The greatest movie ever made..!

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Purely Joyful Movie!

just watch it!

Solid action drama with good leads. I liked how calm and quiet Bronson was. Special effects still hold up well. Some exciting sequences. Plus scenic cliffhangers along the Italian coast. Intriguing relationship between master Bronson and apprentice Vincent. Great '70s feel helped by Jerry Fielding score.

Despite a family friend being a big fan of their work,I've never had the chance to catch a glimpse of Michael Winner/Charles Bronson's collaborations.Checking updates on Netflix UK,I found out that one of their team-ups was going to be taken off the site in a few days,which led to me fixing things up with the mechanic.The plot:Cutting out any connection to a social or personal life, Arthur Bishop trains himself to be a mechanic/hit-man for a group which demands the very best from their assassins. Successfully following an order to kill a member of the group,Bishop attends the funeral of his victim. During the funeral,Bishop crosses paths with the victims son Steve McKenna. Finding McKenna to have a detachment to life that matches his,Bishop begins to think that McKenna has the tools to be a fellow mechanic.View on the film:For someone who always sounded like the life of the party in interviews,director Michael Winner displays an unexpected ear for silence,with Winner breaking Bishop's merciless Film Noir loner veins with extended sequences featuring no dialogue,which strike at the cold, soulless emotion Bishop feels towards his job. Whilst screenwriter Lewis John Carlino complained over the hard-nosed script being softened,Winner keeps the Noir chill at the frozen heart of Bishop, shining in stylish scatter-gun tracking shots keeping track of the mechanical nature of Bishop's kills.Bringing an outsider in to join Bishop and sending them both to Italy,Winner pushes the Noir shoulder aside for a dash in Italian Crime,that despite bringing some frantic chase moments in,does leave to a pause in looking at the empty reflection of Bishop. Opening Bishop's bag of tools for the final,Winner whips the title back to the dour Noir soul of Bishop,in a richly cynical ending that delivers a burning parting shot from Bishop. Stuck with a smug Jan- Michael Vincent as Steve McKenna, Bronson cuts a note of pure Noir class as Bishop. Slithering in the shadows of his victims, Bronson brilliantly expresses in silence the coldness Bishop feels towards each murder,as Bishop sets his target on another mechanical kill.

The first 15 minutes has no dialog whatsoever. Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is a hired killer and we see him at work as he stalks his target for the opening of the movie. He is the iconic lone gunman. He ends up with a young protégé Steve McKenna (Jan-Michael Vincent). Jill Ireland plays a call girl.The action is a cross between gritty brutality and unlikely Bond action. It's somewhat watchable. There's enough explosions to keep us entertained. It's violent but it doesn't have a viewpoint like Death Wish. If you're a Charles Bronson Death Wish fan, you'll like this. Or then again, maybe you're a Jan-Michael Vincent fan.

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.