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Charles Bronson, Frank DeKova, Jan-Michael Vincent

Charles Bronson (looking gnarled as ever) works alone as a hit man for "The Organization." But when willing acolyte Jan-Michael Vincent proves he has the stuff aspiring killers are made of, Bronson ag...( read more  read more... )rees to train him. Looks like it might be a case of the pupil overtaking the master, though, when Vincent begins to get some peculiar ideas of his own. Directed by Bronson perennial Michael Winner.

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3,378 ratings

PG, 100 min.

Directed by: Michael Winner

Release Date: January 1, 1972

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DVD Release Date: October 8, 2002

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Bronson as Arthur Bishop The Mechanic Charles Bronson plays Arthur Bishop The Mechanic The Mechanic
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Flixster Reviews (159)

  • PvtCaboose91
    October 3, 2009
    PvtCaboose91
    "Murder is only killing without a license."


    The Mechanic can best be described as an investigative character study of a "mechanic" (or hitman, as they're more commonly called). This second creative collaboration of Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner is

    ...( read more)a tense 1970s action-thriller that excites with tenacious stunt-work and engrosses with a restrained screenplay. It's also a fairly smart motion picture which delves into the sacrifice, methodology and motivation of being a hitman, in addition to exploring the mindset required for the procedural execution of a target and the dangers inherent in the work.


    The movie begins with a glorious fifteen-minute sequence that's completely dialogue-free and establishes a cinematic tension that's adhered to throughout. For this opening sequence, the camera observes hitman Arthur Bishop (Bronson) as he strategically carries out the elimination of a mark. Once Bishop's (flamingly successful) mission is complete, the film explores the day-to-day workings of the protagonist. Bishop is a very meticulous contract killer; he approaches each new assignment with detailed precision to ensure the cleanest outcome. Into his guarded, isolated life enters young Steve McKenna (Vincent); the son of his latest target. The mechanic reluctantly accepts McKenna as his protégé, but the mob that Bishop works for is not happy about an outsider being recruited without their consent.


    The Mechanic is a steadily paced action-thriller that leisurely develops its characters (mainly through showing, not telling) while offering chest-thumping sequences of confrontation and chase. Director Winner (who later collaborated with Bronson for 1974's Death Wish) was often criticised for his savage staging and vulgar sensibilities. All these decades later, however, these aforementioned elements generate a brilliantly authentic, visceral edge. Winner handles the material with tremendous zeal, staging slick action set-pieces that range from high-speed pursuits to explosive shootouts before the movie eventually culminates in a terrific double-twist ending. In addition to this, the pair of cinematographers (Richard H. Kline and Robert Paynter) pull off outstanding work. The exquisitely-photographed opening sequence is a triumph, and there are several memorable images throughout the film as well. However the movie isn't deep enough to be an effective character study. It delves into the hitman professional adequately, but we remain less enlightened about the man pulling the trigger - Bishop's motivations and desires are too vague. Crucially, there isn't enough action for the movie to be considered a pure actioner. Ultimately the fusion of action and character study is somewhat ham-fisted.


    At the centre of the film is Charles Bronson, and he submits one of the best and most nuanced performances of his career. Bronson brings a tough guy physicality and stoic silence to his role, making us believe he can kill targets with ease. Alongside Bronson is Jan Michael Vincent. His delivery may be rather stiff, but he possesses an excellent natural arrogance. One should also keep an eye open for Jill Ireland (Bronson's wife) playing a hooker who gives Bishop an artificial bond which lets him believe he's tenderly loved.


    All in all, The Mechanic is a satisfying offering of action and thrills. It's an economic blend of cool characters, great outbursts of action and an intriguing plotline. It falls short of greatness due to the characters being fairly underdeveloped, but it remains entertaining enough. The film was remade in 2010.
  • FangsFirst
    January 22, 2009
    FangsFirst
    After seeing Once Upon a Time in the West, I had a hankering to see more Charles Bronson flicks. Obviously the first stop was Death Wish, and the sort of "proxy" choices I got to anyway (The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven). This one caug...( read more)ht my eye because it fit the image of "Charles Bronson movies" as I had built them in my head. I thought of him (by reputation) as sort of a 1970's Van Damme, someone who would appear on TNT's "Movies for Guys Who Like Movies" back in the 1990s, someone appreciated by the sort of person who guzzles a beer and cheers for the psychopathic cop who stomps all over civil rights to get the bad guy. Maybe a Chuck Norris? I don't know. Still, I took my mental image of him and this movie seemed exactly it--yet, I'd seen these other films of his and found that he was not at all what I had imagined. This film does not change that fact.

    Arthur Bishop (Bronson) is a mechanic; he doesn't fix cars or craps tables, he fixes situations--by killing people. He wanders into a hotel and sets himself up in an otherwise untouched room, setting down a suitcase next to an open window. From it he draws a stubby telescope, which he uses to take pictures of an apartment across the street. Then we see him examining these images, tapping his fingers lightly on the images that seem to be drawing his attention. Now he makes his way into the room he was spying on, moving to the oven where he puts a compound on one of the gas lines that eats away at it, replaces tea bags, places a pudding-like substance in a book and then leaves. Clearly he's at work, and it's not long before we see the results. Soon he's back in the fancy home where he was examining his pictures, receiving a call from an old friend. That friend is Harry McKenna (Keenan Wynn), who asks Bishop to put in a good word for him with the organized crime group they both work for. Harry's son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent) wanders through and looks curiously at Bishop while taking money coldly from his father. When Bishop orchestrates Harry's death, Steve is left alone, and curious about what Bishop does, sure it relates to his father's business. Bishop is reluctant to reveal himself until he watches Steve ignore the suicidal threats of his girlfriend Louise (Linda Ridgeway) and even lets her get so far as slitting her wrists and waiting a while before throwing her car keys to save her own life. Bishop takes Steve on as an associate, which leads them through a very messy job and a recrimination from Bishop's employer. A hit is assigned in Italy, but Bishop finds a secondary hit has already been assigned.

    It's difficult to explain the appeal of Charles Bronson to the sort of people I am around most often. They're not utter snobs only interested in art films, but generally a more sparkly sort of action is necessary. This is 1970s action though, which is a very different breed from what came about in the 80s and 90s, and the new breed that arrived in the past decade. Stunts feel more authentically dangerous, because you can tell they are not so carefully orchestrated, with the only precaution likely coming down to stunt doubles and maybe extra padding, or something to that effect. Violence, of course, often comes off as a little less grisly without those "real" squibs and "realistic" fake blood that have followed (though squibs were used--often they looked a little off, as did the blood), but that has never bothered me too much anyway. That difference in stunts though adds something; in the 80s and 90s it seemed like stunts were obviously contrived. They continued to be entertaining and thrilling, but were obviously not natural occurrences. Most recently, a naturalistic tone has been returned to them, but now it's just the mark of even more careful orchestration. It was sort of an excess previously, with images of gigantic cranes with wire riggings and fire trucks and engines standing by, gigantic trampolines and air cushions and the like all over the place, where now it seems those things are carefully hidden, and perhaps narrowed down to only the relevant elements for each stunt. But in the 70s, boy, it looks like they said, "Well, this ought to be safe if we use a professional and have a soft crash at the end!" It makes things seem loose and dirty, and more real for it. Clearly the events and the essential run of the stunts is pre-determined, but it seems less likely that they just set a car on a guided track and pulled it into a wall and more likely that they just drove the bloody thing, or dropped a brick on its gas pedal and let it go.

    Michael Winner (who also directed Death Wish) did this one with Bronson and seems to have a very similar mentality to film itself. Dialogue and performance of it seem to be a very minor concern to him, with much of it actually sounding like it was recorded in ADR rather than live, and little of it sounding natural. But he draws the focus away from that and into the events and the physicality of characters. If you read the dialogue, it doesn't seem quite so silly-sounding, yet at the same time as it does end up sounding that silly, the silliness is muted by the way Bronson and Vincent play it and the way Winner directs it. Bronson has never been one to overstate a line (barring possibly his response to the rebellious children in The Magnificent Seven), so he just sort of rolls almost every line out of his mouth sounding like the last one. It's essentially flat, but never toneless or dead despite this. Something about his look, the way he carries himself and moves, manages to overcome that inattention to dialogue (with Winner clearly caring little for it either) without damaging the story in the process. It doesn't become an issue of a film you watch to see Bronson or stunts or violence or gags or effects, but one you watch because it has Bronson, and then find pretty engaging anyway. It's a curious style of film-making, and one that is purely instinctual. This is why there is difficulty in explaining the appeal: you either like Bronson or you don't. It's not that he's an amazing actor, nor even that he's as macho as the beer-guzzling variety of fan likes to think. The proper term would be closer to "bad ass," because he's silent in his strength, even when he's running with a shotgun and taking out criminals. I've talked about this kind of actor before--actors who aren't strong, but aren't bad, and simply have this screen presence that makes their films enjoyable anyway (unless the film itself is simply awful). Bronson is easily one of those souls, and that and Winner's measured but loose direction make for a hell of a fun film.
  • jackamaku
    February 7, 2009
    jackamaku
    Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner made several movies together before hitting paydirt with the Death Wish films. In this Bronson plays a lone hitman who takes Jan Michael Vincent under his wing. The scenes of Bronson preparing and executing his hits are the main redee...( read more)ming value, even if they are a little overly complicated. When Jan Michael shows up, the cheesy dialog goes into overdrive. It also never really establishes why Bronson's loner would give a shit about JMV, or have any interest in messing with the good thing he's got going by working with him. Note: Fred Watkins talked about the opening scenes establishing Bronson's character several times in class, but none of what he said was in the movie. Figures.
  • cacutshaw
    January 31, 2007
    cacutshaw
    Excellent film. The first 16 minutes is completely without dialogue showing Bronson doing a job. Then it becomes a sad story about fathers and lack of them. Bronson's character seals his fate after becoming a paternal figure to Jan Michael Vincent but still remains a number on...( read more)e ass-kicker til the bitter end. The punk should have watched his step!
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 13, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    Good movie with a GREAT ending.1 of Bronson's best
  • grayavec
    August 18, 2009
    grayavec
    Depressing and eclectic compared to Assassins.
  • braddad68
    July 15, 2009
    braddad68
    Great Bronson, but Jan-Michael Vincent's limited acting skills does hurt the film a bit.
  • iamthethinman
    February 6, 2009
    iamthethinman
    Bronson as Bronson as he should be, with a little bit of quiet depth. He, by no means, was a dynamic face actor, so it is best when his character has background. And the off dynamic with Vincent works well, especially with the on-going story. It?s a nice neat package of 70s actio...( read more)n the way it could have and should have been made consistently.
  • mikki19872003
    February 6, 2009
    mikki19872003
    I think it was one of Bronson's better movies..
  • Zanking
    January 29, 2009
    Zanking
    I love this movie about a vetran assassin and his young counterpart. The game of cat and mouse at the end will leave you shocked, sad and then finally smiling at Bronson's deed.

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