THE STONE KILLER, a bloody, ridiculous shoot’em up from 1973, is the third of six actioners Charles Bronson starred in for director Michael Winner. The first, Chato’s Land, is lousy. Next up, The Mechanic, is passable. #4, the controversial Death Wish, is a dark and compelling hit, the most famous of the films in which stone-faced Charley was top-billed. Apart from a decent score composed by Roy Budd, the only positive thing to say about #3 is that it’s not quite as bad as the fifth and sixth, mean and needless sequels to Death Wish. Written by Gerald Wilson (also hands on for a half-dozen Winner wanks) off the John Gardner novel “A Complete State Of Death”, this cop-as-one-man-army slop was one of 1973’s roster of hardass lawmen: Magnum Force, Serpico, Walking Tall, The Seven-Ups, Shamus, The Laughing Policeman, Badge 373, Electra Glide In Blue, The Offence. A gross of $3,800,000 zeroed in #77 at the box office.

After plugging a fleeing suspect (who was trying to shoot him) New York City detective ‘Lou Torrey’ (Bronson) is detailed to Los Angeles where he gets caught up in a case that eventually involves the Mafia (or ‘the Organization’) using Vietnam War vets to clean house on rivals. Speeding vehicles, flying lead and spouted clichés fill 95 minutes of running time. Bronson saunters thru with minimal conviction, and though the supporting cast is stocked with familiar and reliable 2nd-stringers there is so much bad acting it feels like a parody.

Patiently grill the hippie chick who calls him a pig.

Among the body count racked up by pistols, shotguns, machine guns and automobiles look for one of the most absurdly ruinous car chases dreamed up (CB wipes out 20% of Los Angeles going after one punk on motorcycle, and the post-calamity fallout is a shrug), jive segments with black militants, cheeseball portrayals of Mafioso bigwigs and a a ‘wild’ ashram scene that ranks with the era’s most foolish depictions of “the youth culture”.

In the lines of fire: Martin Balsam, Ralph Waite, Norman Fell, David Sheiner, Paul Koslo, Stuart Margolin (not bad), Alfred Ryder, Walter Burke, Eddie Firestone, Kelly Miles (Vera’s daughter), John Ritter, Charles Tyner, Byron Morrow, Frank Campanella, Robert Emhardt, Larry J. Blake, Chuck Roberson.