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Post by chaney on May 28, 2009 18:46:09 GMT -5
Personally feel that Bronson's fight scenes with Robert Tessier and Nick Dimitri in "Hard Times" were two of the best ever put onto film, made especially effective by the fact that 54 year old Charlie didn't use a stunt double. Man, he could throw punches.
Wonder what other Bronson films or TV show fights impressed fans.
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crego
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Post by crego on May 29, 2009 1:44:33 GMT -5
"HARD TIMES" were his best fights allright. But he had intersting ones too with George Hamilton in "A THUNDER OF DRUMS", in the french film "ADIEU L'AMI" (with Alain Delon), "RED SUN" (a funny one against Toshiro Mifune), and on TV in "THE VIRGINIAN" and "HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL" or "BONANZA" (a good one with Michael Landon).
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Post by harmonica on May 29, 2009 5:10:36 GMT -5
I agree, the fight scenes in "HARD TIMES" were superbly performed, filmed and edited, very spectacular and very realistic compared to Van Damme/Seagal movies that were filmed 20 years later.I was amazed by BRONSON'S speed.
HE HAD A GREAT FIGHT SCENE IN "BREAKHEART PASS".
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Post by chaney on Jun 13, 2009 13:24:18 GMT -5
There's an interesting fight scene with 6'4" Denny Miller in "Caboblanco" in which Charlie wails on Denny with a small trash can. Denny Miller was a former screen Tarzan and used to be on "Wagon Train" as trail scout Duke Shannon.
I asked Denny about Charlie at a Western festival and he said the Mexican crew of "Caboblanco" did not like Charlie. They wanted Denny to knock Charlie's head off. Denny's stuntman Tony Epper wanted to take Charlie's head off as well when he said Epper was too fat to double Denny. Charlie insisted they do the entire fight themselves and Denny agreed to it. Charlie also suggested they use the trashcan instead of a breakaway drawer. Denny padded up his arms to absorb the blows and on the first take Charlie cut his fingers on the sharp can. The crew broke into cheers. Charlie had his fingers taped and nailed the entire fight on the next take.
Denny said Charlie was great at doing fight scenes and complimented him on being in such great shape for his age, but did say he didn't speak much to anyone. Denny's a great guy by the way and still looks in shape as well.
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Post by maphillips3 on Jun 13, 2009 14:43:55 GMT -5
Thanks Chaney! You have offered lots of great insight to us here, because I have never known too much about Bronson, other than he didn't talk much, so thanks, and look forward to more in depth discussions with you!
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crego
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Post by crego on Jun 14, 2009 3:12:25 GMT -5
I've seen a making of of "CABO BLANCO", on a german DVD, and you can see Bronson at work (there's this fight with Denny Miller, by the way).
It's short, but you can tell the man was "difficult", except for a brief moment of friendship with Jason Robards : the two men leave the set, side by side, talking like two tired sleepy guys, and it's quite moving.
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Post by harmonica on Jun 14, 2009 3:26:49 GMT -5
I also like the moment when he forgets a line and says smiling:"I forgot that line like I knew I would"
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Post by chaney on Jun 24, 2009 10:21:44 GMT -5
The "Thunder of Drums" fight with George Hamilton is about 90% Charlie against legendary stuntman Hal Needham doubling for George. Haven't seen it for awhile but think Charlie did all of his own stuntwork here.
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crego
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Post by crego on Jun 24, 2009 10:35:46 GMT -5
I saw recently "GUNS OF DIABLO". There'a a big fght at the begining of the long flashback sequence : Bronson against three baddies. It doesn't look too complicated, but Bronson is clearly doubled by a stuntman most of the time. Wonder why...
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Post by chaney on Jun 24, 2009 17:43:35 GMT -5
Could have been any number of reasons. The production schedule is generally much tighter on TV shows and they might have been in a rush that day to set up the fight. Often with fight capable actors like Charlie several takes are done with the principal actors for close-ups or medium shots. Generally on long shots it's stunt doubles. It's then up to the editor to put the footage together into something usable. Sometimes some footage is unusable due to technical glitches and the editor must make due with what he has. Charlie might even have been nursing an injury that day. Who knows?
An entirely plausible scenario is that a stuntman saw an actor taking a payday away from him and griped. Charlie may have felt obliged to let the stuntman earn his pay. Usually on films with the longer schedule the stuntman and actor have more rehearsal time and the stuntman's wages can last up to a week or a more. He's less likely to complain in that scenario than on a one day TV shoot where Charlie's taking his own bumps. We all know that Charlie liked to do his own fights, and in his career it's obvious he did the majority of his own fight work.
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Post by harmonica on Jun 25, 2009 4:38:34 GMT -5
The "Thunder of Drums" fight with George Hamilton is about 90% Charlie against legendary stuntman Hal Needham doubling for George. Haven't seen it for awhile but think Charlie did all of his own stuntwork here. You can take a tiny taste of the fight in the trailer(2:15): http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=EHqfmq4lCTU |
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Post by maphillips3 on Oct 28, 2010 3:29:41 GMT -5
I heard Tony Epper was a real tough guy, so that would have been an interesting encounter.
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Post by chaney on Oct 28, 2010 9:44:31 GMT -5
Yeah, Tony Epper beat up 4 or 5 guys in a Nogales bar while making ULZANA'S RAID and one of the men died. Epper was up for manslaughter charges but was found to be acting in self defense.
There's a story from the 1960's that Robert Conrad of WILD WILD WEST got into a fight and beat up a guy who turned out to be a relative of Tony Epper. Conrad fashioned himself a real tough guy, but he begged stuntman Whitey Hughes to go talk to Tony Epper for him to make sure Tony didn't want to kick his ass in retaliation. Conrad wanted no part of a fight with Tony Epper.
And then here's Charlie calling Tony Epper a fat ass within his earshot ... Wow.
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