Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Awesome Movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Mr. MajestykYou should never anger a farmer because they exact revenge very early in the morning.Unfortunately, the hit-man in this action movie went and done it anyway.All ex-Army Ranger turned watermelon farmer Vince Majestyk (Charles Bronson) wants to do is bring in his harvest. A local hood, however, wants Majestyk to employ his lazy workers over Mexican migrants to perform this task. Their disagreement lands Majestyk in lockup where he gets entangled with a button-man (Al Lettieri) plotting a prison break. The melon farmer hopes to leverage this info towards saving his crop. But doing so makes him a marked man.A role tailored made for Bronson's brand of cool bravado, this skillfully directed adaptation of crime novelist Elmore Leonard's book has a real sense of grit and realism to it that most angry veteran movies lack.Moreover, melon farming sounds way more titillating than it actually is. Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

In recent times,it was in Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang's film "The Wayward Cloud" that viewers got to see a positive depiction of watermelons.It was a decade ago that watermelons became everybody's envy.At this stage,it is clear that eight out of ten viewers would tell that there wouldn't be much action in a film about a watermelon farmer.However,they are proved wrong as "Mr.Majestyk" is a rare action film which depicts the troubles a simple man gets for not agreeing to the wishes of some corrupt local men.Action superstar Charles Bronson plays the eponymous role which reveals more of his concern for fellow human beings than mere brawn. Violence is the last thing on his mind as he always tries to reason with bad guys.Director Richard Fleischer has crafted his film in such a manner that one can define what an ideal action film should be ? As 'Mr.Majestyk' has plenty of drama with occasional flashes of high voltage action,one can say that an ideal action film should have equal doses of action as well as drama.This is exactly what viewers get to see in this film.

Especially if the man in question is the great Charles Bronson. The iconic tough guy actor plays the title role, who merely wants to go about his business in peace. And that business is watermelon farming. When Majestyk is arrested for roughing up sleazy, worthless little weasel Bobby Kopas (Paul Koslo), it brings him into contact with syndicate hit man Frank Renda (Al Lettieri). After a series of incidents, Renda comes to utterly despise Majestyk and want him dead.Very capably directed by the versatile Richard Fleischer, "Mr. Majestyk" features an engaging Bronson performance, and a strong supporting cast. The tongue in cheek antics are courtesy of screenwriter Elmore Leonard. Brief bursts of violence and a few action set pieces help to make this watchable, as well as a brilliant music score by Charles Bernstein. Lettieri is an effectively intense antagonist, Linda Cristal has lots of appeal as migrant worker Nancy Chavez, and Koslo is great fun as the pathetic Kopas, although Lee Purcell has an underdeveloped role as Rendas' associate "Wiley". Taylor Lacher, Frank Maxwell, Alejandro Rey, Jordan Rhodes, and Bert Santos are all good as well. Veteran character actor Richard Erdman appears uncredited as attorney Dick Richard.In the end, "Mr. Majestyk" is no great shakes, but is still nicely plotted and solidly entertaining for its duration. For a disposable bit of entertainment, it is quite agreeable.Seven out of 10.

With the release of "Death Wish" on July 24, 1974, the career of Charles Bronson was re-energized, granting him almost superstar status after over 20 years in the business. This tale of vigilante vengeance, set on the mean streets of NYC, proved so popular with the public that it led to no fewer than four sequels, with ever-diminishing returns, both financial and artistic. Just one week before "Death Wish"'s release, however, another vengeance tale starring Bronson hit the big screens, and that film--"Mr. Majestyk"--though certainly less popular, seminal and influential, was perhaps even more exciting and well done. In the July 17th picture, Bronson stars as Vince Majestyk, a former Vietnam vet (who had received the Silver Star) and current watermelon farmer in the fictitious town of Edna, Colorado. When we first encounter him, it is harvest time, and Majestyk's overriding concern is employing Mexican laborers at $1.40 an hour to harvest his 160-acre spread. Trouble soon looms, however, when Majestyk is put in the slammer after a run-in with a small-time protection-racket thug. While in jail, Majestyk encounters Frank Renda, a Mob hit-man played with growling savagery by Al Lettieri (who many may recall as Sollozzo in 1972's "The Godfather"). And while being transferred by bus to another location, the men are embroiled in a violent attempt by the Mob to free the hit-man; the attempt fails, and when Majestyk tries to turn Renda in himself, he arouses the perpetual wrath of the gunman. Both are ultimately freed, but now Majestyk's hopes of bringing his crop in become increasingly problematic, as both Renda and his goons target both Majestyk and his helpers, as well as his spread, for vengeance....Besides the attack on the prison bus just mentioned, "Mr. Majestyk" features several other extremely well-done action sequences and violent moments. Highlights include the nasty encounter that Majestyk's foreman, Larry Mendoza (Alejandro Rey; not to be confused with Fernando Rey!), has with Renda's goons; the slaying of a cop in a roadside Portosan; and the film's entire final 20 minutes, during which Majestyk and his gal pal, Mexican farm laborer Nancy Chavez (the beautiful Linda Cristal), elude Renda and his thugs during an off-road chase (Majestyk's pickup truck must be the sturdiest such vehicle ever shown on film!), leading to a cat-and-mouse shoot-out at the hit-man's rented lodge. Bronson is simply wonderful in the film, and makes us root for this decent man (a vet, ex-convict through no fault of his own, a divorcée with a 7-year-old daughter, a hard worker, an employer who treats his hires very fairly, a good citizen who turns down a $25,000 bribe from a gangster) throughout. His fine performance is matched by all the supporting players in the film, especially by Lettieri, who is truly menacing as the frothing hit-man hot for revenge. The film's script, by Elmore Leonard, based on his own novel of that same year, is both winning and witty, and the beautiful countryside of Colorado has been nicely captured by DOP Richard H. Kline. Director Richard Fleischer has brought this picture in with a very sure hand, and that, really, should come as no surprise. Fleischer had previously excelled in any number of film genres, directing film noirs ("Armored Car Robbery" and "The Narrow Margin," two of the best noirs ever), sci-fi ("20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Fantastic Voyage," "Soylent Green"), horror flicks ("See No Evil," "10 Rillington Place") and historical blockbusters ("The Vikings," "Barabbas," "Tora! Tora! Tora!"), and here demonstrates how very adept he could be at the modern-day action thriller. But the bulk of this film's success must surely reside on Bronson's sturdy shoulders. Though pushing 53 here, he yet proved to be a terrific action performer in this picture. Being shortly preceded by "The Valachi Papers" and "The Mechanic," and soon to be followed by not only "Death Wish," but "Breakheart Pass" and "Hard Times" as well, it is easy to see that Bronson, during the mid-'70s, was on some kind of a genuine renaissance roll. And "Mr. Majestyk" is one of the best of that bunch....