Powerful

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

An underdeveloped piece of junk from director Michael Winner. The plot (the mafia trains an army to kill off the syndicate) is paper thin and stretched into a confusing mess of a movie. Charles Bronson, a NYC cop relocated to LA figures it out (slowly) while the body count mounts. So disjointed and inexplicable is this film it's a wonder if there's an uncut version somewhere. Winner, never the most imaginative director, keeps his camera at a distance so there's zero character development and even less suspense. While Bronson is perfectly cast, the rest of the casting choices are decidedly lame-brained: Ralph Waite is a bigoted and totally inept cop; Norman Fell is Bronson's crusty yet benign superior; Stuart Margolin is a soldier for hire. Worst of all is Martin Balsam as a Sicilian mafia don. Probably the most forgettable of the Dino de Laurentiis productions that Bronson appeared in during the early '70s.

I won't go into the story, but that's what really intrigued me here. I like original and well plotted stories, and this is certainly one of them. This is one of the better class of Bronson films, this one still an undying classic. For it's story you'll really need to pay attention, 'cause it pays off well in the end. Bronson, again plays tough, an unorthodox cop who beats statements out of his suspects. Charming. He's a really rough type of rogue cop, you wouldn't want to be in the same interrogation room with... alone, and Bronson does it best. His entrance in the opening scene, where a standoff is taking place is so cool, where he's given some short smart dialogue, in a good class movie. I love white haired Koslo in this, a memorable villain of the seventies. Here a bad boy down on his luck, who even plays the trumpet. I must say, I love watching Bronson in this film, more than any of his others. His dirty playing cop character, is something that wouldn't go astray in society. Like Death Wish, This is another Michael Winner, winning movie I love. Watch, please.

Has everything a Man needs to see - politically uncorrect saxophone player, wild real life car chase, cops who want to protect the people, bad vermin, mafia, revenge given years later, violence. (Hey, real guy movies have to have bad stuff happen and people getting hurt who need it), corruption, etc. It's a damn good movie. Bullet car chase was gay in comparison. Music is good, shots are clean and show what they want, no artsy-faggy shots. Bronson gets to blow away people who need killing. I've watched this movie a few times and the date of the old crimes (I wont say) keeps popping up in my head. Some people never forget. I like that. We seem to be sissified - real Men need to watch films like this.

You either get Old Stone Face or you don't. I get him. He played virtually the same type of character in every movie from the '70s forward, although his character's profession changed from time to time. Didn't matter if he was an unflinching streetwise cop that walks outside the law to bring justice, an architect, or an amazingly tough journalist that can beat up bad guys as easily as normal people breath air (how often do you see that?), he was always a character that looked out for what was right, the law be damned. And no mamby pamby metrosexual stuff anywhere in sight.....This movie was interesting to me in that it was filmed during the prime of the '70s Cop Movie glory days and also happened to be part of the golden age for Bronson himself. I dig the terrible period clothing, hair and lingo. I also dig the neo-psychedelic soundtrack. It was rather amusing seeing Bronson amongst the young hippie burnouts at a wacked out party when he was searching for clues, talk about a fish out of water! And even way back then, the ever popular grouchy old Italian mobster stereotype was in full play, although this was one of the first Bronson films to do this (and it often resurfaced in his movies, even in Death Wish 4 decades later). It also featured several familiar faces including "Mr. Roper" of Three's Company as a cop(!) and "Jack Tripper" of the same show as a bumbling, inept rookie cop. Those with either sharp memories or an extensive Twilight Zone collection will recognize Mob Boss Vescari as the star of the much loved wax figures episode (New Exhibit).You're not going to see Oscar type performances in a Bronson film, but then again, that's not what they were shooting for. You do get a glimpse of a great period of gritty American cop films. They didn't have the internet to help them. No GPS. No Google maps. Just coffee, steel revolvers, typewriters and good old fashioned investigational work, and of course real cars that were driven to death by stunt men, not computer generated crashes. And you do get politically incorrect, 150 proof MANDOM of the kind that isn't made any more. And that makes for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon in my book.