Mr. Majestyk

Vince Majestyk doesn't want any trouble. He runs a melon farm, and his primary concern at the moment is to bring his crops in and get them to market. He hires migrant workers for this, but he's not an exploitative boss. He pays them well, provides good living conditions for them when they're working his farm, and he's right there with them out in the fields picking those melons and loading them onto a truck.He stands up for the migrant workers when they're being hassled or exploited, which gets him in trouble with the locals in his community and, ultimately, leads to his arrest on a trumped up charge. While in prison, he confronts and enrages a mob hitman (Al Lettieri) who then pursues a personal vendetta against him.Lettieri also played the killer pursuing Steve McQueen in "The Getaway." "Mr. Majestyk" is essentially "The Getaway" across a rural, desert landscape. The off-road car chases, shootouts, and violent confrontations are expertly handled by director Richard Fleischer. And, as with "The Getaway," there's also a love story at the heart of the film, with a romance developing between Majestyk and Nancy Chavez (Linda Cristal), one of the migrant workers.Bronson is somewhat unique among the top action stars of the era in that he was often cast in underdog roles. Among his more triumphant characters, he played outcasts, fugitives, and down-and-outers. He even sometimes died at the end of the film--a rarity for his contemporaries Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood. And he almost never got the girl at the end of the movie--even when the girl was played by his own wife, Jill Ireland. In "Mr. Majestyk," Bronson had one his best underdog roles.The tag line for the film on the cover of the Blu-ray, which reproduces the original poster art for "Mr. Majestyk," says it all:"He didn't want to be a hero. . .until the day they pushed him too far."

With Al Lettieri you can't go wrong.

I've been watching a few good "B Movies" (i.e. generous way to say entertaining in a low brow way). The best have been Burt Reynolds because of his unique persona. It trumps lame stories. His persona often blends well with some real nugget co-stars in a synergistic way. Burt, to me, is "King B".Charles Bronson is another such B movie iconic figure. While Burt's stock in trade was the lovable smart@$$, Bronson is the simple brooding and downtrodden man's man. This allows his characters to go many ways while remaining fairly close to the same core character. He is explosive if his fuse gets lit. The real on-screen tough guy of a generation when fighting was all fists and no CGI. I'd say students of film school 101 should watch this, or almost any, Bronson film as his performances define the genre.Mr. Majestyk lets Bronson play a man who only wants to be left to make a living raising watermelons. Criminals want to exploit the transient/migratory farm labor and Bronson won't easily be led. In fact he'll give the some lead after many attempts to simply be left alone. This s a decent story with many possible true to reality elements.I do not think this is a 5 or 4.5-star movie. I think it's a 4-star perhaps. None of the other characters in this movie make much of an impression so there's not a richness or depth of characters outside of Bronson. Bronson makes it worth watching. Bronson doesn't have Burt's charisma, but he is the believable man's man that's slightly downtrodden, vastly underrated, and about to erupt. A bit of a screen legend as such.

I think overall, for acting, for characters, and for Bronson at the peak of his prowess, this is probably his best movie. I loved the dialog, the set-up, and the bad guy was fantastic.The reason I don't give it five stars is that I can't stand action for the sake of action, no matter how unbelievable it is, and I have a big problem with car chases with lots of jumps--or maybe ANY jumps, if they're like the ones in the chase scene in this movie.Bronson's character, Vince Majestyk, is in the back of a pickup that is jumping sometimes twenty or thirty feet, often six feet in the air, and he manages to hang on and be just fine at the end of the jump--apparently not even a bruise to show for it. Same with the driver up in front. No seatbelt, but she doesn't smash her face on the steering wheel or even go through the windshield, the way people doing that kind of jump in reality would.It was an exciting chase scene, yes. And yes, I know it was just entertainment. But I am far more entertained by a frightening REAL chase scene than a comedy-like Dukes of Hazard-style chase scene. If you want a comedy, make the movie a comedy. Otherwise, real car chases are pretty scary too--STICK TO REALITY.That also includes the fact that Bronson was far older than he would have had to be to play a Vietnam vet. They should have made him a Korean War vet if they wanted to use an actor his age.Otherwise, the movie was a dang good, wild ride, and a movie Bronson should well have been proud of.

Mr. Majestyk (1974) is over 40 years old yet, is rarely shown on television, if at all. This stars Charles Bronson, a rugged looking albeit unassuming actor that thrives in action type films, and Mr. Majestyk certainly delivers on this. Bronson plays the character of Vince Majestyk, an ex Vietnam war veteran (and holder of a Silver star medal), whose main concern and raison d'etre is to harvest his water melons and deliver them to market as soon as possible. To this end Vince employs a gang leader to find a working crew from the local migrant community to work his land and to pick the water melons, and is prepared to pay a decent hourly rate of $1.40. However, things don't begin well when Vince discovers a young hot shot played by Paul Koslo, and his cronies, attempting to muscle in with their own crew of workers at a rate of $1.20. Needless to say that Vince doesn't take too kindly at the fact that this other crew and gang leaders are trespassing on his land, and isn't concerned about the offer to harvest the crop at the cheaper rate. Koslo (playing the part of Bobby Kopas) produces a rifle and threatens Vince before being man handled by him, and hit for six where it brings tears to your eyes!This results in Bobby Kopas registering a complaint with the local police who subsequently come out to arrest Vince for GBH. Vince is then thrown into the local police cell where he first comes across the (always) menacing looking Al Lettieri (playing the character of Frank Renda, a professional hitman for the Mafia). A couple of Al Lettieri's other memorable films whereby he plays the 'Badass heavy' are 'The Getaway' (1972) and 'McQ' (1974). Vince manages to rub up Frank the wrong way and decides to go on the lam with him during a failed attempt to break Frank free during a police transfer to the County jail. Frank sees red when Vince seemingly double crosses him whilst on the run and plots revenge.....Mr. Majestyk is an accomplished film directed by Richard Fleischer, who has made some very well known movies throughout his career e.g. 'The Vikings' (1958), 'Fantastic Voyage' (1966), 'The Boston Strangler' (1968), 'Soylent Green' (1973) and 'Mandingo' (1975) to name but a few.Bronson was 52 going on 53 when he made this film, and when you think of him starring in such films as 'Chato's Land' (1972), 'The Mechanic' (1972), 'The Stone Killer' (1973), 'Death Wish' (1974) and 'Breakout' (1975), this is testament to what a fine leading actor Bronson was in his heyday!The Signal One Blu-Ray release is a special edition packed with lots of extras including the standard audio commentary of the entire movie as well as interviews with the actress Lee Purcell (plays Wiley, Frank Renda's young moll girlfriend) and Richard Kline the film's cinematographer. The 18 rating seems rather harsh in this day and age but, a damned good film nevertheless.

''Vince Majestyk' (Bronson) is a 'Mellon' farmer, when the crop is ready he hires ateam of pickers to harvest the crop, however would-be hardman 'Bobby Kopas'(Paul Koslo) try's to impose his own workers on 'Vince' who is having none of it.A short while later after his encounter with 'Kopas' who he'd turned off his property'Vince' is arrested for assault.This proves to be only the beginning of 'Vince's' problems, when with other prisonershe is being transported for a hearing, gunmen try to hijack the Bus and Police escortwith the intention of releasing 'Mafia' Hit-Man 'Frank Renda' (Al Letteira)During a frantic fire-fight 'Vince' takes over the Bus and speeds off with just the Hitmanstill cuffed on-board.'Vince' try's to do the right thing, however the Police aren't listening, 'Frank' gives'Vince' a lucrative option, which is worth considering.The transfer goes pear-shaped, 'Vince' has clearly made an enemy of the Hit-man.'Frank' has issues he wants to resolve with a 'bullet'When 'Frank' has 'Vince's' crops partially destroyed and scares 'Vince's' migrant workersoff, 'Vince' gets somewhat vengeful toward his pursuer.'Frank' try's to corner 'Vince' who now has 'Nancy' (Linda Cristal) in tow, what follows see'sthe Hunter become the Hunted as 'Vince' turns the tables on the Hit-man.With 'Corrupt -Cops' often looking the other way, an intense car-chase on the back-roadsand dust tracks along with bullets flying the '1974' 'Hollywood-Hardman' 'Bronson' action-movie is definitely worth a visit.I thank fellow 'reviewers' 'Timelord' and 'Caligula' for the recommendation.(No Oscars to be won, however more than worth a viewing)

Terrific film and looks/sounds great on blu ray.

I saw this film many years ago on tv, Not the usual Bronson type, but the usual Bronson action. It is full of action once it gets going and the support actors are well selected for their parts.One normally expects Bronson to give back plenty of revenge once he gets wound up and this film shows him at his best. I recommend this to all Bronson fans as well as those that enjoy gangster come-upance. Very enjoyable with the hint of romance with rather a lovely co-star. Recommended.

Charles Bronson at his best, Great film with a good story line, Bronson is a farmer who is picked on by a mafia hitman,and his crew, but they soon regret it, buy it and see who comes out on top.