Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

"Guns of Navarone" director J. Lee Thompson's "10 to Midnight" tries to one up "Dirty Harry," but it takes a different path than you usually see in a Charles Bronson thriller. Basically, Bronson is cast as a tough-guy detective who is searching for a serial killer that likes to carve up his victims while he is naked. This perverted villain wields a knife, presumably because he cannot have normal sex with women. This doesn't mean that he only slashes women to death. He kills a guy or too in the process of hunting down the babes. Despite being made in 1983, "10 to Midnight" treads a tightrope with its depiction of a naked serial killer. Actually, the villain that Gene Davis portrays reminded me of the description of the rapist in the first "Dirty Harry" movie. Remember when Inspector Callahan told the mayor that he knew when to shoot a suspect? Quoting Callahan, "When a naked man is chasing a woman through a dark alley with a butcher knife and a hard on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross." The mayor agreed that Callahan had a valid point. The serial killer Warren Stacy is shown nude in one scene chasing a woman down a dark street with a knife. The William Roberts screenplay humanizes Detective Leo Kessler by making him a father. His grown-up daughter, Laurie Kessler (Lisa Eilbacher of "Beverly Hills Cop"), works as a nurse at the local hospital when this serial killer terrorizes the town. Detective Leo Kessler and his rookie detective partner Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens of "Death Hunt") bring Stacy in as a suspect, but the clever dastard has an ironclad alibi, so the police cannot put him at the scene of a murder. As it turns out, Kessler is so desperate to arrest Stacy that he plants evidence, but his partner refuses to go along with him when Stacy's savvy defense attorney Dave Dante (Geoffrey Lewis of "High Plains Drifter") asks him to take the stand. Naturally, Kessler is kicked off the force, but he doesn't let that thwart his efforts to convict Stacy. The idea that a cop like Kessler would be so desperate to tamper with evidence is something Bronson's characters have never done, and it seems like weak scripting. Eventually, he does catch up with Stacy and he has the goods on the guy. Nevertheless, Stacy adopts the insanity plea, but Kessler shoots him to keep him from using the insanity plea. In their efforts to be different, the filmmakers have created a cop who is prepared to manipulate the system. I don't think that I have seen a heroic cop ever resort to such low, down, dirty tactics.

Paul McAnn teams up with Detective Leo Kessler to investigate the murder of Betty Johnson and her boyfriend, by a naked killer in a park. Kessler recognises the victim, as they lived in the same neighbourhood many years ago. The killer, Warren Stacey, goes to the funeral and overhears Betty's father telling Kessler that his daughter had a diary. He breaks in Betty's apartment and kills her roommate trying to find the diary. But Karen had already delivered the journal to Kessler, who is sure that Warren is the killer and her plants evidence in his apartment.Now Warren is stalking his daughter to revenge against her father....In the eighties, The Cannon group made some really good films, the kind you would watch on a Friday night with your dad. And Bronson was the king of Cannon movies.This has to be one of his best, because its not just straightforward action, in fact, Thompson pulls a double whammy, cashing in on the Death Wish movies, and cashing in on the slasher movies of the early eighties.Other than that, its Bronson being Bronson, staring at people from bridges and nosing through people's bathrooms.The rest of the support are good, particularly Elibacher as his daughter. But unfortunately he same cannot be said for the guy who played Stacey. I'm sure he thought his motivation was 'robots' because he moves like one, and seems to think that he should approach his victims in the slowest way possible.But he's my only gripe, its a brilliant thriller, and it must have threw audiences back in 1983, as its so ungeneric, compared to other cop thrillers around his time.Its obviously influenced by Bundy, but if you like Bronson and Cannon, this is for you.

"10 to Midnight" is an agreeably sleazy thriller from the redoubtable team of actor Charles Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson. Bronson is in superb ass kicking form as detective Leo Kessler, on the trail of depraved creep Warren Stacey (Gene Davis), who gets back at the women who spurn his advances by brutally murdering them - in the nude, no less. Leo and partner Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens) eventually are able to get Warren into a courtroom, but only because Leo had falsified evidence against Warren, since the killer had been able to provide an alibi for a particular crime. A disgusted Leo, having lost his job due to his actions, starts harassing Warren until Warren strikes back by targeting Leo's feisty daughter Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher), a student nurse.Provided one likes their "cop vs. killer" movies to be on the trashy side, this does prove to be good fun, delivering sordid thrills for a well paced 103 minutes, with a fair amount of both female and male skin displayed, and a slasher movie styled approach to its bloody killings. It's mean-spirited, yet humorous at times: it's such a hoot to see Bronson find a certain possession of Warren's and then grill him about it later. He's enjoyable to watch, as is a supporting cast full of strong actors. Good looking guys Stevens and Davis fare well as the initially annoying partner and the kinky psycho, especially Davis, whose character's predilection for adopting a ridiculous Mexican accent will call to mind Nicholas Worth's equally outrageous work as the killer in "Don't Answer the Phone!". Geoffrey Lewis shines as Warren's slick lawyer, and Wilford Brimley has a typically commanding presence as Leo's superior, while Robert Lyons plays the district attorney. Eilbacher is gorgeous and appealing, and the array of hot ladies in the cast include a young Kelly Preston (billed as Kelly Palzis) and Playboy Playmates Ola Ray and Jeana Tomasina. The climactic set piece, reminiscent of the real life massacre committed by Richard Speck in the 1960's, is some seriously nasty stuff, and the final foot chase is a true corker, with the movie ending on a perfect note as Bronson delivers a one liner while dispensing his own brand of justice.Featuring an effective music score by Robert O. Ragland, "10 to Midnight" is great gritty entertainment that moves along nicely with nary a dull moment and began the Bronson-Thompson-Cannon Group series in high style.Eight out of 10.

I became a Charles Bronson fan in a very strange way: When I was in my teens and twenties I would go visit my grandmother, and she would be watching TV, which always seemed to be showing a Bronson film. (Did she get the All-Bronson Network?) When I sat down to watch it with her I would always roll my eyes but soon find myself absolutely engrossed in the movie. Yes, he made formula films and no, most of them were not Oscar-worthy... but I'll be damned if they weren't wonderfully entertaining and tremendous fun. I eventually began to watch his films on my own and now he's one of my favorites."10 To Midnight" has to be, for my money, one of the greatest Charles Bronson movies ever made. It seems to have a polarizing effect on people, and those who dislike it truly Hate it. While I respect their opinions I must say I disagree. The movie has it all: dirty cops, topless nursing students, a preppy psychopath, lots of blood and violence, male nudity, rookie partners, and bad 80's party music! The movie is about a serial killer who commits his crimes in the nude and is too smart to be caught by police. Bronson is of course the one cop tough enough to catch him, and in that sense the story is predictable, but what film isn't? The joy here is watching it happen, wondering who's going to be killed next, how it's going to happen and just how Bronson will get his man.Lisa Eilbacher is great as his daughter, beautiful and charming and a very under-rated actress in my opinion. (Check out her appearance on "Simon & Simon" in the episode "Earth To Stacy.") Some people feel that the amount of blood and nudity in the movie is gratuitous, but I'm not afraid to admit that I LIKE blood and nudity. It's why I go to the movies in the first place. And for those people who were 'deeply offended' by this film please remember it is indeed only a movie, a fun, exciting, trashy movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the opening to the very end.What's not to love? This is fast-paced and engaging fun with a great story and a splash of sex and violence. I highly suggest you check out "10 To Midnight." Thank you, Nana!GRADE: A-