from Martin Balsam as a vengeance-driven mob boss, Ralph Waite as an unapologetically racist cop and Paul Koslo as a creepy jazz-loving assassin. Winner orchestrates the mayhem in a no-nonsense fashion, maintaining a taut pace that keeps the complex narrative in focus and hammering home the action sequences with bone-breaking élan. Ultimately, The Stone Killer won't convert anyone who doesn't already enjoy pulp-style action flicks but fans will find plenty of fast-paced carnage to enjoy here. It's definitely one of the best Bronson-Winner team-ups. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Ward Preston - Art Director, Michael Winner - Director, Terry Rawlings - Editor, Frederick Wilson - Editor, Roy Budd - Composer (Music Score), Richard Moore - Cinematographer, Michael Winner - Producer, Norman Rockett - Set Designer, Hugh Strain - Sound/Sound Designer, Gerald Wilson - Screenwriter, John Gardner - Book Author
The film involves a plot by a present day (1971) Mafia don (Martin Balsam) to avenge the killings of a group of Mafia dons back in 1931 ("The Night of Sicilian Vespers") with a bold nation-wide counter-strike against most of the current Italian and Jewish syndicate heads using teams of Vietnam vets instead of Mafia hit men.
Bronson plays a gritty, independent detective who stumbles across the plot when a washed-up former hit man is killed under circumstances that make it clear that it was an inside job and that that Mafia was involved. He then slowly but surely uncovers the clues that point to a seemingly impossible plot. Who waits 40 years for revenge?
Bronson's character is vintage Bronson; he is forced to resign from the NYPD after he shoots and kills an "armed" teenager, but no gun is found. Later, after being hired by the LAPD he comes under scrutiny again after he runs over a suspect who has fired at him.
