Best movie of this year hands down!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

An Arizona Police Inspector named Charlie Congers (Charles Bronson) is sent on a dangerous assignment to Switzerland to bring an outrageous mafioso(Rod Steigers)'s love interest named Jackie Pruit(Jill Ireland , Bronson's wife) back to USA to testify against him in trial . Meanwhile some killers (Henry Silva, Paul Koslo) attempt to murder Jackie .The picture contains suspense , action, thrills and is quite entertaining , though average . Excellent Rod Steiger as peculiar stuttering mobster who amuses himself with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald films . Very good support cast formed by prestigious secondaries as Strother Martin , Bradford Dillman , Albert Salmi , Michael V Gazzo , Val Avery and many others. Special mention to Henry Silva as a nasty and sadist criminal , as ever. Pretty locations from Switzerland well photographed by Fred Koenekamp and Anthony Richmond . Atmospheric musical score by Lalo Schifrin with certain influence in Ennio Morricone music.Rosenberg's regular direction that underlines the strength of personalities involved , undercutting the less pleasant aspects and putting the focus squarely on Bronson's tough performance and Ireland's excessive silly character. Stuart Rosenberg was one of the best TV directors of the 50s and 60s and subsequently realized segment of crime and mystery series . In 1967 directed his first film , the successful ¨Cool and Luke¨ with Paul Newman . Booth of them attempted in vain to repeat the formula in three further movies together ¨WUSA movie, Pocket money and The drowning pool¨ . However he achieved other two hit smash in the terror genre with ¨The Amityville horror¨ and again with a prison film ¨Brubaker¨. Since then Rosenberg's output has been unsatisfactory and sporadic as ¨The Pope of Greenwich village ¨ a Mickey Rourke vehicle . Rating : Passable though mediocre thriller.

I like Charles Bronson. In some film fan circles this is considered a crime, but I've learned to live with it. Ánd then there is "Love and Bullets". Considering the production values this must have been a major release in it's day. And watching the trailer you could guess why people went to the cinema for it. Seeing it in the day and age of Jason Bourne is a different story: A crook is on the phone. He calls his boss who is outside. We hear the phone ring, the boss hears it, walks into the house and after an excruciating long period of time reaches the phone. In a Matt Damon outing this scene would probably take 15 seconds, even if he had to use the 1979 model of a phone used here. Look at the geographical distance covered in the film. Bourne, Bond or any given thriller hero might cover this mileage in 2 minutes. Bronson takes about an hour. He walks, he sleeps and has to deal with Mrs Jill Bronson again. And as I've said before: she was an acting disaster. I hope their marriage was okay, she nearly ruined some Bronson movies all by herself. Lalo Schifrin's music is intriguing, but the very short motive is overused a zillion different times. But overall Charlie is okay, Rod Steiger is ridiculous (but hopefully on purpose), the scenery helps and the final scene makes you smile as you do in most classic Bronson outings. And as opposed to other reviewers: it is on DVD and has been for a long, long time through Carlton Entertainment in Europe. Sound of outdoor scenes is awful. All in all, this was the last big budget film for Bronson. It should have been slightly better. It could have been.

Every good writer turns out an occasional flop, which is exactly the kind of film Wendell Mayes conceived as 'Love and Bullets.' By 1979, Mayes was at the end of a prolific career in which he wrote screenplays for three Otto Preminger films (including 'Anatomy of a Murder'), Ronald Neame's blockbuster 'The Poseidon Adventure,' and the adaptation of 'Death Wish.' His next-to-last film credit, however, was this dull, meandering chase story from Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment firm that he co-wrote with John Melson, a scribe only noted for 1965's 'Battle of the Bulge.''Love and Bullets' was one in a series of disappointing roles for Charles Bronson as the 1970s closed. Bronson was a favorite actor of Sir Lew Grade, but their collaboration proved mostly a failure. While 'Love and Bullets' and 'Borderline' made chump change at the box office, Bronson dropped out of the entertaining 'Firepower' and paired up with director J. Lee Thompson for the sleazy political thriller 'The Evil That Men Do.' 'Love and Bullets' is an ordinary crime film, casting Bronson as a police lieutenant, his wife Jill Ireland as a damsel in distress, and Rod Steiger as a European-based Mafioso. While it is impossible to figure out how much of Mayes's work actually reached the film, 'Love and Bullets' feels like an incomplete project, with most of its 103-minute run time following Bronson and Ireland across the Swiss Alps. Very little happens to keep a viewer interested and the movie feels much longer than it actually is.Bronson plays Charlie Congers, an Arizona police lieutenant who is asked by the FBI to track down Jackie Pruit (Ireland), a Southern call girl. Pruit is the devoted lover of mob boss Joe Bomposa (Steiger), who rules from his Swiss villa. The feds believe that Pruit knows everything about Bomposa's operations in the U.S. and can be forced to testify against him if returned to the country. Congers, having seen a police officer murdered by Bomposa's drug ring, agrees to the job and gets sucked into a cat-and-mouse game with Bomposa and Vittorio Farroni (Henry Silva), an assassin hired to kill Pruit before she tattles. The film is a standard chase drama; Bronson engages in hand-to-hand combat, throws an axe, and fashions a dart gun from the rod of a floor lamp.Considering the amount of talent that Wendell Mayes had, this plot is incredibly underdeveloped; for Bronson addicts, it can be a trying experience. There are occasional action scenes and your odd explosion, but we are mostly treated to Bronson and Ireland trudging across snowcaps and riding on trains, dragged out even further by Stuart Rosenberg's horrendous pacing and constant dissolves from one scene to the next. Rosenberg, who directed 'Cool Hand Luke' and replaced John Huston on this film, either had no idea of how to develop the material or completely misfired in trying to give it life. The film has underlying humor that works at times, but is mostly centered on Jill Ireland's character, which is one of the most annoying I've ever seen.Like Love and Bullets' scriptwriting, its actors are deep in talent but underutilized. Charles Bronson gives the only decent performance, simply because he's the lead actor and has more to work with. Ireland portrays a blonde, Southern bubblehead who dons wigs and passes her time by making dolls; her character is grating and as a fan of Ireland, I resent the fact that she is made so unlikable in this film. Ireland also falls conveniently in love with Bronson during the movie's second half and it doesn't look very convincing. Rod Steiger bombs as a stuttering Mafioso, rarely talking below a yell and undergoing his grammar school audition for 'The Untouchables.' Henry Silva and Paul Koslo play decent smaller roles but never supply enough menace for a viewer to care about them. The only element that truly stands out is breathtaking photography by Fred Koenekamp and Anthony Richmond, which captures the Swiss Alps' enveloping qualities. Lalo Schifrin, known for his sleek music throughout the 1970s, disposes of 'wakka-chicka' and uses a more conventional style that is pleasing, but at times mushy.While Bronson is very likable, 'Love and Bullets' feels like a project that was abandoned before ending up in ITC's hands as a last resort. Compared to other gems like 'Death Wish,' 'The Mechanic,' 'Hard Times,' and 'Breakout,' 'Love and Bullets' easily ranks as one of Bronson's more forgettable credits. Bronson, unfortunately, would step down from these glossier projects to begin his run at the Cannon Group, starring in workmanlike films like 'Death Wish II,' '10 to Midnight,' and 'Murphy's Law.' Jill Ireland maintained her presence in Bronson's films until dying of cancer in 1990. Stuart Rosenberg later directed the Robert Redford vehicle 'Brubaker' in 1980 and 'My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys' in 1991.At the moment, 'Love and Bullets' is only available in VHS copy on the Internet and, considering its dubious place on Bronson's résumé, may take a while to reach DVD. CBS/FOX Video retailed a VHS tape with good color and mediocre sound in 1989. The 'big box' presentation ruins all of the scenery that was intended for theaters, but these same images can be seen in a travel guide or by hopping on a plane to Europe. Unless you're a Bronson die-hard or admire his relationship with Jill Ireland, 'Love and Bullets' is a negligible film that only deserves a rare showing on late-night TV.* ½ out of 4Roving Reviewer - www.geocities.com/paul_johnr

True, this is an "B" level action, adventure, crime film, but it has some genuinely (and surely intentionally) hilarious moments. Rod Steiger chews up the scenery and Jill Ireland has some great opportunities too. The net effect is -- not the slickest film by far, but a very entertaining one.