Bronson's Popularity

[harmonica]

How popular he was during his whole carer, Which period was on the top of his popularity, to the fans of which country he appealed most,how popular he was compared to other stars like Mcqueen and Eastwood?

From what I've heard he was a legend in Japan.

From my personal experience(asking people) I know that he was very admired in Europe, he was maybe the most popular actor.If you ask a guy who's a little older than 40 years old he will tell you that he was a great actor.I've never met a guy that age who didn't know him.I remember when I asked my 55 year old father(and other guys of that age) which actors he remembered from his youth, he told me: "Marlon Brando, Charles Bronson, Steve Mcqueen, Sean Connery, Alain Delon." If you take a look at the movies released on D.V.D. in some European countries like Spain you'll see movies that are released not even in the U.S.A.

Looks like he was not that popular in the U.S.A. until he made "Death Wish" that's why the Americans remember him for his vigilante movies and I bet he was never admired in America as much as he was in Europe and Japan.

[redsun]

In America I'm under the impression that his hey-day was the mid-70s. From what I heard "The Mechanic" was not a big hit when it first came out and "DW" is what really got him started. Once he signed with Sir Lew Grade it seems his American popularity started to die. In LA I remember "Love and Bullets" lasted all of 3 weeks. "Caboblanco" played at one theater in LA for all of five days. Signing with Cannon sealed his fate. I saw most of those movies in theaters but they never lasted longer than 3 weeks. I remember seeing "Assasaination" on opening day and these big tough, biker dudes calling it the worst movie they'd ever seen as they were walking out - totally thought they would be fans.

[crego]

Bronson's stardom lasted only two years in the U.S. from "DEATH WISH" to "HARD TIMES". After that, it was a way down, until he started to make only exploitation movies for Cannon.
He was a huge star in Europe, and mostly in France, because of Leone's film and "RIDER ON THE RAIN", "RED SUN", etc.
That's why europeans and americans don't have the same image of Bronson. "DEATH WISH" wasn't such a big success in Europe.

[bronson613]

There used to be a yearly poll of the most popular actors in the U.S. It appeared every year in Gary (?) Willis' Screen World book and later in the annual People magazine almanac.
I believe it was a survey of movie theater owners.

If memory serves correctly, Bronson ranked #8 in 1973, #7 in 1974, #4 in 1975 (the only year he ever topped Eastwood), and #10 in 1976. After that, he fell out for several years until reappearing briefly in the early '80s.

[redsun]

I'll try to find this one article from the LA Times a librarian-friend sent me from the mid '70s. It was about film funding and the fact that certain stars guaranteed the financing of a film. Bronson was at the top of the list, but, like Crego states, I'm pretty sure it was within the "Death Wish" - "Hard Times" time period.

[seagal]

Bronson was never a big box office star in the USA.

The 70´s biggest stars were Burt Reynolds, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood.

Reynolds was the biggest box office star for five consecutive years(1977-1981).

[theironbronson]

Jul 25, 2009 5:16:59 GMT -5 crego said:

Bronson's stardom lasted only two years in the U.S. from "DEATH WISH" to "HARD TIMES". After that, it was a way down, until he started to make only exploitation movies for Cannon.
He was a huge star in Europe, and mostly in France, because of Leone's film and "RIDER ON THE RAIN", "RED SUN", etc.
That's why europeans and americans don't have the same image of Bronson. "DEATH WISH" wasn't such a big success in Europe.

Nope, Bronson was big until he died. Films after Hard Times was big. Plus Death Wish made summat like 70 mill worldwide so was big over seas. He was still a big name in the 80;s like stallone is now. Not top of the game but still there with a name we love