Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

If you are the most popular action film star of your time, it is likely that you have enough clout to have your spouse cast in as many of your films as possible. Charles Bronson had such clout in the 1970s when he often appeared with his wife Jill Ireland. Their on-screen coupling, however, didn’t always produce the best results, and one such example is Love and Bullets, the 1979 action thriller directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Bronson plays Charlie Ungers, a police detective in Phoenix, Arizona, a city which is affected by bad drugs pushed by Joe Bomposa (played by Rod Steiger), a powerful and seemingly untouchable mob boss who can afford even to have Charlie’s fellow officers assassinated. Charlie is more than willing to help the FBI in a special undercover mission which could finally bring Bomposa behind bars. Bomposa’s mistress Jackie Pruitt (played by Ireland) has testified at a US Senate hearing, and, although her testimony didn’t reveal anything of importance, Bomposa had her sent to Switzerland. Charlie is to go there and discreetly bring her back to the USA where she would be talked into becoming a witness against her lover. Unbeknownst to Charlie, Bomposa’s friends from the mob are convinced that Jackie might turn and Bomposa reluctantly agrees to have her killed and hires top Italian assassin Vittorio Faroni (played by Henry Silva) for the job. Charlie would now have to use all of his skills to help Jackie survive the ordeal.

Jill Ireland wasn’t known as a great actress, and it shows in her rare leading role, where she plays a character who represents a strange combination of dumb blonde stereotypes and a Dolly Parton impersonator. This, together with a strange accent, makes her at times annoying and, what is even more important, she lacks on-screen chemistry with her husband. Another miscasting can be found in Rod Steiger who deliberately goes over the top as a stuttering and overemotional mob boss, often bringing Love and Bullets into the realms of melodramatic silliness. The film becomes watchable only when it allows Charles Bronson to do what he does best and play a quiet and efficient action hero. There are some poorly edited scenes and director Stuart Rosenberg has serious problems with pacing, but Bronson excels as usual, especially in the scene when his character, who lacks a gun, turns to improvisation and crafts a blowgun with which he would take care of heavily armed Bad Guys. Picturesque Swiss winter locations and Lalo Schifrin’s soundtrack also add to the film, but the general impression is ultimately disappointing and Love and Bullets might serve as another argument against Hollywood nepotism.

RATING: 4/10 (++)