United Artists. Director Michael Winner; Producer Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler, Lewis John Carlino; Screenplay Lewis John Carlino; Camera Richard Kline; Editor Freddie Wilson; Music Jerry Fielding; Art Director Rodger Maus
Charles Bronson
Keenan Wynn
Jan-Michael Vincent
Jill Ireland
Linda Ridgeway
Frank de Kova
A mechanic, in underworld parlance, is a highly-skilled contract killer. Possibilities of limning such a character are realistically pointed up in this action-drenched gangster yarn burdened with an overly-contrived plot development.
For the first few reels, footage is more a series of episodes # not always clear, at that # than carrying a sustained story line. Credibility is sometimes further strained during first half of film when Bronson oscillates between a typical hood at work and lolling in a luxurious apartment far removed from world of crime.
Michael Winner keeps the tempo at fever-pitch despite deficiencies of feature's opening sequences.
Bronson plays the son of a former gang leader cut down in his prime, left a fortune but still associated with crime as a hired executioner.
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1972. Running time: 100 MIN.
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