During the height of his popularity in 1976, Charles Bronson tried something quite different with this romantic comedy costarring his wife Jill Ireland. And to be honest, he’s darn funny in the role. This movie has grown on me over the years.
Bronson plays Graham Dorsey, a bank robber who spends an afternoon with the lonely widow Amanda Starbuck (Ireland) while his gang is robbing a bank in town. After his gang is all killed during the robbery, Dorsey must take off and go into hiding, eventually being arrested for impersonating a quack dentist. While he’s in jail, and through a variety of circumstances, a book is written about their afternoon together and it becomes an international sensation. As soon as Dorsey gets out of jail, he goes back to Starbuck’s home to rekindle their affair. Unfortunately for Dorsey, the book has created such a legend of him and their affair that Ms. Starbuck doesn’t even recognize the man he really is. His method of convincing her that he’s the “real” Graham Dorsey is the funniest moment in Bronson’s entire filmography.
Charles Bronson & Jill Ireland are clearly having a wonderful time making this movie together, which is one of the main reasons I enjoy the film. He may not have done it often, but Bronson could play comedy and he’s excellent in this film cast completely against his normal type. Jill Ireland is also very good as the widow Starbuck and her rendition of the song “Hello and Goodbye” was even nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Song. We had the privilege of interviewing Jill Ireland’s niece, Lindsay Ireland, and she told us of singing this song with her aunt Jill and her cousin when she would spend summers with them in Vermont in the 70’s. It’s so fun for me to hear firsthand about those times when the Bronson’s were one of the biggest celebrity couples of the world! The best part, Bronson valued his time with his family over anything else. They were everything to him.
**BONUS CONTENT** – I’ve included a link to the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast episode where Lindsay Ireland describes her time with her aunt Jill Ireland, and how they would sing “Hello & Goodbye,” the song that was in FROM NOON TILL THREE, while they were driving down the roads in Vermont. It’s a really nice insight into Jill Ireland.
Through the Shattered Lens 
That photo up front of Charles Bronson, with a real smile, is a ‘grabber’! There is an acting technique that involves ‘getting your laugh offstage’, or before the cameras roll, so that your smile/laugh is real and not detected as ‘acting’. His smile is so “big” that if/when he breaks it out, it is memorable in his films. Two things I read (that means, “might not be true!”) one is Bronson picked up the ‘laugh offstage’ trick from his roommate Jack Klugman, who was great at comedic parts. Two, he was self-conscious about his teeth and had work done while in the Air Force.
I know it is an easy point to criticize actors when they step out of their ‘comfort zone’, but as the years go by I find that it is more likely the audience is out of their ‘comfort zone.’ Totally agree, Brad, that Bronson can really do comedy. First name that comes to mind is Sylvester Stallone, who is hilarious IRL, and I am one of the very few who enjoyed “Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!” and “Oscar” (almost zero critics acknowledged the title’s self-effacing irony). Bronson knew writer Frank Gilroy’s work from theater and early television, and it was a real honor for him and Jill Ireland to perform in the film version of this story. I admire Charles Bronson for stretching with this role, at least as far as audience expectations. Actors act, and take the work offered-and-available. Thank you for sharing your interview with Lindsay Ireland, she really does bring a personal perspective to the film!
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I definitely want to believe that he learned the “laugh offstage” technique from Klugman!
I think Bronson was great at being somewhat of a “rascal.” I think his roles in FAREWELL FRIEND, YOU CAN’T WIN EM ALL, RED SUN, BREAKOUT, and FROM NOON TILL THREE all showed that side of him off. That part of his persona would be completely gone after this film, although there’s a hint of it in ST. IVES.
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