By Lee Pfeiffer
Shortly after his great success as the star of Death Wish in 1974, Charles Bronson started to go on automatic pilot in terms of striving to give impressive performances in his films. He was still capable of giving fine performances, as he demonstrated in Hard Times, From Noon Till Three and some other exceptions. He was always enjoyable to watch but as one cheesy Death Wish sequel begat the next (and any number of even more inferior clones), Bronson became regarded as a living cartoon character who sleepwalked through his films in search of an easy pay check. There was a time, however, when he was taken seriously by critics as evidenced by this ad for the 1972 film adaptation of The Valachi Papers. The movie itself was middling in most respects, but Bronson won personal critical plaudits for his performance as the infamous Mafia member who ratted out on his bosses in return for government protection and immunity.
(The image is from the nostalgia blog His Name is Studd. The site features a treasure trove of vintage photos and film ads. Click here to access.)
"The Valachi Papers" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.