Y’all have a wonderful night as I watch my 5th Charles Bronson film at the movie theater! In 2022, I watched THE MECHANIC, MR. MAJESTYK, and DEATH WISH 3 at the Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, PA. Last year I caught HOUSE OF WAX here in downtown Little Rock at the Ron Robinson Theater. Tonight the Ron Robinson Theater is celebrating the 65th anniversary of the classic western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!
In my excitement, I’ll share Henry Brooks’ song THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN from his musical “Charles Bronson – More than a Vigilante – The Musical!” Enjoy my friends!
Toshiro Mifune is one of the all time great actors in the history of world cinema, and he’s also one of my personal favorites. Charles Bronson may sit alone at the top of Mt. Bradmore, but there’s a tier of actors just below him who I also obsess over. That tier includes people like Chow Yun-Fat, Clint Eastwood, Lau Ching-Wan, Roy Scheider, James Woods, Rutger Hauer, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Toshiro Mifune. I have read voluminous books about Mifune, and I’ve collected so many of his Japanese films. His work with Kurosawa is amazing, but he’s also done impressive work with other great Japanese directors like Kihachi Okamoto, Masaki Kobayashi, and Hiroshi Inagaki.
It makes me so happy that Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune had the opportunity to make the enjoyable East meets Western, RED SUN, together. Although Mifune had more range than Bronson as an actor, they both had such a magnificent screen presence. And the one time they worked together, Bronson actually had the more showy role. Watching Bronson underplay his scalawag cowboy against the honorable samurai played by Mifune is a true delight to any person who appreciates macho cinema. Henry Brooks really hones in on their macho personas in his song “Toshiro and I” from his new musical, CHARLES BRONSON – More Than a Vigilante – THE MUSICAL. It’s my favorite song in the entire musical, and I’m glad to be able to share it on the legendary Toshiro Mifune’s 105th birthday! Enjoy!
A few months ago, I told you about a young man named Henry Brooks, who has written a musical about the life of Charles Bronson. Every person who follows this site closely knows how much I love Charles Bronson. It makes me so happy that Henry has shared his talents in a way that is respectful of Charles Bronson, while also providing a fun and serious look at his life and movie career. I promised Henry that I would do what I could to share this project. Heck, I’d love to see it on Broadway some day! The album is produced by Stephen Glickman (Big Time Rush), with Steven Weber (Wings) and Lisa Loeb (Stay: I Missed You) contributing their talents as Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland. There are so many good songs on the album, but I think my personal favorite song is called “Toshiro and I,” which is Henry’s amusing take on Bronson’s film with Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, RED SUN. Henry’s personal favorite songs are “Bronson Don’t Sing,” and “Leave the Mine Behind.” I can’t argue, they’re great songs, but there are many others as well. There are a total of 16 songs on the album, and the songs take Bronson from the coal mines all the way to being the most popular movie star on the planet.
I’ve linked to YouTube versions of the songs below! Take a moment to subscribe if you get the chance. You can also find the album on Spotify and Apple Music. Physical copies of the album should be available in the very near future. I can’t wait to add the Vinyl release to my collection!
A couple of months ago, the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast interviewed Henry Brooks for the 2nd time, but this time we discuss the completed concept album. We’ve dedicated a significant amount of time to Bronson Awareness and Education, and we’re honored to do our part to help spread the word on this important project!
Through the Shattered Lens 