This is the third film the two stars made together, they previously appeared in “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape” together. His collaboration with Chaney would seem to be a nice symmetrical match. He is a small time operator who dreams of the big time but almost always blows it on bad choices, especially saying a few words too many. “Speed” is the loser character of the piece. His character is nick named “Speed” and it sounds like that is based on his conversation skills. There are two scenes where other characters come right out and ask if that’s all he has to say about a subject, he doesn’t even give them a one word answer.Īnother reason that it is a good thing that Bronson has few lines is that Coburn has so many. In the bare-knuckled fights, the opponents usually are the ones with the big talk, Chaney let’s his fists do the talking. It moves along with his level of attention to different subjects.I’ve seen plenty of actors use props like cigarettes or food to make a point, Charlie just needs the tiny stick. Just watch the way he works the toothpick in his mouth while sitting at the counter of the diner. He is a loner and can indicate a lot of emotions with that punching bag face. The character is laconic because he has little interest in other people or events. If you watch the first five minutes you will know why. It’s been commented on in the notes on the DVD and on the IMDB page that Bronson has barely 500 words of dialogue in the film. Bronson drops into town, a beautifully shot New Orleans, off a freight train with nothing more than six bucks in his pocket. The title says it all, it’s the depression, jobs are hard to come by and everyone is looking to make a buck. The side plots might have been worthy, but the focus always needed to be on Bronson’s Chaney.
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In retrospect the movie is a excellent example of spare story telling and interesting characters. I don’t know if the studio interfered, but Hill was one of the writers and as director he called the shots. Both his part and James Coburn’s parts were trimmed by several sequences and he felt that the movie seemed like a program filler rather than something special. I read an interview with the great Strother Martin, where he complained a bit about how the movie was cut. This was a project that seemed destined to bring these two together. He would later go on to direct “The Warriors”, “48 Hours” and “ Streets of Fire” which was recently featured as the Movie of the Month on the Lambcast.
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He had screenplay credits for a number of films before he began directing, including the neo noir “Hickey and Boggs” and the Steve McQueen/Ali Macgraw thriller, “The Getaway”. This was the first movie directed by Walter Hill. The romance was almost always a secondary part of the main story and that is the only slightly different with this movie. In fact, she appears in four of the five films we are covering for this little festival. Still he managed to be an effective love interest in several films with his wife actress Jill Ireland. As he got older the features deepened and gave him real character.
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His skin was tough, his mouth was small and his eyes narrow. Charles Bronson had a face that looked like a catchers mitt that was left out in the sun for a long time. When the Italians refer to you as “The Ugly One” and the French call you “The Holy Monster”, you know you are not going to be cast as the romantic lead very often.