''The Stone Killer'' is a 1973 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

neo noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

produced and directed by

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several c ...

and starring

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...

. It came out in between '' The Mechanic'' (1972) and ''

Death Wish Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to: Common meanings *Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself *Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry Arts and entertainment Radio *"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...

'' (1974), all three of which teamed up actor/director Bronson and Winner.

Norman Fell Norman Fell (born Norman Noah Feld; March 24, 1924 – December 14, 1998) was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom ''Three's Company'' and its spin-off, ''The Ropers'', and his fi ...

and John Ritter appear as cops in this film, not too long before the TV series ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single room ...

''. Character actor

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series ''The Rockford Files''. In 1973, h ...

plays a significant role; he also appeared in ''Death Wish''. It was one of many ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...

''-type films featuring rogue cops who don't "play by the rules" that were released in the wake of that film's success.

Plot

The film involves a plot by a present-day (1973) Mafia don (

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New Y ...

) to avenge the killings of a group of Mafia dons back in 1931 ("The Night of Sicilian Vespers") with a bold nationwide counter-strike against most of the current Italian and Jewish syndicate heads, by using teams of Vietnam vets instead of Mafia hit men. ("Stone killer" means a Mafia

hit man Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

who is not himself a member of the Mafia.) Bronson plays a gritty, independent detective who stumbles across the plot when a washed-up former hit man is killed under circumstances that make it clear that it was an inside job and that Mafia were involved. He then slowly uncovers the clues that point to a seemingly impossible plot.

Cast

Production

The film was based on the 1969 novel ''A Complete State of Death'' by John Gardner writing under the name Derek Torry. The ''New York Times'' called it a "message novel, only slightly pretentious, relevant but under paced." The novel was greatly changed in the adaptation. Filming took place in May 1973. During the shootout in the parking garage at the film's climax, stunt Coordinator Alan Gibbs' seat-belt snapped and his head struck the steering wheel, causing him to sustain serious injuries in one of the numerous car crashes that take place. The cars were rentals from Hertz, who were so concerned with damage that they sent a representative to the set to reclaim them. Winner supposedly told the rep, "You should be glad we're crashing your (expletive) awful cars. You'll be able to write them off completely and get nice new ones."

Reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' gave the film three stars out of four and called it "a superior example of its type – tough cop against the mob – and probably the best violent big-city police movie since '

.' It's not much more, nor does it mean to be; it offers stylish escapism at breakneck speed, and it gives us a chase and a gun battle that surpass themselves."

Roger Greenspun Roger Greenspun (December 16, 1929 – June 18, 2017) was an American journalist and film critic, best known for his work with ''The New York Times'' in which he reviewed near 400 films, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and for '' ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "Anyone suspected of liking a Michael Winner movie may be assumed guilty until proven innocent. Since there is no way in which I can be proven innocent, I might as well confess to liking Winner's latest, 'The Stone Killer,' very much indeed." Arthur D. Murphy of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "a confused, meandering crime potboiler", explaining, "The story and direction reach for so many bases that the end result is a lot of cinema razzle-dazzle without substance." Fredric Milstein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' wrote, "Want a fast, slick, violent, entertaining minor spinoff of ' The French Connection,' complete with vicious, rebellious cop who doesn't care how much property he busts up during the really spectacular chase sequence? Plus added mafiosi, junkies, hippies and all manner of bizarre New York and California locales to keep the plot just weird and complicated enough? Then see 'The Stone Killer.'" Tom Zito of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' stated, "Unfortunately the direction of Michael Winner doesn't bail 'The Stone Killer' out. Winner has recently been responsible for movies like 'Dealing' and ' The Night Comers,' films that were closer to bad television than good cinema. Like the new one, they were competently assembled without inspiration, craft without art." Tony Rayns of ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' wrote: "On paper, ''The Stone Killer'' must have seemed a masterful compendium of the chief elements from every major gangster/thriller movie of recent years ... But in Michael Winner's less-than-masterful hands the generic is unfailingly reduced to the formularly; and the plot's near total lack of structure makes the movie seem like clips from a dozen others, strung arbitrarily together."

References

External links