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Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
This Western from director John Sturges (The Great Escape) proves to be a sizable disappointment.
Rated: 2/4
Aug 7, 2021
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Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
John Sturges-directed actioner featuring Charles Bronson, as tough as ever.
Rated: 3/5
Feb 22, 2008
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Audience Member
I own this on DVD in a two movie pack along with:
* Caboblanco (1981)
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
Full Review
dave j
Thursday, July 25, 2013
(1977) Chino
WESTERN
One of fame director's Preston Sturges most subtlest films to date using a European production, it may also be the most non-violent poignant movie actor Charles Bronson has ever starred in as well. He plays "Chino" as the title ensures who appears to be half white and half Native American. As the movie starts off with a lonesome underage blond boy, drifting pass Chino's ranch and seeking for some work. At first, the boy fears him but eventually adapts to liking what he does creating a genuine bond. It isn't long that viewers figure out that Chino's a horse seller/ trader who loves horses in which he also allows some that he breeds to run wild out in the open desert as opposed to the other horses he's selling which are locked behind a fence. All is well until he meets and falls for one of his clients and her name is Catherine played by frequent co-star and real life wife Jill Ireland who happens to be a foster sister of her controlling brother Marel who has a European accent who happens to be a wealthy landowner. The only time Chino finally got his buttons pushed over the edge doesn't occur until after the first hour, and it was against the wealthy landowner who was placing some barb wire along his property and he does this because he was jealous about his sister falling in love with Chino. And although we don't know too much about the boy Jamie in question, we the audience don't care about him but are as observant and curious about Chino since he's been through a heck of a lot.
All I can say is that this is one of few films in which Native Americans are not portrayed as savages but as civilized human beings. For the only way this film can be totally appreciated mustn't be forced and demands the right frame of mind for their really isn't any plot to speak about except that it's about Chino the character itself which might be expressed through the director of this movie by the name of Preston Sturges for his love of horses and horses in general. The only action throughout are a few brawls, always with the same 3 or 4 men which occur somehwere along the beginning, and then to the middle and finally toward the end, and then to top it off some spectacular shooting since no one knows this particular desert area more than the title character Chino. I'd give this film a much higher rating but the copy I had to watch this from is a bad commercial copy and at times hard to make out what some of the characters are saying.
Other films Bronson co-starred with actual wife Jill Ireland also include:
(1970) Rider On The Rain
(1970) The Family/ Final Shot
(1970) Cold Sweat
(1971) Someone Behind The Door
(1972) The Valachi Papers
(1972) The Mechanic
(1973) Chino
(1975) Breakout
(1975) Hard Times
(1975) Breakheart Pass
(1976) From Noon Till Three
(1979) Love And Bullets
(1982) Death Wish II
(1987) Assassination
This movie gets
3 out of 4 Stars
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A great Italowestern directed by John Sturges starring Charles Bronson with a heartwarming Story of a Good-Minded Mexican Horse Breeder who adopt a Blonde Orphanage Boy, live in Friendship with the Cheyenne and is in Love with a Gringo Woman but her Brother who is also the Owner of the Land where Chino's Horses graze don't like that Relationship so he terrozize him with his Boys they even whip him hard and long which is a very dramatic Scene beautiful Pictures of the Nature entertaining Fist and Gun Fights, lot of Horses and Indians and a untypical Baladeer Soundtrack from the De Angelis Brothers like in Keoma also we see the Tits of Chino's Girlfriend, fucking Horses and Charles Bronson is jerkin off
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A horse trainer (the late Charles Bronson) lives with a runaway just outside an Old West town where he has a rough reputation.
His rough exterior is challenged when a woman (Bronson's real life late wife, Jill Ireland) comes into his life.
From what I remember of Bronson's movies, there is always a good amount of violence. There is barely any in here. There is at least one fist fight, which lasts seconds, and not much gun play.
The pace of the movie is painfully slow and deliberate. Sometimes the action on the screen was so slow, my eyes began to wander away from the screen. I found myself getting bored frequently.
This was not one of the best acted movies I've seen lately. I did not feel chemistry between most of the cast. I did feel some between the boy and Bronson.
The story was choppy at best. In fact, it was so weak that it hurt the storyline. The supporting cast was there to slightly advance Bronson's background story, and that's mostly it.
The music was purely Country and Western, and not memorable at all in this movie. I couldn't even recognize any singer on the soundtrack.
Some of the scenery was pretty good. However, there were no spectacular shots. In fact, the scenery was kind of boring. The town, and the horse trainer's property was placed in a sandy area without any color. Wardrobes were just as boring.
This one you can pass on.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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