For some, during Charles Bronson's Cannon era, sadly gone felt the MGM days. But it was Lew Grade's ITC that bridged the action star in-between, and LOVE AND BULLETS... once again casting Bronson alongside wife Jill Ireland, keeping her protected from killers... makes the similar, decades-later action/adventure ASSASSINATION seem like THE MECHANIC by comparison...
Only this isn't about the secret service protecting a president's wife but an Arizona cop protecting a gangster's moll from being killed by a hit man hired by said gangster...
Providing Henry Silva another coldblooded turn, partnered with Bronson-flick regular Paul Koslo, both working for (or rather getting paid by) a stuttering mobster overacted by Rod Steiger, whose performance still fares better than Ireland's incessant dumb blonde (in a dumb blonde wig)...
Not only does she drag Bronson down as the two traipse through snowy Switzerland, from trains to boats to tunnels backed by a neat Lalo Schifrin score that deserved a better platform, her southern accent and overall presence is an annoying bulwark in a feature that includes some terrific moments of Bronson style resilient violence, like lethal axe-throwing, creating a makeshift blow-dart, and being one step ahead of the killers that seem as bored as their prey...
The latter without any real LOVE and hardly dodging any BULLETS either.
Only this isn't about the secret service protecting a president's wife but an Arizona cop protecting a gangster's moll from being killed by a hit man hired by said gangster...
Providing Henry Silva another coldblooded turn, partnered with Bronson-flick regular Paul Koslo, both working for (or rather getting paid by) a stuttering mobster overacted by Rod Steiger, whose performance still fares better than Ireland's incessant dumb blonde (in a dumb blonde wig)...
Not only does she drag Bronson down as the two traipse through snowy Switzerland, from trains to boats to tunnels backed by a neat Lalo Schifrin score that deserved a better platform, her southern accent and overall presence is an annoying bulwark in a feature that includes some terrific moments of Bronson style resilient violence, like lethal axe-throwing, creating a makeshift blow-dart, and being one step ahead of the killers that seem as bored as their prey...
The latter without any real LOVE and hardly dodging any BULLETS either.