cult film freak: jerry fielding

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Written by James M. Tate / 8/24/2026 / No comments / action , alain delon , espionage , gayle hunnicutt , james b. sikking , jerry fielding , joanne linville , john colicos , mary maude , michael winner , neo noir , paul scofield , seventies , thriller , william smithers

ALAIN DELON & BURT LANCASTER IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'SCORPIO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORJdxJ8JOXVvCvrd-7kYYyVh9HEfCS0TrOMUsfqaN4iVt-Go_2B-_YXUxM2-bKv_a9LXvETnr8UT_SV7SpfoqxerrHS1cQgcbUtxQJGgvfqjAtbbGaYFRtjDvCqmFVTraQYa_0FoigAIunE8k2alJhamH0s1RV4LUwIErJEoKalCf6-afy34mxddYXgCf/s1842/111%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="1842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORJdxJ8JOXVvCvrd-7kYYyVh9HEfCS0TrOMUsfqaN4iVt-Go_2B-_YXUxM2-bKv_a9LXvETnr8UT_SV7SpfoqxerrHS1cQgcbUtxQJGgvfqjAtbbGaYFRtjDvCqmFVTraQYa_0FoigAIunE8k2alJhamH0s1RV4LUwIErJEoKalCf6-afy34mxddYXgCf/s1600/111%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: SCORPIO Year: 1973 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>During the final act of Michael Winner's 1972 crime-thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/12/mechanics.html">THE MECHANIC</a>, veteran hit-man Charles Bronson is targeted by his own young assassin student Jan-Michael Vincent... And a year later, in Winner's espionage-thriller SCORPIO, this same exact ironical setup is already happening (has already happened), right when the movie begins...

action, alain delon, espionage, gayle hunnicutt, james b. sikking, jerry fielding, joanne linville, john colicos, mary maude, michael winner, neo noir, paul scofield, seventies, thriller, william smithers

ALAIN DELON & BURT LANCASTER IN MICHAEL WINNER'S 'SCORPIO'

Title: SCORPIO Year: 1973 Rating: **1/2 During the final act of Michael Winner's 1972 crime-thriller THE MECHANIC , veteran hit-man Char...

PARENTHETICAL ANALYSIS OF MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE MECHANIC'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmL7Q2y1FPuEm0DdLrwGQIjzwg2GKEorCvWTM_rGT7j6iO5E2z-YTj-urOvSAClQsuNMkAWZDl3zFfOvmOn5UjJsMBurr6x3ubTdNeG5VNgK0OQbaWqetbMWRj9cjU1lY8nLpMBsBsKO0zpiZNtYSvd1bifl1YClGvjcBEfgSfgycAXzngBvMsxPwjQRP/s2056/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-15%20at%209.36.38%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="2056" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmL7Q2y1FPuEm0DdLrwGQIjzwg2GKEorCvWTM_rGT7j6iO5E2z-YTj-urOvSAClQsuNMkAWZDl3zFfOvmOn5UjJsMBurr6x3ubTdNeG5VNgK0OQbaWqetbMWRj9cjU1lY8nLpMBsBsKO0zpiZNtYSvd1bifl1YClGvjcBEfgSfgycAXzngBvMsxPwjQRP/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-15%20at%209.36.38%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC from 1974 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time professional hit-man Arthur Bishop, skillfully underplayed by Charles Bronson... starring in the first of the 1972-1974 unconnected crime trilogy under the creative direction of eclectic British auteur Michael Winner... meets his match in young upstart Jan-Michael Vincent, the best part of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/05/BW2-MECH.html">THE MECHANIC</a> had already occurred...  Centering on the titular eccentric hired-killer slumming in a shabby Los Angeles motel, strategically rented across the street from his human target's non-rented room... providing a smooth, menial, fifteen-minute killer-at-work sequence that, given his narrowed, exacting professionalism, deliberately lacks suspense while replete with Winner's signature camera movements, from dramatic zooms to quick cuts, and herein, most importantly, no dialogue...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfF4YXy6iB31ckrPPXZIHJBZdeOY2fN_WZSE_ljHVBc_7sfYypRbDgVy4E_Z6c4z9ZyYzFAOsZFaKMNPKWzGcq3eO3xICz2RCqX1-2kpjricHQ-iaNBwTXBDZ53y1b-XF2i-z1Rf0oU_rN6vtmS_iJ0daqeTEoG-KWly0STxq1_stBOjim_Oq3jNuS-s1/s2260/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.21.08%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="2260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfF4YXy6iB31ckrPPXZIHJBZdeOY2fN_WZSE_ljHVBc_7sfYypRbDgVy4E_Z6c4z9ZyYzFAOsZFaKMNPKWzGcq3eO3xICz2RCqX1-2kpjricHQ-iaNBwTXBDZ53y1b-XF2i-z1Rf0oU_rN6vtmS_iJ0daqeTEoG-KWly0STxq1_stBOjim_Oq3jNuS-s1/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-02%20at%208.21.08%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerry Fielding credit from THE MECHANIC</td></tr></tbody></table>Instead filled with underrated composer Jerry Fielding's rich and cerebral, classically orchestrated yet equally jazz-induced score that also worked for Dustin Hoffman's mind-game marriage from Sam Peckpinpah's<a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/11/peckinpahdogs.html"> STRAW DOGS</a> (after having successfully tracked Peckinpah's blockbuster THE WILD BUNCH); Warren Oates's exhausted contemplation in the same director's BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA; or building tension for Clint Eastwood in either THE ENFORCER or <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2023/11/clintclimbs.html">THE EIGER SANCTION</a>... A few examples of how and where Jerry Fielding's music fits tough and paranoiac, melancholy souls suffering personal battles so that the inevitable violence remains on the verge of eruption, even during meditative downtime — providing brooding overtures inside as well as about the characters...

action, article, charles bronson, crime, hit-man, jan-michael vincent, jerry fielding, jill ireland, michael winner, neo noir, seventies, team-up, thriller

PARENTHETICAL ANALYSIS OF MICHAEL WINNER'S 'THE MECHANIC'

Charles Bronson in THE MECHANIC from 1974 Rating: **** By the time professional hit-man Arthur Bishop, skillfully underplayed by Charles Bro...

SAM PECKINPAH'S CONTROVERSIAL BRITISH CLASSIC 'STRAW DOGS'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC2SFD2e2UXfmtfZfV-Q3fC2Vs5gcUL_RChPiSHMa15qSQ0VxJmm1whiX8_cnZP8SL4QcxW3zZKF6fP84M51v0XhkzWesqXxBVxo6uWZveZ6zO-m_yMvZ4QmW5rxw3bJug57nLFDamRqIsIizdtxuvSASmEzdOSoq6e4Pg6P7Lq42b-NZCg46GLEunmgq/s1554/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-24%20at%204.57.29%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC2SFD2e2UXfmtfZfV-Q3fC2Vs5gcUL_RChPiSHMa15qSQ0VxJmm1whiX8_cnZP8SL4QcxW3zZKF6fP84M51v0XhkzWesqXxBVxo6uWZveZ6zO-m_yMvZ4QmW5rxw3bJug57nLFDamRqIsIizdtxuvSASmEzdOSoq6e4Pg6P7Lq42b-NZCg46GLEunmgq/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-24%20at%204.57.29%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dustin Hoffman with Susan George & Ken Hutchison in STRAW DOGS Year: 1971 Rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>American director Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH is considered his peak — yet an even wilder albeit initially more subtle and ambiguous bunch exist within the British-set (and extremely British-styled) STRAW DOGS...Where nuclear scientist Dustin Hoffman attempts much needed study-time in an old stone-cobbled house with younger wife Susan George, who's more like the locals she grew up around than him...

british neo noir, colin welland, david warner, del henney, donald webster, dustin hoffman, jerry fielding, jim norton, ken hutchison, peter vaughan, sam peckinpah, seventies, susan george, t.p. mckenna

SAM PECKINPAH'S CONTROVERSIAL BRITISH CLASSIC 'STRAW DOGS'

Dustin Hoffman with Susan George & Ken Hutchison in STRAW DOGS Year: 1971 Rating: ***** American director Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD B...

CHARLES BRONSON IS 'THE MECHANIC' WITH JAN MICHAEL-VINCENT

action, charles bronson, crime, europe, exploitation, frank dekova, hit-man, jan-michael vincent, jerry fielding, jill ireland, keenan wynn, michael winner, neo noir, seventies, team-up, thriller

CHARLES BRONSON IS 'THE MECHANIC' WITH JAN MICHAEL-VINCENT

Title: The Mechanic Year: 1972 Rates: **** Fan-favorite neo noir cult vehicle THE MECHANIC... one of the six collaborations between tough gu...

CAAN & DUVALL UNDER PECKINPAH FOR 'THE KILLER ELITE'

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Year of Release: 1975</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It takes two GODFATHER actors: the already iconic and borderline legendary James Caan and Robert Duvall, to perfectly kickstart a movie about a secret operation even "worse" than the CIA (are portrayed on screen) acting like a couple slap-happy Playboys, or, perhaps, the way they really were with each other behind the scenes, laughing with delicious inside quips, throwing dirty jokes back and forth, cracking wise and unwise about women and yet only one of them guffaws about the other's possible venereal disease... For themselves, a hilarious moment indeed... 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxd1JNwruMjyefcaOJXKbB0eRSxe9xVPcwsrs_TNzHOdhBsI9Ji-iaasiqi0OvpGSioPptaxE6SHUYILJziiiy0URZZSbI5rWwT3ce8lGqBQojwrKkBaIW_dUvZr4YzsmNVKIq4YYqEyh/s1600/31946416_472530256509489_2692264450945187840_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="739" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxd1JNwruMjyefcaOJXKbB0eRSxe9xVPcwsrs_TNzHOdhBsI9Ji-iaasiqi0OvpGSioPptaxE6SHUYILJziiiy0URZZSbI5rWwT3ce8lGqBQojwrKkBaIW_dUvZr4YzsmNVKIq4YYqEyh/s200/31946416_472530256509489_2692264450945187840_n.jpg" width="200"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duvall and Caan</td></tr>
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All in a car driving over the Golden Gate bridge shot by director Sam Peckinpah in a modern setting... Starts out with a building exploding and Caan and Duvall, as Mike and George, harboring a "snitch" who... Let's just say things don't go well for this man, and his future turns out much worse than a horrible, game-changing injury for Caan's Mike after a double-cross that's extremely suspenseful, in fact even more-so than most films being that, after experiencing two pals acting like they've known each other since grade school, Duvall's sudden transition, taking place fully-clothed, sitting on a toilet seat, gun in hand with an icy stare... especially contrasted to the funny guy he was minutes before... And in another minute's time, Caan's Mike winds up with a busted knee cap and one nearly dead arm, and some of the best, most personal scenes occur in the hospital thereafter.

bo hopkins, burt young, james caan, jerry fielding, robert duvall, sam peckinpah, seventies