Monadnock
NES Member
I really don't watch much TV beyond the occasional Pats game, and and it's been this way for years at-a-stretch for the past 20 or so. I am not a militant anti-TV person, it's just my personal preference regarding spare time. I don't have any opinion regarding other people's use ...it's their business not mine.
I opened with this statement for some perspective. I don't see much beyond Internet downloads, which I do enjoy sporadically. I like the cafeteria environment ...pick and chose as I see fit. Consequently my limited viewing is self-imposed. I do realize that popular culture has slipped from my grasp somewhat, and references often sail over-my-head, and I could not care less. I really don't think that my inability to identify a Kardashian has affected the quality of my life.
All that said, on-to-the-(review-of-the)show. I was up early this morning well before daybreak, and was taking a day off of sorts, so decided to watch an old movie that I ripped from a DVD a dozen years ago I would speculate. It is a movie that was released back in 1974. I did not see this one at the theater, but did catch it a few years after at the Whalom Drive-On in Lunenburg, MA, then watched it again in the 90s when DVDs were replacing VHS as the medium du jour. I liked it then, and was curious as to how time might treat my reaction now.
Well, given some of the perceived hokeyness, I did enjoy the viewing, on to my brief review:
Mr. Majestyk – 1974 (<---link to movie trailer)
An interesting note: Death Wish, another and much more successful Bronson flick was out at theaters at the exact same time in the summer od ‘74
The original Pumpkin (melon) Shoot a la the hitman-contract killer-for a generic organized crime entity character Frank Renta from the Charles Bronson movie Mr. Majestyk: The quote of consequence; “Get the man’s melons in.”
Busted-Nose Head Henchman Gene Lundy – while looking into a storehouse where thousands of watermelons are piled high; “Well, the man’s been busy”
Frank Renta – “Yeah, …you know he said all he wanted was to get his melons in.”
Lundy - futily gestures by swinging his arms out to his sides
Renta – draws a Colt Python revolver and shoots three rounds at the pile of watermelons, then says; “Get the man’s melons in.”
Lundy - two henchmen are waiting off camera; “You heard him, get the melons in.”
two henchmen with S&W 76 SMGs enter scene and stand in front of the huge pile of watermelons
Lundy – “Go ahead.” the henchmen pull bolt handles, chamber a round and lay FA waste to the pile of watermelons. Lundy pulls his own Colt Python revolver in .357 to help out …melonocalypse ensues ….end scene.
Movie Review:
Chases, some fist-fightin’ and general S&W and Colt wheel guns (not a semi-auto handgun to be seen), and the long out-of-production Winchester 1200 and bottom-ejecting Ithaca pump shottie action (no Rem 870 or Mossie luv here).
As mentioned in the scene laid-out in the movie’s dialog above, the melon massacre was courtesy of Colt Pythons and the ‘Nam era S&W SMG Model 76 with stamped-out parts and a wire-frame folding stock. I had to do a little research on this firearm. I recognized it from the original Omega Man (Charlton Heston in a distopic future …last-man-alive infected populace scenario). Will Smith starred in a modern treatment of this 70s classic in I Am Legend. And also featured in the original color-named (Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Brown, etc.) group-criminal flick, the Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 also re-made fairly recently if I remember correctly. And of course, Tarantino use a similar device in his movie Reservoir Dogs.
The 76 is a 600rpm, 9mm SMG constructed of stamped and rolled parts as-mentioned, carrying a 36-round capacity stick magazine that acts as a fore-end grip.
The main bad guy seems to hedge between brandishing a S&W Model 27 or a Python at different points …perhaps he prefers the 27 and loads strictly for .38 Specials on his “light” days. Hey, every contract killer can still feel recoil. Are they not human with feelings too? That said, if it was good enough for Luca Brasi (The Godfather), and Jackie, Jimmy and Eddie (from The Friends of Eddie Coyle …also an Elmore Leonard-based script) then who’s complainin’? But more likely, it was probably just a continuity problem. In Hollywood, a gun’s a gun right? They’re all evil, so who cares about make and model? Complain about firearms, while making bank on ‘em …Box Office baby.
During the jail-bus escape melee, everyone seemed to have a S&W Model 10, perhaps a 27/28 in there and Pythons …good guys and bad.
All recorded violence is mild by current standards, but those big old hunks of steel doing their crash, requisite roll-over and burn scenes were really nice to watch as compared to the modern “safe” plastic crapola. Much of which done using CGI. Safer, you bet, but I really wonder whether it’s actually cost-effective in all cases. To paraphrase, twisted steel has sex appeal.
It’s a movie that’s worth watching every 20 years or so. At least that’s my pace.
Stars of the movie:
1. The old school glass of Colorado Kool-Aid (Coors circa 1974) that Vince Majestyk liberally sprinkles salt into when drinking at the local watering hole while chatting up the chick he’s about to take home and bang. Bronson (Vince), using that irresistible craggy mug, squinty eyes and cheesy ‘stache to get er done.
2. The ’69 F-Series Ford pickup that does the equivalent of the Baja 1000 without incurring a scratch a laThe Dukes of Hazard General Lee-style action sequences.
[FONT=&]3. A tie between the firearms and the rest of the Detroit iron on display throughout[/FONT]
I opened with this statement for some perspective. I don't see much beyond Internet downloads, which I do enjoy sporadically. I like the cafeteria environment ...pick and chose as I see fit. Consequently my limited viewing is self-imposed. I do realize that popular culture has slipped from my grasp somewhat, and references often sail over-my-head, and I could not care less. I really don't think that my inability to identify a Kardashian has affected the quality of my life.
All that said, on-to-the-(review-of-the)show. I was up early this morning well before daybreak, and was taking a day off of sorts, so decided to watch an old movie that I ripped from a DVD a dozen years ago I would speculate. It is a movie that was released back in 1974. I did not see this one at the theater, but did catch it a few years after at the Whalom Drive-On in Lunenburg, MA, then watched it again in the 90s when DVDs were replacing VHS as the medium du jour. I liked it then, and was curious as to how time might treat my reaction now.
Well, given some of the perceived hokeyness, I did enjoy the viewing, on to my brief review:
Mr. Majestyk – 1974 (<---link to movie trailer)
An interesting note: Death Wish, another and much more successful Bronson flick was out at theaters at the exact same time in the summer od ‘74
The original Pumpkin (melon) Shoot a la the hitman-contract killer-for a generic organized crime entity character Frank Renta from the Charles Bronson movie Mr. Majestyk: The quote of consequence; “Get the man’s melons in.”
Busted-Nose Head Henchman Gene Lundy – while looking into a storehouse where thousands of watermelons are piled high; “Well, the man’s been busy”
Frank Renta – “Yeah, …you know he said all he wanted was to get his melons in.”
Lundy - futily gestures by swinging his arms out to his sides
Renta – draws a Colt Python revolver and shoots three rounds at the pile of watermelons, then says; “Get the man’s melons in.”
Lundy - two henchmen are waiting off camera; “You heard him, get the melons in.”
two henchmen with S&W 76 SMGs enter scene and stand in front of the huge pile of watermelons
Lundy – “Go ahead.” the henchmen pull bolt handles, chamber a round and lay FA waste to the pile of watermelons. Lundy pulls his own Colt Python revolver in .357 to help out …melonocalypse ensues ….end scene.
Movie Review:
Chases, some fist-fightin’ and general S&W and Colt wheel guns (not a semi-auto handgun to be seen), and the long out-of-production Winchester 1200 and bottom-ejecting Ithaca pump shottie action (no Rem 870 or Mossie luv here).
As mentioned in the scene laid-out in the movie’s dialog above, the melon massacre was courtesy of Colt Pythons and the ‘Nam era S&W SMG Model 76 with stamped-out parts and a wire-frame folding stock. I had to do a little research on this firearm. I recognized it from the original Omega Man (Charlton Heston in a distopic future …last-man-alive infected populace scenario). Will Smith starred in a modern treatment of this 70s classic in I Am Legend. And also featured in the original color-named (Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Brown, etc.) group-criminal flick, the Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 also re-made fairly recently if I remember correctly. And of course, Tarantino use a similar device in his movie Reservoir Dogs.
The 76 is a 600rpm, 9mm SMG constructed of stamped and rolled parts as-mentioned, carrying a 36-round capacity stick magazine that acts as a fore-end grip.
The main bad guy seems to hedge between brandishing a S&W Model 27 or a Python at different points …perhaps he prefers the 27 and loads strictly for .38 Specials on his “light” days. Hey, every contract killer can still feel recoil. Are they not human with feelings too? That said, if it was good enough for Luca Brasi (The Godfather), and Jackie, Jimmy and Eddie (from The Friends of Eddie Coyle …also an Elmore Leonard-based script) then who’s complainin’? But more likely, it was probably just a continuity problem. In Hollywood, a gun’s a gun right? They’re all evil, so who cares about make and model? Complain about firearms, while making bank on ‘em …Box Office baby.
During the jail-bus escape melee, everyone seemed to have a S&W Model 10, perhaps a 27/28 in there and Pythons …good guys and bad.
All recorded violence is mild by current standards, but those big old hunks of steel doing their crash, requisite roll-over and burn scenes were really nice to watch as compared to the modern “safe” plastic crapola. Much of which done using CGI. Safer, you bet, but I really wonder whether it’s actually cost-effective in all cases. To paraphrase, twisted steel has sex appeal.
It’s a movie that’s worth watching every 20 years or so. At least that’s my pace.
Stars of the movie:
1. The old school glass of Colorado Kool-Aid (Coors circa 1974) that Vince Majestyk liberally sprinkles salt into when drinking at the local watering hole while chatting up the chick he’s about to take home and bang. Bronson (Vince), using that irresistible craggy mug, squinty eyes and cheesy ‘stache to get er done.
2. The ’69 F-Series Ford pickup that does the equivalent of the Baja 1000 without incurring a scratch a laThe Dukes of Hazard General Lee-style action sequences.
[FONT=&]3. A tie between the firearms and the rest of the Detroit iron on display throughout[/FONT]
Last edited:
