Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

ma-cortes Cloak and dagger story , poorly acted , that finishes into strange and surprising goings-on . Abner Procane (John Houseman) , top L.A. burglar , finds that somebody stole his plans for next ambitious heist . He hires Raymond St. Ives (Charles Bronson acting is wooden just like being habitual in his roles as an investigator who finds out about dark motives) to resolve the simple theft , but it escalates into a large-scale robbery and killings . Here Charles plays a reporter who carries out an investigation , a former police journalist who agrees to recover the stolen ledges . But Ives (Bronson was about fifty-four years of age when here appeared) finds himself dealing with treason , killings and a twisted intrigue . There are also some policemen (Harris Yulin , Harry Guardino , all the cops who show up in the movie but one are corrupt) pursuit him . At the end it takes place a confusing caper about the stealing of an American electronics firm's huge bribe to an Arab oil sheik .This light entertainment and standard Bronson movie is full of clichés , thrills , betrayal and murder . Confusing and heavy-handled screenplay from a novel by Ross Thomas titled 'The Procane Chronicle' , being slickly paced but dumb . This is a "detective 'film noir' homage" which "features a dense detective plot in the manner of classic 1940s 'film noir' private eye stories" . Taking and snatching dialog here and there from the 40s , such as : ¨Everytime we find a stiff , you're around¨ . Neither Bronson's presence , nor Lucien Ballard cinematography can rescue this routine thriller movie for implausibilities from a complex and silly screenplay . It starts off well enough as tough thriller , but long before the final you've left wondering just what's going on . This Charles Bronson movie was theatrically released between his pictures From noon till three (1976) and The White Buffalo (1977) , both of them starred by Bronson . This is one of the first films Charles Bronson made for producer Pancho Kohner and being ¨Messenger of the death¨ the final of ten teamings between producer Pancho Kohner and star actor Bronson . Regular acting by Bronson as a crime books writer , to negotiate the return of some engaging documents ; however , he seems tired and bored from the start . Nice and wide support cast , such as : John Houseman as the criminal mastermind , Maximilian Schell , Harry Guardino , Harris Yulin , Dana Elcar , Michael Lerner , Dick O'Neill , Burr DeBenning , Elisha Cook Jr. , Daniel J. Travanti , later of TV's ¨Hill Street Blues¨ and Jacqueline Bisset as the gorgeous , glamorous , mysterious Femme fatal . Furthermore , cameos by Robert Englund as henchman and Jeff Goldblum as Hood #3 , he also appeared in a bit cameo as a thug in Charles Bronson's earlier movie Death Wish (1974). Besides , atmospheric score by the usual Lalo Schifrin , composed in the seventies's style . And crisp and glimmer photography by Luicen Ballard .The fare was regularly directed by J. Lee Thompson , shot in up and downs , the movie consistently skirts the issues it raises . It's narrated understanding as well as hardly . This movie represented the first of nine teaming of director 'J Lee Thompson' with star actor Charles Bronson . Thompson previously had a nice track record in the English cinema from 1950 until 1961 , directing good Western (McKenna's gold , White Buffalo) and all kinds of genres , as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud , Eye of the devil) , adventures (Flame over India , Kings of the sun , Taras Bulba , Tiger Bay) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun , Chairman , The passage). His two biggest successes turned out to be ¨Guns of Navarone¨and ¨Cape Fear¨. Thereafter , the filmmaker's career subsided in a morass of slickly realized but middling films . He moved into the field of international spectaculars , at which point his filmmaking seemed to lose its individuality . J. Lee Thomson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco , Evil that men do , Messenger of death , Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). St. Ives rating : Mediocre but passable 5.5/10 , but it will appeal to Charles Bronson fans . Marks this down as for hardened Charles buffs only .

Scarecrow-88 Ex-crime reporter and excessive gambler Ray St. Ives(Charles Bronson)is asked to be a "go between" exchanging $100,000 for stolen journals for a wealthy millionaire named Abner Procane(John Houseman). Every time he attempts to do so, though, his life is threatened. First he was told to go to a laundromat, instead finding a thief with a broke neck in a dryer. Then three hoods(two of which are Robert Englund and Jeff Goldblum!)attempt to toss him down an elevator shaft. Then Ray goes to talk to a man who might have an idea as to where the journals were, but before he can talk to the guy he is "helped" out of a window from his apartment, crashing to the street 8 floors below. So anyone associated with those missing journals winds up dead or in danger. The journals detail a life of crime and St. Ives is drawn by curiosity into Procane's world, $4 million service charge for negotiating a secret deal between a company and rich sheik, four pages still missing from the ledgers despite a rather successful exchange. ST.IVES has one of those tricky plots where if you don't pay attention you'll be lost. Director J Lee Thompson keeps the camera and plot active, and we're never sure who Ives can trust, if anyone. He's an honest bloke, though, and awfully lucky..I asked myself how this guy could stay alive through it all because of how anyone linked to those 4 pages in the ledgers consistently wound up biting the big one. The twists and turns of the plot primarily consist of characters coming out of the woodwork to get their hands on the money, betrayal and greed major motivating factors. Bronson's character only resorts to violence when he has to, instead working with his mind, quite cerebral, and knows more than he lets on. The film has quite a cast. One of the most beautiful women in the 70s, Jacqueline Bisset, is part of Houseman's entourage and fits the femme fatale archetype. You never can fully trust her because $4 million is irresistible to someone like her character, Janet. Maximilian Schell has a small, but more pivotal than you might be think, as Houseman's psychiatrist. Harry Guardino, Dana Elcar, and Harris Yulin all portray detectives in supporting parts, often popping in St. Ives' affairs. Elisha Cook has a little role as a bellhop in the cheap hotel for which St. Ives lives.

Robert J. Maxwell If the truth be known -- and the truth, as ever, is pretty murky in this Raymond Chandler rip off -- Raymond St. Ives, the writer who is hired out of nowhere as a private eye, is merely a nom de plume. The character's real name, well, almost real, is Charles Bronson. He's the taciturn, muscular guy who can be thrown into an empty elevator shaft by three hoods, save himself after falling down a few floors by grabbing a cable and sliding to a halt, haul himself up to a doorway into an empty warehouse, and deck the three armed goons who still pursue him. The thugs include Robert Englund, later to surpass himself as Freddie Kruger, the mad killer of the "Friday the Thirteenth" slasher movies, and Jeff Goldblum, ditto, as neurotic scientists.Bronson is hired by the immensely wealthy John Houseman to recover some stolen journals. Houseman's mistress, Jacqueline Bisset, is thrown into the mix so she can pop into bed at one point with the protagonist.Why -- you ask? -- did Houseman hire Bronson, a not-too-successful novelist and ex crime reporter -- to act as a go-between who delivers the forty million dollars in exchange for the purloined letters? I don't know.But the plot, such as it is, follows Raymond Chandler rather closely otherwise. It's as complicated as a Rubik's cube. I admit I was lost now and then. A couple of cops are corrupt. People double cross each other all the time. Bronson keeps stumbling across dead bodies, a habit that doesn't endear him to the police.Bronson also knows a lot of louche people and bounces from one to the other in his search for the solution to the various mysteries. Bronson asks one of his friends: "Do you know a guy named Parisi?" The friend replies: "You'll have to see Boykins about that." Bronson goes to Boykins, who tells him: "I didn't do the job but I know Finley wasn't in on it, but Pedo can tell you more than I can." I have the names mixed up but I don't care any more than the writers cared.I think one of the biggest turn offs is the production design. Bronson is described as living in "a cheap hotel." I found the apartment rather charming, a hell of an improvement over this abandoned railway car that I live in.And wardrobe and make up have done their best to turn every character into a simulacrum of a rich Hollywood actor. The rich Hollywood screenwriters who assembled this kaleidoscope of mysterioso doings have no idea of what it's like to be less than rich. The grease monkey under the car has four precisely applied and somewhat becoming oil marks applies to his face and forehead. Everyone dresses in suits and ties except the goons who wear tatters and wool caps so you'll know they're goons. Bronson, the down-on-his-luck writer, drives a Jaguar. Everyone else drives a boxy-looking American car at least forty feet long.A gimcrack job, and a disappointment considering who was in front of the camera and behind it, many of them seasoned professionals like J. Lee Thompson, Lalo Schifrin, Lucien Ballard. Why does it look so much like a cheap television movie set in Los Angeles?

Renaldo Matlin I've been a big Bronson-fan for as long as I can remember, and I saw "St. Ives" on TV some years back and was always left with the impression that it was sorta dull, all though offering a nice change of pace for old Charlie. Now out on DVD I still had to order it though, as I pride myself on having *every* Bronson-film available in my collection. I am really happy to say that watching it again was a really wonderful surprise! I'll blame my stupid youth for not appreciating this movie as much back in my late teens because "St. Ives" isn't dull. Sure, it doesn't include all the normal action scenes one has come to expect from a Bronson picture, but it includes just about everything else lacking in his later action movies: great wit, humor, style and unexpected plot-twists and turns right up until the very end! To top it all off it is one of the best scored Bronson-films, with a wonderful soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin. Oh and just so you know; despite the low amount of action scenes, the body count DOES get alarmingly high before the end credits.It also has a truly excellent cast supporting Bronson. To mention a few: Academy Award winning veteran John Houseman, one of the sexiest stars of the 1970's Jacqueline Bisset, Dana Elcar (Pete Thornton in "MacGyver"), Academy Award winner Maximilian Schell, the lovable Elisha Cook Jr, Michael Lerner, Dick O'Neill (Sharon Gless' memorable dad Charlie in "Cagney & Lacey"), Daniel J. Travanti (the star of "Hill St. Blues") and my favorite supports, the wonderful character actors Harry Guardino and Harris Yulin as police detectives. On top of this you get young versions of Robert Englund and Jeff Goldblum as hoods fighting it out with Charlie!I also found myself laughing more than I normally do watching Bronson-movies, as "St. Ives" has several funny moments. My favorite one probably being the dinner/confrontation scene with Val Bisoglio. If you are a *true* Bronson-fan you'll really enjoy old Charlie in this one!