CHARLES BRONSON - 4 MOVIE COLLECTION - BD

Directed by 007 director Terence Young (Dr. No, From Russia with Love - two of the BEST!) The Valachi Papers is based on a novel by Peter Maas and purports to tell the real-life story of crime family informant Joseph Valachi, as played by Bronson. Valachi is a low-level criminal who works his way up through a crime family, the film opens in the 60's in prison where Valachi has been sent following some drug busts, his former boss thinks he's an informant and gives him the "kiss of death", Valachi tries to persuade the boss that he's not the guy who fingered him, but with few alternatives Valachi ironically turns informant to the feds for protection. During his interviews with the fed he relays his story from the 40's on through to the sixties leading up to his incarceration. The film is well done, the period settings are convincing, Bronson is tough-as-nails and the narrative is brutal with many gangland killings, including a gruesome castration sequence. At over two hours in length this one does have some occasional pacing issues, but the story and execution are enthralling. Bronson's wife Jill Ireland shows up as - what else? - his wife, in a typically lackluster performance but even she couldn't tarnish this otherwise engrossing crime story of honor, betrayal and mob justice.THE STONE KILLER (1973) Rating: RDuration: 95 MinutesAudio:  English Uncompressed PCM 2.0 (No Subtitles)Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) Director: Michael WinnerCast: Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, Jack Colvin, Paul Koslo, Norman Fell, David Sheiner, Stuart MargolinThe Stone Killer (1973) is the third of six hard-nosed cop thrillers that brought director Michael Winner and Charles Bronson together onscreen. Her we have a New York cop, Lieutenant Lou Torrey (Bronson), who at the start of the film guns down a teen in self defense, but the bad optics lead to a transfer to L.A., almost immediately he gets caught up in some strange mafia happening when a heroin addicted hit man he's transporting is gunned down. The story involves mafia boss Al Vescari (Martin Balsam, The Sentinel) who's hired a group of ex-military assassins to carryout a kill-list having to do with a decades old mafia-hit and his vengeance at those who ordered it. This one is fast-paced and intriguing, as the mystery unfolds.Filming gritty violence and action were Winner's strong suits in life and he was in fine form here, there's a fantastic chase scene of Bronson in a car chasing a culprit on a motorcycle that was a crash-bang-boom good time, and Bronson is in prime silent-but-deadly mode throughout, cracking wise occasionally. There's a lot of colorful mob associated characters here, and be on the lookout for future Three's Company alum Norman Fell and John Ritter as L.A. cops! BREAKOUT (1975) Rating: PGDuration: 97 MinutesAudio: English Uncompressed PCM 2.0 (No Subtitles) Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) Director: Tom GriesCast: Charles Bronson, Robert DuVall, Randy Quaid, Jill IrelandBreakout (1975) opens with Harris Wagner (John Huston, The Visitor) framing his grandson Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall) for a crime down in Mexico, the exact reason why he did this wasn't quite clear to me, but nonetheless he's sent to a Mexican prison, making his wife Ann (Jill Ireland, Hard Times) very unhappy. Jill seeks the help of a border town pilot-for-hire named Colton (Charles Bronson, Death Wish 3) and his somewhat dim partner Hawk (Randy Quaid, Christmas Vacation)to fly down to Mexico and rescue him, but she leaves out the fact that it's a prison-break. They arrives to a hail of gunfire and turn tail back to Texas, of course Colton is pissed-off that she didn't inform him they were breaking her husband out of a prison work detail, but drawn in by her charms he's undeterred, offering to try again, this time dressing up his partner Hawk as a woman to break her husband out of prison, but it seems the prison officials were forewarned that a break was about to happen and Hawk is beaten to a pulp by the prison guards. While Ann seems oblivious to the fact that someone is tipping off the Mexican authorities Colton latches onto that idea and keeps his next plan a bit closer to the vest, learning to (kind of sort of) fly a helicopter to perform a surgical prison yard extraction, a plan that requires bringing in an old flame named Mirna (Sheree North, Charley Varick) to pose as a rape victim to distract the prison guards! A fun and breezy affair this is a somewhat light-hearted prison break romp - rape jokes aside - with a surprisingly gruesome finale out on the runway, a nasty bit of business involving an airplane prop literally obliterating someone - which was surprising for a PG film in addition to the rape humor! This is probably the lightest fare of the bunch on this set, which isn't to say it wasn't entertaining, because it was quite a bit of fun, and it was good to see Bronson playing with humor throughout, not his usual sandbox to play in. It was also interesting to see him and wife Jill Ireland playing against each other, she married to Duvall's character but there's some sexual tension flying between her and Colton, too. Amazing cinematography by Lucien Ballard - best known for his work with Sam Peckinpah.HARD TIMES (1975)Rating: PGDuration: 94 MinutesAudio: English Uncompressed PCM 2.0 (No Subtitles)Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) Director: Walter HillCast: Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Strother MartinThe crown jewel of this Bronson four-pack is Hard Times (1975), set in Depression era New Orleans Walter Hill's directorial debut opens with a train-hopping wanderer named Chaney (Charles Bronson) arriving in The Big Easy. With only six bucks to his name and looking for some quick cash he wanders into a local bare-knuckles brawl-contest where he easily defeats the night's best fighter with one punch, earning him some dough and the eye of local fast-talking promoter Speed (James Coburn, In Like Flint) who quickly aligns himself with the middle-aged brawler. Chaney clears a path through the local fisticuffs champs with the aid of his new manager and an opium-addicted cutman named Poe, played with a lazy Southern charm by Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke). The film follows the trio through a series of fights which Chaney wins handily, developing a reputation around town as a man to be reckoned with. When one Cajun promoter refuses to pay after a win he chases the rightful winners off with a gun, but that night they track him down to his gin joint and Chaney causes a ruckus, a one-man wrecking crew destroying the promoter's henchman and his bar in the process, and definitely getting the money owed to him. One of the first contenders to give Chaney some serious fight-back is the local undefeated champ, a bald-headed brawler named Jim Henry (Robert Tessier, Starcrash), but in the end Chaney's smarts outdo the man's brute strength and notorious knuckle-crushing hard-head. With Chaney crowned the new king around town one of the local promoters brings in a fighter from Chicago in hopes of regaining the throne. Along the way Chaney befriends and unsuccessfully courts a local hard luck prostitute played by - who else - Jill Ireland, who is fairly innocuous here in a small role that doesn't ask much. Meanwhile, the fast-talking Speed sinks deeper into debt due to a degenerate gambling habit, which the crooked promoter uses to leverage a new title fight. Walter Hill's no stranger to making manly movies about tough guys doing tough things, and this is no different, right out of the gate with his first film it bares his trademarks, Bronson is perfectly suited for the role - a quietly cool man with honor and integrity, and when called upon, his brute strength and a tactical mind serve him well with his brawling pursuits, if not so much when it comes to the ladies.  Audio/Video: These four 70's Charles Bronson film arrive on 2-disc Blu-ray from budget-minded distributor Mill Creek Entertainment, presented in 1080p HD widescreen in the original theatrical exhibition ratios, both The Valachi Papers and The Stone killer get the 1.85:1 framing while Breakout and Hard Times are presented in scope 2.35:1 widescreen. All four films have been licensed from Sony Pictures, and notably, with the exception of Breakout, were issued this past year on Blu-ray from Twilight Time, and as they licensed their releases from Sony as well this is most likely the same transfer, but with two crammed onto a single disc without the benefit of any extras whatsoever. I was a bit worried about compression issues with this one but am pleased to report that these discs looks to be nicely authored and don't suffer any compression I could detect. Audio on all four film comes by way of uncompressed PCM English 2.0, each sounding clean and well balanced, though there are no subtitle options for any of them.  The 2-disc release comes housed in a standard 2-tray Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, the disc themselves are standard issue for Mill Creek, black with white lettering, no frills and low-cost. I did notice they misspelled James Coburn's name on the back cover, "Cobern", but aside from no trailers that's my only niggle.  If you're just looking to buy these films without any extras this is a fine release, and at the time of this review you can pick it up for $10, which is a steal, previously just buying the three TT titles would have set you back $75 easily, and they weren't exactly dripping with extras...

Me too!

Quality product. Very satisfied with this Charles Bronson collection. Makes a great edition to any Bronson library.

Mill Creek Entertainment gather 4 Charles Bronson films from the early to mid 1970's for a nice 2 disc blu-ray collection. (Some sites including Amazon erroneously have this set listed as only being 1 disc.) "The Valachi Papers" (1972) and "The Stone Killer" (1973) share disc one while "Breakout" (1975) and "Hard Times" (1975) share disc two. For fans of the legendary and iconic actor, considering this collection will only set you back about 10 dollars, it is well worth buying."The Valachi Papers" and "The Stone Killer" are presented in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratios whereas "Breakout" and "Hard Times" are in 2.35:1. The films look pretty good though these are all obviously older HD masters. However considering that this is a budget priced set, they look pretty good and represent a decent step up from their DVD counterparts. All films utilize the AVC codec with the bit rates staying around the low to mid 20's on disc one and the mid to upper 20's on disc two so no compression artifacts are visible. Detail is solid as are contrast and black levels. All things considered, I am pleased with how all of the four films look in this set.On the audio front, each film features 2 channel LPCM sound. The films sound good and quite punchy with nice clarity. No English subtitles are available. There also are no extras included.If you are a fan of Charles Bronson, then this set is a no brainer to purchase considering it currently only goes for about 10 dollars. The films look and sound good as well as feature nice variety. While the lack of English subtitles is a slight blemish, this collection comes highly recommended.

Good Product. Good quality transfer. Two movies on each of two disks. The audio and video quality is not super premium like one would get from the Criterion Collection but is really good. I would grade video quality at 3.5/5, which is quite good. I had caught part of these movies on a local old movie channel MOVIES tv network. I have not seen Hard Times, but the other three releases are good movies. Stone Killer is a good police thriller a little like the French Connection. Breakout is a little like Escape from Alcatraz. Great pickup for less than$15.00. I highly recommend.

Having very limited exposure to previous Mill Creek releases, I was concerned by earlier comments, fearing this collection might be a real letdown. Happily, it turns out this four movie offering (on two discs) is easily worth the current Amazon asking price of $9.99. Without getting into major details, I can say that “Hard Times” looks and sounds very good — the best of the four transfers. “The Stone Killer” is probably next best in A/V quality, followed closely by “The Valachi Papers.” These three feature clean film elements, and all four appear to be in the original aspect ratio. “Breakout” displays some specks and dirt early on, but improves as the film moves forward. This is a real bare-bones offering, with no dubs, subtitles or extras. The very menu is as simple as it gets. But Bronson fans get some nice bang for the buck here. Even at full retail, this item seems a worthy purchase. After this, I’m hopeful Mill Creek releases a companion edition, perhaps featuring “Red Sun.” I would gladly shell out more cash for a second set that equals this one in quality, content and price!

My husband and I are just waking the 2nd movie of this collection. Very good movies.

Contrary to what others are saying, my batch of discs is not mislabeled and all movies are in resplendent Blu-Ray quality. All 4 movies are terribly interesting and gripping with suspense and interest and I wonder why anybody would criticize anything in them. That was in the days when they were still capable of making good movies with characters like Bronson who really had the face and body to be an international actor watchable only because of his charisma and recognizable voice. For the price I paid below $20. Canadian, if I were you I would buy this movie set immediately and think later, you’ll be glad you did!...

Great movies. The dics i got were miss printed. One says 2 titles on it. The 2nd disc has the other 2 tiltles. The names on the discs are the movies listed on disc a are the disc 2 movies and vice verss. Still payed and was to enjoy them. Just a labeling issue

Buy the Blus, man. Do It. Bronson flicks are too few and far between on streaming services. There's alot to enjoy about every one of these titles. Hard Times is definately on my Top 5 CB movies. No dice? This. Ain't. Ovah.

Overall it was a bargain to get 4 movies at the price I paid! I enjoyed them, but some of them weren't really that good, but I enjoyed them mostly because of nostalgia!