Charles Bronson once again re-teams with director J. Lee Thompson (it isn't exactly Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock is it?) for another hard boiled thriller. You don't have to have much cinematic experience to know what to expect when these two fellows put their talents together....and once again, it's all violence and foul language in a dreadfully familiar psycho-on-the-loose thriller.
Bronson plays a loose cannon of a cop - a sort of inexpressive cousin of Dirty Harry - who has a booze problem since separating from his wife (who's also a sleazy stripper). To add to his woes, he upsets the local Mob bigwig by gunning down his brother, and even more trouble heads his way when a female stalker starts calling him on the phone and warning him that she means to kill him. His wife and her slimy lover are murdered; Bronson is framed for the slaying and spends the rest of the picture eluding the cops whilst attempting to unveil the real killer, aided by a dirty-mouthed lady car thief.
The action sequences in this one are generally sub-standard, and the performances are fairly lazy. Wilhoite makes her movie debut and tries hard, but the script does her no favours by asking at least ten smart-ass wisecracks too many of her. Bronson looks like a caricature of himself, phoning in an undemanding Death Wish-style performance with the one difference being that this time he is marginally on the right side of the law. Snodgress, interestingly cast as a female crackpot, widens her eyes in violent rage and looks like a pantomime baddie in every predictable scene she's in.
Bronson plays a loose cannon of a cop - a sort of inexpressive cousin of Dirty Harry - who has a booze problem since separating from his wife (who's also a sleazy stripper). To add to his woes, he upsets the local Mob bigwig by gunning down his brother, and even more trouble heads his way when a female stalker starts calling him on the phone and warning him that she means to kill him. His wife and her slimy lover are murdered; Bronson is framed for the slaying and spends the rest of the picture eluding the cops whilst attempting to unveil the real killer, aided by a dirty-mouthed lady car thief.
The action sequences in this one are generally sub-standard, and the performances are fairly lazy. Wilhoite makes her movie debut and tries hard, but the script does her no favours by asking at least ten smart-ass wisecracks too many of her. Bronson looks like a caricature of himself, phoning in an undemanding Death Wish-style performance with the one difference being that this time he is marginally on the right side of the law. Snodgress, interestingly cast as a female crackpot, widens her eyes in violent rage and looks like a pantomime baddie in every predictable scene she's in.