Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301234818
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6301234812
Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay
Release Date: 1997-10-06
Running Time: 91
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Theatrical Release Date: 1988

Charles Bronson stars in yet another tale of murder and vengeance. After the brutal massacre of a Colorado family, reporter Garret Smith (Bronson) investigates the blood feud between two brothers of an isolationist Mormon sect, only to uncover a conspiracy that leads to the heights of Denver society. Messenger of Death aspires to be some mixture of Witness and Chinatown; the movie has a workmanlike structure, but there's not much inspiration to be found. Bronson, puffy-faced and graying, isn't doing much more than earning a paycheck. Also featuring Trish Van Devere and Daniel Benzali. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Rating:
Summary: Above average by Bronson standards
Comment: Be warned, this review may be biased. You see it was partly filmed in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, my home of twenty five years. In one scene Mr. Bronson's Garrett Smith, a Denver reporter solving a brutal family murder, is walking downtown speaking with the local sheriff when a large Chevy truck passes them. I'm happy to report that truck (mine) and its driver (my dad) are both alive and well. While Mr. Bronson is sadly not, fans of the square jawed tough will certainly enjoy this film. It may not be "Death Wish", or even "Mr. Myjestyk"; "Evil That Men Do" though, it is not.

The plot centers on a massacred family in the Colorado hills. The husband/father is the lone survivor and the head suspect. Everyone suspects foul play, but no one is Aticus Finch enough to confront it, which sometimes puts Bronson in some absolutely ludacris situations. If I told you that there was a shootout involving two sides of a family with multiple deaths, your last guess as to the man who would sue for peace would be Charles Bronson--but he does. In this regard his character is equivelant to his Danny in "Great Escape"; he uses his brain to solve problems and lets everyone else blast away. Yes, we're thinking of the same Charles Bronson.

What follows is a complicated (sometimes silly) view of Mormonism, corruption in city politics and family feuds. Worth the price of admission though, is the film's pure 1980's small town Americana texture. Cars are very, very ugly and there were more STDs than SUVs at the time of filming. Vehicles also are, along with everything else, brown. Clothes, hairstyles, houses and buildings, all brown and all better left a score ago. Let's call it an ugly decade and move on huh?

This is one of the few films where Charles Bronson hardly fires a shot in anger. Yes he's a reporter, but he's also Charles Bronson, and Charles Bronson wouldn't back down from a fight if he played Nathan Lane in Birdcage and only had 2x4 as a weapon. He may be a reporter, but then again the pen is mightier than the .357 Magnum.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: CHARLIE,Charlie,charlie,.......
Comment: Words cannot describe the pain I am going thru to
have to give the Man one star on a movie of his. I
love Bronson films,yes even those bad ones that are
going thru your head right now,but this is by far
his WORST movie ever(and Amazon readers thats saying
alot). Willing to do the PEPSI challenge test with
the syrup NYQUILL anytime. This is the Messenger of
snooze.ZZZZZZZZZZ-ZZZZZ-ZZZZZZZZZZ-ZZZZZZZZ

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I was IN this movie!
Comment: Although this B-film was a bomb, it was fun and a learning experience to participate in a movie. It's great fun to see yourself onscreen, even if you have to fast-forward through the first ten minutes of gore. It kind of ruined movies for me for a couple of years because I would analyze how a scene was shot and the 'magic' was gone. However, I will treasure my copy of the film forever because a dear friend who has since passed away is standing next to me in the train station scene (I'm the lady in the camel hair coat and black hat). The most redeeming thing about this film is the scenery. Shot in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, the views are breathtaking. Makes you want to vacation in Colorful Colorado!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: a little more "refined" than most Bronson movies
Comment: There's a little more of a "detective/thriller" vibe in Messenger of Death than in some of Bronson's other movies of the period but that's not a bad thing IMHO. It's just a little different from the usual vigilante formula and that's fine by me. I enjoyed this one.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Bronson Vs. The Mormons!
Comment: After a string of sleazy action flicks with Chuck(Evil That Men Do, Murphy's Law, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown), director J. Lee Thompson seemed like he wanted to do something a little different with his next Bronson picture. Messenger Of Death is a little more on the drama/suspense side than action. Sure it's got bits of action here and there, but most of the film has Bronson trying to get to the bottom of a brutal murder. It's not terribly exciting, but it certainly isn't a bad film. I guess I'm just used to the vigilante Bronson, which is unfortunate coz he's capable of more than that. But this movie won't give you anything you haven't seen before, although it certainly makes mormons out to be a creepy bunch. Bronson really doesn't turn on the Bronson until the last five minutes or so of the film, but he does it with that flair we all love. All in all, not too bad, but it's main function will be to make your Bronson collection larger.

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