Scott LeBrun Charles Bronson plays Arthur Bishop, an experienced hit man with a real skill at what he does. His work is almost like art - very morbid art, to be sure, but he's not content to merely drop victims with a bullet to the head. Unfortunately, he ends up ordered by his bosses to eliminate his old family friend, Harry McKenna (Keenan Wynn). After reluctantly doing the job, he finds himself drawn to Harry's son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent), a cheerfully unambitious young man. Arthur decides that he will take on Steve as a partner, a move that will not sit well with the people for whom Arthur works.After their historic first teaming on the Western "Chato's Land", Bronson and director Michael Winner reunited shortly after, for what is essentially a character study. And that character, much like Bronson himself, is fascinating, revealing himself as a careful and precise person and also highly cultured. Not surprisingly, he has little time for such things as relationships (as shown in the scene with Arthur and a lady friend, played by Bronsons' wife Jill Ireland). There are fine action scenes here, to be sure, especially a motorcycle chase, and there are a couple of explosions along the way. But first and foremost, this is a film that takes a clinical look at two fairly icy men. The most telling scene occurs when Arthur and Steve debate how long it will take Steve's suicidal girlfriend (Linda Ridgeway) to succumb to the slashing of her wrists. Originally, screenwriter Lewis John Carlino had intended for the evolving relationship between professional killer and neophyte to be overtly homosexual, with the younger man at odds with his desires, but that idea was nixed, and in order for his script to get filmed, Carlino had to remove almost all of that subtext.Jerry Fielding supplies a terrific score, and the acting is efficient from our two main characters. Bronson is well cast, and Vincent holds his own quite well opposite his veteran co-star. Wynn is wonderful in his brief time on screen.Certainly the double twist ending is effective and "The Mechanic" is all the better for it. In the end, this is a good collaboration between a star and director that carried on to the iconic masterpiece "Death Wish".Seven out of 10.

Michael Thompson Charles Bronson has a tough imagine, image that I find totally boring now, in everything he does,including the Death Wish Films.He strolls quietly and unassuming through his movies to a degree which I find frustrating, yes he gets his man, and yes he is predictable.The Mechanic served up yet another Michael Winner directed movie. This was no different.In its favour there was a twist in the end which I never saw coming.But ultimately this movie was for me a total bore.I want to like Charles Bronson following his superb performances in the Dirty Dozen, and The Great Escape, where he revealed passion and anger and frustration.But for me, since Dirty Dozen, and The Great Escape, Charles Bronson has put all that away in favour of the formula Death Wish films, which Charles Bronson strolls through as though walking in the park. The Mechanic was no exception to that rule.I apologies to all Charles Bronson fans reading this.

jcohen1 If you are a Bronson fan you will enjoy The Mechanic. Arthur Bishop is seemingly a chess playing Paladin type with thinner mustache, a journeyman plotting and mapping his hits while sipping his wine and living in his estate. Next minute he is in a seedy part of down dressed as Bronson typically dresses and living in a dump.The dump has a pretty good view of his target. The target a guy I could kill in two minutes. Yet the kill is so elaborate you may never drink English breakfast tea again.We see that Bishop is a mess and is lonely. He relieves his loneliness by visiting a call girl who acts out a sad fantasy. Bronson is vulnerable in this movie like never before.JMV is great looking and annoying to be the perfect foil. Educated types will tell you this is "the sorcerer's apprentice". I just enjoyed most of the movie and seeing Bronson off his A game. I will see the remake with Jason Statham but I'm not drinking any Italian red.

KineticSeoul I have to admit the main reason why I decided to check this movie out was because of the new 2011 remake of this movie. And for the most part I am glad to have checked this movie out, it's a decent movie about a cold blooded hit-man. Where the hit-man is in danger as much as his victims and he does his job in a manner where it all seems like a accident and not a assassination. In fact the first 15 minutes of it shows the hit-man's method of doing his job and there is no dialogue at all until the job is done, but the set up is done well enough to not need any dialogue for that 15 minutes. Than the movie basically revolves around the hit-man taking one of his victims son under his wings and start teaching him the ways and skills to be a hit-man. The thing is the kid that he takes under his wings just isn't all that likable from his looks to his personality. Thus the parts where the hit-man, real name Arthur Bishop shows him the ropes just wasn't that engaging or all that enjoyable. It also made me wonder why Arthur decided to make him his associate, besides the kid probably has potential. For a hit-man that is cautious and careful in his methods just didn't make much sense. But than there wouldn't be a movie since most of the plot is about a assassin teaching someone else to be a assassin. And another negative aspect of this movie is that it lacks in the action department and the script start to fall short and boring after a while. And the music is more annoying to listen to than it does it's job of building tension. Charles Bronson did a pretty good job playing a hit-man with no remorse and cold blooded as well while doing what he does best. What drives this movie is the motives of both characters, trying to guess and find out what there true intentions are for keeping each other company. It's a enjoyable movie, but didn't seem like it was crafted that well and didn't flow smoothly. Not one of the best in these type of genre but still worth checking out, there is just better films of these type out there. The ending however makes this movie unique and a worthy thriller.6.8/10