By Geno McGahee
There will never be another Charles Bronson. His 80’s action run was unmatched with the DEATH WISH series, MURPHY’S LAW, KINJITE and so many more. His sarcastic tough guy delivery was fantastic. Hollywood totally missed the boat when they didn’t make a DEATH WISH – DIRTY HARRY crossover film. I would have loved to see Dirty Harry track down the vigilante in an epic showdown.
In 1983, Bronson starred in 10 TO MIDNIGHT, an action/horror hybrid film where he assumes the familiar role of a police detective on the heels of a serial killer. A naked guy is going around and slashing up young girls. Warren Stacey (Gene Davis) is a troubled man that works in an office where his main job is typewriter repair. He is haunted by an encounter with Betty (June Gilbert) and vows revenge. She went on one date with him and considered him a creep. He proved it to be true when he snuck up behind her and unzipped her dress. She reacted by splashing her cup of coffee right in his face.
Betty and her hubby head off to the lake for some action when naked Warren comes knocking and he’s armed with a knife. All of his rage is on display as he slices them both up. When Leo Kessler (Bronson) shows up, he walks into a bloody mess and meets his new partner, Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens). Immediately, Bronson is not impressed with his new partner, especially after he dropped his gum at the crime scene. Bronson doesn’t play well with others and if his DEATH WISH films taught us anything, everyone should know to not befriend him. His friends usually end up dead. Thankfully for McAnn, this is not a DEATH WISH film. If it was, he’d be toast at the 37 minute mark.
After breaking it to the family of Betty, Kessler and McAnn attend her funeral. Betty was also good friends with Kessler’s daughter, Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher), and there is plenty of tension between her and her dad. Being a detective’s daughter isn’t easy and there is a history of absence there. The funeral meeting is an awkward one, but it gets even stranger when Warren shows up. Laurie recognizes him and approaches, but Betty was totally correct. He is super creepy.
When Warren discovers that Betty had a diary, he comes knocking to her apartment in search of it. He kills her roommate but the diary is missing. Kessler has it and starts to suspect Warren as the killer. When McAnn and Kessler go to visit him, Kessler reads some personal things that visibly bother him, including a great line from Bronson. He reads Betty’s thoughts including those concerning a “creep” and Bronson says “do you know who that is?” Warren shakes his head no. Bronson looks up with a smirk and says “I’ll give you a hint. You.” This is why Bronson ruled. He was a total badass but was also very sarcastic and witty.
Warren is brought in for questioning and that’s when it gets really interesting. Kessler asks him when he made it with a girl and then quickly noted that “you never made it with a girl.” He then took out some suck machine that he took from Warren’s bathroom and said “do you recognize this?” Warren is mortified. I would be too. If I had a sucking machine in my bathroom and the police took it without a warrant and then showed it to me, I would be quite embarrassed. Kessler then notes that “it’s for jacking off, isn’t it?” Good stuff!
McAnn has to fight his by the book ways to support Kessler, who just wants to get the bad guy off the street. When Kessler’s tactics get too much, he is forced to do something and it allows Warren back on the streets and back to his murdering ways. This is when the big showdown happens. A naked serial killer versus Charles Bronson. I never thought that I would enjoy a movie with a naked guy running around this much, but that is the power of Bronson.
10 TO MIDNIGHT is an amazing film from Cannon Films, a company that brought some of the best action to the screen. Bronson is at his best in this action/thriller and the supporting cast is also very good. Gene Davis was outstanding as the bad guy in this and played the role with incredible energy. He was entertaining throughout. Geoffrey Lewis was awesome as the sleazy defense attorney, Dave Dante, and had one of the best/worst wigs in film history. We also get to see a young Kelly Preston as Nurse Doreen in this. It was a small role, but she was immediately recognizable and I never noticed she was in this before. J. Lee Thompson, the director, deserves a lot of credit too. He would go onto direct other Bronson classics like MURPHY’S LAW, DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN and KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS. He knew how to direct an action film. It’s sad that this time has passed. This was the golden era of action films.
I can’t recommend this film enough. 10 TO MIDNIGHT is entertainment, blending action and horror elements into one fantastic Bronson film.
Rating: 9/10
