geohaber-2
A good Bronson performance, but the movie is weak and the "hit man" is cartoonish...looks like someone who couldn't make The Sopranos team. The bad guys have dozens of ways to dispatch Bronson's character, but botch it up time after time. A pretty one-dimensional story, but a good one for Bronson fans.
LeonLouisRicci
Charles Bronson had a Prolific 25 Year Career in Movies and TV before His Totally Bonkers "Breakout" Year when "Death Wish" (1974) Hit Theatres and Bronson became an Unstoppable Macho Movie Man throughout the Seventies. He was 53 Years Old.This Film was Released just Weeks Prior to the "Death Wish" Megahit. It is a Favorite among the Bronson Brigade as a Personification of the On-Screen Persona and 1970's Type Action.With Names like Richard Fleischer, a Genre Hopping Above Average Director and Elmore Leonard, a Popular and Prolific Post-Modern Pulp Novel Writer, this Movie Draws Attention to Itself. The Result is a Likable, sometimes Gritty Film with a then Trendy Social Conscience Back-Dropping the Cartoon Violence.The Movie is Stylish but not Ultra-Stylish (Sam Peckinpah) and at its Best is Light, but not Too Light Entertainment that Goes Down Easy and makes for a Ride Worth Taking. Al Literati is along just after His Star Turn as "Rudy" in Peckinpah's "The Getaway" (1972).Overall, it's a Bronson Show all the way, Take it or Leave it, and You're either with its Vibe or You're Not. Nowhere Near the Star's Best and Far from the Worst. It's Typical and a Treat for Fans.Note...Every Critic on the Planet cannot let this one go without a Melons Joke or Pun. So for fear of being a Party-Pooper...There are no Babes in this Movie with low-cut fronts or any topless Scenes that were common for the Period.
Michael_Elliott
Mr. Majestyk (1974) *** (out of 4) Melon farmer Vince Majestyk (Charles Bronson) has a wise guy trying to force his workers onto his land, which lands the farmer in jail on assault. While in jail, hit man Frank Renda (Al Lettieri) tries an escape but the farmer puts an end to his plans. Soon the hit man eventually breaks away from Majestyk but he has sworn vengeance on the farmer and comes after his crops and him.MR. MAJESTYK is one of Bronson's better pictures from this period even though there's no question that it runs a tad bit too long and has a rather long-winded plot. With that said, if you're a fan of Bronson then the Majestyk character is certainly one of the most memorable of his career and it allows the actor to show off his tough side but it also gives him a couple very funny bits.The biggest factor that makes this film work is of course the cast. Bronson is tough-as-iron as you'd expect and this role really fits him well. The farmer is obviously your everyday type of person and Bronson fits this perfectly. He just looks, sounds and walks like a melon farmer. As I said, there's action throughout, which the actor handles without a problem but he's also given a chance to play a real character and deliver a real performance. For those who say Bronson was just a figure and not an actor, show them this. Lettieri was making a great career playing worthless scumbag and he's wonderful here as well. Linda Cristal and Lee Purcell are both good in their roles Paul Koslo is so slimy as the worthless wannabe tough guy.The film contains a great number of action scenes that are all perfectly directed by Richard Fleischer. Some of the memorable moments include the terrific car chase at the end and there's another very good sequence where Bronson has some fun beating the tar out of the hit man. The film also benefits from some great visuals and a very good music score. MR. MAJESTYK is everything you'd expect from a 70s action film.
Cristi_Ciopron
Although the desert landscape and lowlife milieu appalled me strongly, I remember having seen the Majestyk flick twice, or thrice, knowing as I did that I was supposed to enjoy it, and a similar impression was made upon me, at the same age, by an _actioner with Chuck Norris and Carradine, but I never managed to like Norris as much as Bronson, whom I had first seen in a railway western from the early '70s. Anyway, Bronson brought and suggested a world that was very unlike my own—and sordid, depressing. I know Majestyk isn't a very acclaimed flick, quite on the contrary; but, when I was merely 12, I strove to enjoy it, it was supposed to be manly and what not. (It wasn't boring—and I didn't find it ridiculous, but convincing.) As subject, it's fit for Bronson—sleaze masquerading as social awareness —socially aware sleaze.Its world of scum seemed alien, menacing and disheartening. Later, I grasped that it was the world of pulp and hardboiled fiction—taken, of course, here, to a very undemanding and mindless level. I mean, this is not, I presume, how hardboiled is supposed to look like.Nowadays, movies bore me—maybe all of them, and certainly the very idea of watching them, or taking an interest in them, as I have found them to be only surrogates of art or fun; I have ceased seeing movies. Therefore, I only publish here now and then. As I don't watch movies anymore, perhaps I will go on remembering movies I have seen long ago. Take it as a treat for the fans of this page. The cold ashes of my movie criticism, and of a former identity.
AD
