Mr. Majestyk (1974)
MGM DVD (region 1)
d. Richard Fleischer; pr. Walter Mirisch; scr. Elmore Leonard; ph. Richard H. Kline; m. Charles Bernstein; ed. Ralph E. Winters; cast. Charles Bronson, Al Lettieri, Linda Cristal, Paul Koslo, Lee Purcell, Alejandro Rey (103 mins)
The 1970s saw grizzled actor Charles Bronson at the peak of his stardom. Although a familiar face and huge star in Europe it was only in this decade that Bronson became a major box-office presence in America. His films from here remain amongst his finest, including a particular series of films for British director Michael Winner that best established the actor’s vigilante persona and its associated sense of honor offended. In between his films for Winner (which included the breakthrough hit Death Wish), Bronson made a number of lesser known starring vehicles, some of which rather effectively probed his range as an actor and some of which merely capitalized on his existing tough-guy persona. So it was that Bronson made Mr. Majestyk for director Richard Fleischer, a true Hollywood veteran whose prolific work in the 1970s remains unfairly overlooked. Yet according to Fleischer’s reminiscences, Bronson was a callous man who once knowingly so insulted the crew that they threatened to quit in their entirety. Although Fleischer seems not to have been enthralled by Bronson as a person, he was well aware of the actor’s image and was able to use it to shape a slightly offbeat action vehicle in which Bronson is clearly identified as a working class ordinary American – this idea of the lower-class everyman is not without interest as it indicates the deliberate intention to set the actor up as a hero for the working poor.
From an original script by Elmore Leonard, Mr. Majestyk stars Bronson as a watermelon farmer whose crop is ready to be picked. He is an ex-con who has started a farm but is now just one crop away from failure and economic ruin. He hires a number of illegal Mexican fruit-pickers but finds that a young and boastful criminal (Paul Koslo) is trying to force him to take other crews of laborers. Bronson refuses to be intimidated and an altercation ensues. Koslo then presses assault charges and Bronson is arrested. In prison, awaiting transportation is a notorious Mafia hitman (Al Lettieri) with whose manners Bronson is left unimpressed. As the prisoners are finally moved to another location, mobsters try to break Lettieri from custody, forcing Bronson to flee alongside Lettieri. Bronson holds the violent man a kind of hostage, attempting to use him as a bargaining chip to secure his own release. When this does not go as planned, Lettieri vows revenge against the lowly melon picker who has so humiliated him. Lettieri’s henchmen then force Koslo to drop the charges and now Bronson returns to get his melons picked, finding out that no crew, except for his few remaining loyal friends and new romantic interest (Linda Cristal), will work with him for fear of repercussions. Lettieri intends to drive Bronson to ruin, until Bronson realizes that this threat will not go away and decides to take action on his own. read more