User reviews

What's on mind… love definitely more so than bullets. The premise seems rather straight-forward, but within the context is a primarily downbeat and melancholic angle. The crime/thriller slant is pretty low-key (as the chase scenes leisurely tick along) with the main focus being on the three performances; Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland and Rod Steiger and the eventual bonds that are crafted and from that the situations that occur. Love follows on… tragedy also with guts and grit winning out.

Police detective Charlie Congers has been picked to head to Switzerland to rescue an ex-mistress of crime boss Joe Bomposa who now wants her dead. Getting her first means a chance to probably convict Bomposa, but is she as innocent as she claims to know anything of importance about his crime ring.

I'm not particularly surprised to see this Bronson outing become a forgettable title in his career that rarely sees daylight, and those who had seen it mainly want to bombard it for being tedious and bland. I didn't feel that at all. It has a very European vibe to the get-up with a stylish and almost uncommon development. Stuart Rosenberg's textured direction (who replaced John Huston) is economically surefooted, as he works with the beautifully moody and authentic European backdrops (that the compelling cinematography frames) and constructs moments of high-strung suspense. Plentiful they're not, but those few are well-executed. I just wished that the dangerous side wasn't kept in check. Writer Wendell Mayles' (the man behind 'Death Wish') minimal screenplay is simply old-fashioned and the pacing is quite relaxed. Concisely structured. but nothing surprises… well the final climaxes do come up and pinch you. Were I thought it achieved a rather powerful imprint was because of Lalo Schifran's arousing score. It was exotic, colourful and flavoured. Never did it not make some sort of impression. I would say it's up there with his inspired score for 'Dirty Harry (1971)'. He knows how to place the action or feelings on screen with music and successfully push the buttons.

A strong cast do a serviceable job. Bronson's impassively stalwart turn fits accordingly and his chemistry with an empathic Jill Ireland (his actual wife) pays dividends. She was practically in nearly every movie he made during this period. Rod Steiger puts in an outstandingly staggering performance that grows with believable weight. Henry Silva and Paul Koslo hold up well in the bad guy roles. Also featuring with fine turns are Bradford Dillman, Strother Martin, Michael V. Gazzo and Val Avery.

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.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bronson co-star in Love and Bullets. He as a cop and she as a protected witness. She needed a lot of protection.

It's an average Bronson action/adventure saga, but with the unusual twist that Jill Ireland actually comes off much better than her husband does. I did enjoy her saucy portrayal of mobster Rod Steiger's moll. It's a combination of Judy Holliday's Billie Dawn and Tammy Faye Bakker. I'll tell you this Tammy Faye must have been the makeup consultant for Jill on this film.

Rod Steiger has an interesting part as a gangster with a stutter. He's persuaded by his associates to do in the woman he loves because they're all afraid she'll rat them out. Broderick Crawford's solution was to finally propose marriage to Holliday in Born Yesterday. Jill might actually have done it.

Instead she's chosen for a rub out and Bronson is the Phoenix City detective who travels to Switzerland to get her back and into protective custody. He's a by the book cop, until the end when he evolves into his Death Wish character.

Love and Bullets said to say can't really make its mind up whether it's a straight action/adventure or satire of same. Indecision costs it many points from reviewers, but Bronson fans should like it.

Love and Bullets (1979)

** (out of 4)

Charlie Congers (Charles Bronson), an Arizona cop, is sent to Switzerland by the government to try and track down the girlfriend (Jill Ireland) of an infamous gangster (Rod Steiger). The cops only goal is to bring her back but soon the gangster puts a hit out on her life.

LOVE AND BULLETS is a pretty flat, boring and lifeless picture, which is somewhat shocking when you consider that it was meant to be a major blockbuster. All sorts of money was spent on the production but very little excitement actually made it to the screen, which is too bad for Bronson fans as the actor turns in a decent performance and the setting is certainly great enough to where something more should have came from it.

There are all sorts of problems with this movie but we'll start with the fact that it just has an overall cheap and tired look. There are quite a few action scenes throughout the running time but they're just downright boring for the most part and I'd argue that there's no energy to be found in any of them. What's worse is the fact that there's clearly meant to be some suspense as the cop and woman barely get away from the hit men but that never happens. The lack of suspense is a major letdown.

Of course, it doesn't help that you really don't like the annoying woman. Ireland is given the task of playing an idiot with a Southern accent and I think it's fair to say that this is probably the worst performance she ever gave. The accent is just all wrong and comes off more annoying than anything else. Steiger really isn't any better as he's rather hammy and the sometimes stuttering has zero effect. Henry Silva and Strother Martin are always fun to see. As for Bronson, I thought he was good here in that typical Bronson kind of performance.

LOVE AND BULLETS isn't the disaster some people make it out to be but there's no question that it falls well short of the actor's best movies.

This is a solid if somewhat obscure Charles Bronson film. Rod Steiger gave a good performance as a mob boss. Beautiful Swiss film location. Somewhat tame and melancholy story. Still Bronson gets his man. Not his best, but still enjoyable.

What could have been an excellent crime thriller is turned into a mediocre film thanks to the uninspired direction of Stuart ("Cool Hand Luke") Rosenberg. With Wendall ("Death Wish") Mayes as writer, I had high hopes for this film. Bronson plays an Arizona lieutenant who is after a drug lord (Rod Steiger), responsible for the death of a fellow cop. The FBI butts in, telling him that if he wants to help out he can persuade Steiger's mistress, (Jill Ireland, doing a good Dolly Parton) to give testimony to the DAs. Bronson travels to Switzerland to retrieve her. Lots of boring shots of him taking trains, planes and automobiles to do this. Steiger does a great job playing a stuttering mafiosa don and the film boasts many excellent character actors (Henry Silva, Paul Koslo, Val Avery, Strother Martin, Bradford Dillman, etc.) A few good action scenes, but in the end, we needed more bullets and less love...

Charles Bronson is at his best when playing the silent tough guy, but in this British-backed chase thriller he is let down by workmanlike direction and a drearily routine script. Bronson's Phoenix cop, Charlie Congers, is certainly a silent and tough character - just the kind of role old Stone-Face usually excels at - but there are too many weaknesses in Love and Bullets to make it a particularly worthwhile film.

Phoenix police officer Charlie Congers (Bronson) is keen to gather evidence on Mob bigwig Joseph Bomposa (Rod Steiger). He learns that Bomposa's mistress Jackie Pruitt (Jill Ireland) is hiding out in Switzerland, so he jets off hoping to find her and persuade her to testify against him. Bomposa, realising that the game could be up, issues orders that Jackie must be silenced whatever the cost. Soon, Congers and Jackie are on the run in snowy Switzerland, with a whole bunch of hired killers hot on their heels.

Steiger is in over-acting mode here, but fortunately he doesn't have too many scenes so his opportunities to embarrass himself are kept to a minimum. The story is a simplistic chase narrative of a type seen many times before, and scripters Wendell Mayes and John Melson don't have many surprises up their sleeves to freshen this one up. Bronson fans like to see their man wasting bad guys and plunging head-first into action, but Love and Bullets pauses far too regularly for its own good and viewers looking for action will feel very short-changed. The film isn't a total loss - it has sporadic effective scenes, is always pleasing to the eye, and has one genuine moment of surprise near the end - but on the whole it is undoubtedly a lot less impressive than it could have been. Don't rush to add it to your wish list.

Three federal agencies are trying to bring stuttering gangster Rod Steiger to trial. To do that, they need to bring back his bimbo girlfriend, Jill Ireland, from Switzerland. For some reason, they can't extradite her, so they send Phoenix cop Charles Bronson to do the job. In the meantime, the mob sends a hitman after her, so she cannot testify.

With a title that suggests a Keystone comedy, it seems an odd vehicle for Bronson, but director Stuart Rosenberg - John Huston started as the director, but bowed out after shooting a few scenes - puts a lot of comedy into Miss Ireland's performance, the visuals and soundtrack. Extensive location shooting also adds some quality to this movie, making it a very watchable Bronson vehicle.

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.

This is an extremely boring Bronson thriller, one of those movies that nobody has seen, and deservedly so. Charlie looks understandably fatigued, Rod Steiger gives a hammy performance as the gangland boss and Henry Silva plays an assassin very much like the one he played in "Sharky's Machine", only far less memorable. The movie was filmed in beautiful locations, and has a good Lalo Schifrin score, but you'll still be checking your watch frequently. (*1/2)

I've always had a special place for this movie in my heart, as a kid. And now at 28, it still is if not better with age. Come on its has Bronson, Steiger and a great musical score. Oh and don't forget great locations. Movies that come and go, that stay in the lime light that are rubbish get better praise then this. And to be honest there isn't anything wrong with this film, it a classic late 70's movie. If you love Bronson it is for you, if you don't but love the 70's then you still may enjoy. It has its bad points and troubles from the start of production but nothing to make a big deal out of. It didn't do out in US but in the foreign markets it was still a huge success which is why Charlie stayed a huge bankable movie legend. The film is attacked like it was a major problem or something, the same with Bronson's Borderline which has also aged well, because it is a thriller drama about real things which audiences didn't want then. Anyway Love and Bullets is still a great movie and doesn't deserve any of the bad reviews it's had over the years, so don't listen to em, watch it for yourself. Its better then most rubbish released today thats for dam sure.

But that's what the DVD cover said. I watched it a year ago, yet couldn't remember a single thing about it! So watched it again, and didn't recall a single scene either!

There are hundreds of scenes of course, but every one is pointless and silly and sometimes ridiculous, ie, the guy with a machine gun lets off a magazine, but doesn't hit anyone, even at close range? The blow-gun scene is also simply not realistic. They might work in the Amazon, but to imply that one could fire a dart about 20 metres, up to the balcony with 100% accuracy is nonsense.

Is there a story here? Not much. Cop goes after chief hood, tries to retrieve the man's dolly-bird, a real air-head. At least her (Jill Ireland) acting is good, but the role is so awful I can't see why she accepted it. The rest of the cast simply don't matter.

My original rating was a 4, which is hard to justify now, but I'll let it stand.

This action flop has aged so well to the point when you leave out Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland and most of the cast, the film moves into the realms of a minor (but most certainly unintentional) masterpiece. The stars undoubtedly had a pleasant paid holiday in Switzerland while making the film. Charles Bronson preferred Europe, so this ridiculous change of scenery was probably thrown in as it suited producer, director and stars.

Paul Koslo (the actor perpetually with the worst hair in Hollywood) is as always a lackey and fallguy who gets blown away. But this film really comes into its own with such a towering performance from Rod Steiger that one has to wonder why he wasn't nominated for an Oscar. 100% brilliant comedy send up - his speech impediment is a masterstroke, masterly executed. Steiger can be watched and rewatched endlessly, he's such a scream, while the end of the film one of the best blasts you'll ever see.

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.

I'm sorry but a PG rated movie is almost never good except for "Sherlock Holmes smarter brother" with Gene Wilder Madeline Kahn Dom Delauise and Marty Feldman and maybe a handful of other ones.

Cop is tasked with bringing ditz/skank/rat back from hiding/Europe/elsewhere to testify against a mobster.

This plot dates back to - at least - film noir. In The Narrow Margin from 1952, Charles McGraw has to escort Marie Windsor on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. That's probably the best version of this plot.

In The Gauntlet from 1977, Clint Eastwood has to babysit super-irritating Sondra Locke. That movie is notable because most viewers are likely cheering for the bad guys to prevail.

The same challenge exists in this movie. Jill Ireland - easily one of the worst mainstream actresses of all time - is the witness being hauled back to the U. S. from Switzerland by Phoenix cop Charles Bronson. The talentless, witless Ireland puts a ''southern" accent so terrible it makes every fake American accent Kenneth Branagh ever affected seem Oscar-worthy by comparison.

Luckily for Ireland, the hitman - played here by super-cool Henry Silva, RIP - hired by the mob gives ''incompetent" new meaning. I mean, for pete's sake, he has one of his henchmen shoot up a chalet car full of tourists. As if that wouldn't make international headlines and bring Interpol down on his crew.

Partially redeemed by the obvious high production values and all-star cast, which includes a stuttering Rod Steiger.

Still, Jill Ireland should have been in zero movies. She's terrible.

There is no Paul Kersey simply blowing away bad guys. Bronson plays a Phoenix police officer on a mission to bring back from Switzerland totally ditzy mob mol Jill Ireland. Mob boss, Rod Steiger, reluctantly agrees to put out a hit on his "main squeeze" to prevent her testifying against him. Enter Paul Koslo and Henry Silva as the hired assassins. With this powerhouse cast, what could possibly go wrong? Well, once the scene shifts to Switzerland, quite a bit. Visually the viewer doesn't miss much in the way of scenery. Snow covered peaks abound, as well as a travelog of transportation methods. Planes, helicopters, trains, aerial trams, boats, all are on display, as Bronson and Ireland flee for their lives. Henry Silva is especially wasted, with little presence, and then he just kind of disappears. Other familiar faces with little to do, include Strother Martin and Val Avery. The film is like "Bronson Lite", but nevertheless totally watchable. - MERK

Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland made 15 films together and some of them are solidly fun films like Breakheart Pass, From Noon to Three, The Mechanic, The Valachi Papers. Yes, in real life, they love each other but sometimes too many films together runs into stale acting and dead ends. Jill is less than mediocre with her fake southern drawl. Bronson is flat in his role. In a supporting role. Rod Steiger plays the chief mobster but isn't given much of a script. In fact, the screenwriting was just terrible. It is a shame since Switzerland is a terrific setting. Bronson shines best in his western roles. Unfortunately this one is unimaginative, poorly written and forgettable.

I love action spy films.. I try not to take them to seriously.. this one is no exception. It's not over the top but it doesn't fly under the radar ether.. so grab you a cup of coffee sit back and enjoy Bronson kicking ass

The FBI sends a loner (Charles Bronson) to kidnap a mobster's (Rod Steiger) mistress (Jill Ireland) in Switzerland, and get her to testify against Steiger.

Unfairly seen as a lesser Bronson film, Love and Bullets is a fun, action-chase movie with plenty of snow and shootouts. I guess it's tendency for comedy/parody ( mainly in the characters of Jill Ireland and Rod Steiger) is what offsets people and that it isn't grim and violent as his earlier and well-known fare, but I found this film quite enjoyable, at least for the OTT performances of the stuttering Rod Steiger and Jill Ireland. Bronson is his usual reliable self, a little older but still capable of kicking ass. It's nice to have variety in a Bronson pic, opposed to the same old dark underbelly of grimness (the street fighter, Death Wish, and the Mechanic), and the chemistry between Bronson and Ireland is an added joy.

For some reason, "Love and Bullets" misses the mark. It has a very good script and a (mostly) strong cast but it ends up being not quite as good as it should have been. Charles Bronson gives a good performance as does much of the supporting cast. Rod Steiger is his usual hammy self. Jill Ireland is her usual annoying self. Ireland starts off more annoying than usual but ends up doing a pretty nice job. I just wish she didn't use that accent. Otherwise, "Love and Bullets" has a really good story and some nice action. There are quite a few nice moments in this movie. "Love and Bullets" doesn't join the list of the great films of Charles Bronson but it's still a fun watch.