Cold Sweat

Usually this Italian Charles Bronson outing gets torn to shreds, but I found this sturdy, vigorous and taut crime feature to be modestly well-done in what it sets out to achieve with its modest budget. This would be the first international production (the others to follow 'Red Sun (1971)' and 'The Valachi Papers (1972)') and the weakest of three films, which director Terence Young would have Bronson in the leading role. Bronson is reliable and looks in good shape. Along side him there are recognizable faces in James Mason, Liv Ullmann, Jill Ireland, Luigi Pistilli, Michel Constantin and Jean Topart. The lesser support cast do an admirable job, but the likes of Mason, Ullmann and especially Ireland hit the bottom. Mason basically chews on his lines. Ullmann doesn't look all that comfortable and Ireland just makes you cringe. The former two are wasted. Other than Bronson, it's the villainous side-kicks Pistilli, Constantin and the cold-blooded Topart that are the life of the party. The script falls on the flimsy side. A tightly drilled and violently gritty story, but elementary straight-laced all-the-same. A former soldier/drug smuggler attempts to start a new life in the south of France with his family, but some of his ex-comrades return to settle a score. What begins as slow-grinding, laying out the premise's predicament would gradually unfold into a collection of grit-your-teeth, cat-and-mouse set-pieces. Thrillingly fast, long-winded and twisty-turny cars chase being the pick of the lot. It's not until the last half of the story when the raw, brutal explosiveness kicks in. The pace moves well enough, and the scenic photography of the European locations is fittingly captured. The bravura camera-work solidly gets amongst the action and the swirling music score is penetratingly overstated in a gusty fashion. Durable action joint.

'Cold Sweat' is a 70's actioner I was actually quite pleasantly surprised by. Charles Bronson plays a guy whose cronies have caught up with him after spending many years in jail for a crime that he fled from. He's in sanctuary in France with his wife (played, rather slummingly wouldn't you say? By Liv Ullmann), and what do you know, his evil friends from the past catch up with him and takes his whole family hostage so that they can complete the One More Job together. Bronson accepts, but since this is a Bronson film, He's Got Other Tricks Up His Sleeve. So begins a fun little cat and mouse game, mainly dealing with the daughter or other of the bad guys (played hilariously by James Mason) and the trade-offs Manson and Mason are fun to watch. There's lots of chases too! Wee! Finally, I just want to comment on the print of the film I saw on DVD. It looked somewhat banged up, but I thought it just added to the viewing aesthetic of the movie! I just felt I was in a New York grindhouse movie theater, with this double featured with say, Dolomite or something.

Yeah, it's a terrible euro-pudding bomb, and Terence Young never was much of a director, but it's also a film I saw when I was 12, where I discovered Bronson. As bad as the film (really !) is, CB is physically at his absolute best in it : thick moustache, black T-shirt, pumped-up muscles, he walks through "Cold sweat" with an incredible presence. Of course, his couple with Liv Ullmann is laughable, James Mason looks bored to death (he should be), Jill Ireland is pathetic as a hippie drug dealer (she did it again in "Assassination" years later). But as far as Bronson's mythology is concerned (in Europe, at least), "Cold sweat" meant something at the time. The first time he was publicized as a superstar. For fans only...

On the action 50 pack classics I'm watching many older movies for the first time,since i enjoy the Charles Bronson films i thought i would enjoy cold sweat,i was right its a good Italian/french/Belgium co production about a Korean war veteran(Charles Bronson)who moves on with his life after being involved with gangsters who were in the military with him,most notably is an army captain (james mason)gone bad, he holds Bronson's wife(Liv Ullman)and stepdaughter(yannick delulle)hostage there's some good car chases,fighting and some pg violence.Bronson's real life wife(Jill Ireland)plays the captains hipper girlfriend.its not as good as deathwish,but its a well made early Charles Bronson actioner. 8 out of 10.

Cold Sweet (1970)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charles Bronsplay plays Joe Martin, a man living a happy life with his wife (Liv Ullmann) and her daughter. All of that is thrown out the window when his past comes back to haunt him. Captain Ross (James Mason) demands that Joe use his boat for a drug trade and this leads to a cat and mouse game.

Terrence Young directs this entertaining if rather light weight action picture that fans of the action legend will enjoy while others will probably not be overly entertained by the thin plot. There's no question that the plot really isn't all that original and that a re-write certainly wouldn't have hurt. Even by 1970 we had seen countless movies dealing with the family man and his past catching up with him.

What keeps COLD SWEET moving and entertaining is the fact that you've got a wonderful group of actors. Bronson was just a natural at playing this soft-talking tough guys and he turns in a good performance. Both Ullmann and Mason certainly have much more important roles in their careers but it's still fun seeing them in a film like this. Jill Ireland plays a hippie chick and it's Luigi Pistilli who steals the picture as a cold-hearted bad guy.

COLD SWEET features some very good action scenes including the finale with an excellent sequence of a car going down the side of a cliff that is highly entertaining. Again, this is a fun action film but one wishes that there was a bit more to the story.