good back-story, and good acting

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I liked this film, despite being a bit thrown by the jumpy, confused directing of (I presume) Michael Winner. Bronson is good, as are all the actors playing the major characters. But I think I got most pleasure from the mob-style Fedora hats that almost everyone seemed to be obliged to wear perched high on their heads. Surely by 1973, this style of headgear was way out of date? It looked vaguely ridiculous but at least it kept me amused. There was a 'Dirty Harry' vibe about the film and some of Roy Budd's music was quite close in style to that of Lalo Schifrin. Overall, an enjoyable film but maybe not because of the story.

Mafia don Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) seeks revenge against the heads of criminal families around the country using a team of Vietnam vets. Police detective Lou Torrey (Charles Bronson) loses his job after the death of a young suspect. He gets a new job in L.A. He stumbles upon Vescari's plan and starts investigating with Daniels (Norman Fell).This has some darker police drama. It's not the most thought out but it works. There are some interesting bad guys. Bronson would do Death Wish the year after. The movie climaxes with lots of crashing cars, gunfire, and general fire in an underground parking lot. It's a fun, action-packed, exciting ending to a fine crime drama.

No 3D, graphics effects gizmos for this one!!!!The best car vs motorcycle chase, in history. A helicopter chase. And a real, based-on-real-facts, story to boot. Charles Bronson. Murder and high speed chases. Big, fat cars of the 70's. And this thing is a 6.2? And that BS about Batman getting ****ed in the financial markets gets an 8?You know that's BS. So pick this one up. The Stone Killer. Short, straight to the point. And the real story is ever better. I'm sorry but I have to pay attention to this incredible movie. I'm sorry if there were any typos. Forget about writing. Just watch this movie, now.

But this is just lame. Director Winner and Bronson worked together a lot. They made "Death Wish" which was so much better. They were trying to capture the Dirty Harry zeitgeist but the plot was just too convoluted and ridiculous. A complicated revenge murder plot where old Mafia types wait forty years and use Vietnam vets to kill new Mafia types is just pulp. Stuart Margolin, how usually plays flaky side guys, is the head commando, & Martin Balsam is the head mafia dude, sheesh. It wasn't a horrible flick, But don't spend any money or go out of your way to watch it. It is on Crackle as of 04/06/2014 so you can watch it for free. Even the ending was so pointlessly ambiguous with Bronson and his crusty boss Fell sitting in an unmarked police car with Bronson telling some pointless joke concerning Romans, Christians and lions in the coliseum while head mafia dude Balsam walks out of confession in a NYC church 2500 miles away from LA. WDF??