Here’s how you know The Evil That Men Do is going to be another Charles Bronson bad-asser: The film’s first shot is a slowed-down grab from a much later scene, of him throwing a knife just to the left of frame. This should’ve been used to start all his ’80s action movies, like his version of the 007 gun-barrel sequence; after all, Bronson’s post-Death Wish characters were pretty much variations of the same one-man-war assassin. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and in my book, there isn’t.

Dr. Molloch (Joseph Maher, Under the Rainbow) may be the sickest of all Bronson villains. Often seen wearing an executioner’s black hood, the physician schools the troops of some 20 countries in how to maximize pain and torture of one’s enemies. South America is the latest.

Meanwhile, professional hit man Holland (Bronson, duh) is enjoying retirement in the Cayman Islands when he learns an old buddy has been killed while trying to take out Molloch. Reluctantly, Holland agrees to assassinate the Doctor, and travels to Central American under the guise of a family man, with his friend’s widow (Theresa Saldana, Raging Bull) and daughter.

Directed by frequent collaborator J. Lee Thompson (10 to Midnight), the nicely nasty Evil is thought to be one of Bronson’s most violent pictures, and I can not disagree. For example, when the Mexican equivalent of Richard Kiel paws and licks a disgusted Saldana in a bar, Holland subdues the giant by grabbing his penis and bending it, eventually using both hands. I had to wince and cheer. But Evil is not without humor, too, like when Holland is trapped under a bed while lesbian-loving occurs above him (the evil that women do?), and he’s practically smashed by the moving mattress. Dammit, do I miss this guy. —Rod Lott

For more on this story go to: