Chateau Lloyd

I'm not the only one building up a DVD library based on discount-bin multi-packs.  A friend of mine recently acquired four Charles Bronson movies from the mid-70s .  So far, we've seen two:  The Stone Killer and Breakout.

The 70s were breakout years for Bronson, and he was machining out multiple films a year.  None of them became what we think of as blockbusters, but they were cheap, quick to film and brought in a steady income for the studios.

Most never reached the societal impact of the original Death Wish, which along with Dirty Harry, created a new genre of tough-guy vigilante/rogue cop films.

In The Stone Killer, Bronson plays a rogue detective and it is very similar to other films of the genre.

Breakout is a little off the beaten path.  In that film Bronson is a low-rent pilot/schemer who is hired to break a wealthy American out of a Mexican prison where he's been confined on the orders of his corrupt and evil grandfather.  The reason for this is never made clear, but of course complications ensue.

In The Stone Killer, we once again learn that it's super dangerous to be Bronson's movie girlfriend.

Breakout is fun because once again, Spain serves as a proxy for Mexico.  I particularly appreciated the Federales having Spanish Mauser rifles.

Neither of these are classics in any sense.  Still, as someone who grew up in the age of movie rentals, being able to buy 4 films for $10 is quite a deal.