As possibly the biggest fan in the world of the legendary tough guy actor Charles Bronson, I’m often asked to name my favorite films that he has starred in. This is almost an impossible task, because I love his movies for many different reasons and oftentimes it doesn’t have a thing to do with what film critics think. Well, a few years ago, I decided I would try to rank all of the films where he has the lead role from my favorite to least favorite films. I threw out his supporting roles, which eliminates great films like THE GREAT ESCAPE and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and focused on films where he plays the main character. I also tried to choose the films I just enjoy watching the most. Since this is supposed to just be fun, and it’s also 100% subjective, I reserve the right to change the rules or my rankings at any time! In honor of Charles Bronson’s 104th birthday, here we go:

#5: ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) – I’ve heard many people throw this classic spaghetti western into the “large ensemble cast” grouping of Charles Bronson films such as THE DIRTY DOZEN and THE GREAT ESCAPE. While I won’t argue that the cast is extremely impressive since it also stars Henry Fonda, Jason Robards and Claudia Cardinale, I don’t consider Bronson’s role in this film to be the same as those others. Here, the main storyline in the film concerns his character Harmonica’s quest to meet with the black-hatted Frank (Henry Fonda) to settle their business from the past, both beginning and ending with Harmonica in two of the most impressive scenes in movie history. I love this movie more than anything for the way Sergio Leone turns Bronson into an impossibly awesome instrument of justice. Every shot with Bronson makes him look like a badass, and every line that comes out of his mouth sounds incredibly cool. Leone had wanted Bronson for all three of the “Dollars trilogy” films, and once he finally got him, we can see why. His camera lingers on his face and eyes for a length of time that I guess was never done before or after. Henry Fonda is one of the all-time great Hollywood stars, Jason Robards is an acting legend, and Claudia Cardinale just may be the most beautiful woman who’s ever graced the face of Earth, but Charles Bronson is the star and centerpiece of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. After this incredible performance Bronson would soon become the most popular star in the world, winning the Golden Globe award as “World Film Favorite” in 1972. 

#4: DEATH WISH 3 (1985) – You are reading this right, in my list of my favorite Charles Bronson films, I rank DEATH WISH 3 above ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and I’m not ashamed. My interest with Charles Bronson started with a late-night viewing with my dad of the original DEATH WISH, and it began to grow with some rentals of films like VIOLENT CITY and THE MECHANIC, but it reached its bloom as a full-blown obsession when I received DEATH WISH 3 as a Christmas present in 1986. It was the only Bronson film I owned on VHS (not counting a nearly unwatchable former rental tape of THE MECHANIC) and I watched it almost daily over the next sixth months or so. I still know every line of dialogue spoken in the film by heart. Granted, I recognize that new viewers may watch the film and wonder what the hell is wrong with me. To understand why I love DEATH WISH 3 so much, you have to be able to put yourself in the mind of a 13-year-old boy from Toad Suck, Arkansas, who is still new in discovering the world of R Rated cinema. This film had cussing, nudity and comic book level characters and kills from the opening scene to the last. And it had Bronson, the first tough guy actor I had ever really noticed. It would probably take an expert therapist to explain why I love Bronson and this film so much, but the fact is that it kicked off a lifelong interest that still continues almost 40 years later. If I can’t sleep at night, I just start streaming DEATH WISH 3 and lay my head down on my pillow and go to sleep to a nostalgic lifetime lullaby. 

#3: RED SUN (1971) – While it does have its share of high-profile supporters, most famously Quentin Tarantino, RED SUN is another film that I hold in higher esteem than most. I remember seeing the huge VHS box at the local mom and pop movie rental store in Conway, Arkansas when I was a kid. I thought Bronson looked pretty darn cool with his cowboy hat, long hair and pointed gun. I rented the movie and liked it, but the quality of the VHS tape was horrendous, and I discovered in the years since that that particular version of the film was severely edited for content as well. The proud owner of a region-free DVD player, a couple of decades ago I bought a region 2 DVD of the film from Studio Canal. For the first time I was able to see the film, including Ursula Andress’ uninhibited performance, in its full glory. One of the things I love the most about RED SUN is Bronson’s engaging performance in the central role. He’s very much a rascal, he’s funny, he’s tough when he needs to be, and he even has a big heart, even if it takes a while to find it. The next thing I love about the film is the fact that he teams up with the incredible Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. As Mifune himself is in my top 5 favorite actors of all time, the fact that he teamed up with Bronson in this fun western gives major bonus points to the entire production. They make an appealing pair as they head off after the evil Gauche, played by Alain Delon, another international favorite, whose LE SAMOURAI is an all-time classic in my book. With RED SUN, director Terence Young, who helmed the earliest James Bond films, took one of the great international casts ever assembled and delivered a fun and entertaining film that I revisit often!

#2: MR. MAJESTYK (1974) – A simple story about a man in rural Colorado who just wants to be left alone so he can pick his melons, MR. MAJESTYK has been one of my favorite Charles Bronson films since the beginning. I remember Dad renting this one when I was a kid in my early Bronson discovery period, prior to the life-changing DEATH WISH 3 purchase. I loved the movie, but dad had to take it back to the video store after a couple of days, and I wouldn’t see it again for quite a while. Flash forward about 37 years and one of the great days of my life was spent in those same rural Colorado locations (Canon City, Manzanola, La Junta) where Vince Majestyk had righted wrongs a half a century before. My wife and I toured the various locations, and I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of the great Charles Bronson. It was an almost mystical experience, which I documented through tons of pictures and self-made videos. A few months later, as part of the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON podcast, I was even blessed with the opportunity to co-host an interview with Jordan Rhodes, one of the two stars of the 1974 production that is still alive, the other being the beautiful Lee Purcell. It was the type of experience you assume you’ll never get in life, and then it happens! There are now so many personal reasons for MR. MAJESTYK to be special to me, but it’s also just a great 70’s action film with an interesting story, a badass hero, and a uniquely awesome set of villains. Elmore Leonard’s screenplay rocks and makes Bronson a working-class hero in a role that fits him like a glove. Throw in Al Lettieri as the biggest bully in the Bronson canon, and Paul Koslo as a creepy, local, wannabe ass-kicker, and the stage is set for action and audience satisfaction. My only warning is to stay away if the mutilation of fruit offends you. This movie contains the most horrid melon massacre in film history!

#1: HARD TIMES (1975) – The directorial debut of Walter Hill, HARD TIMES is the undisputed and still reigning number 1 champion of my favorite Charles Bronson films. When I published my first review in November of 2024 for The Shattered Lens, it was for HARD TIMES, where I declared that the movie is my personal favorite film. My thought was just to go ahead and truly introduce myself to the readers of the site, so they’ll know where I’m coming from as a cinema lover. I have a long history with this film that includes my own personal and working relationship with my dad. Dad was the kind of guy who worked all the time, and even harder on the weekends when he wasn’t doing his paid job as a high school basketball coach and teacher. Being his son, I was always right there with him, helping as we mowed our neighbors’ yards, hauled wood, built sheds… you name it, we did it. One day in appreciation for my help over the summer, dad took me to Wal-Mart and told me I could pick out a movie, and he would buy it for me. They had a nice, fresh stack of HARD TIMES VHS copies on their shelves and that’s what I selected. I had not seen the film before so when we got home, I wanted to watch it. What really surprised me is that Dad sat and watched the whole movie with me. What you have to understand is that my dad never sits still, and if he does, he usually falls asleep. That day he watched the movie, laughed at the right places, commented on the film at times, and seemed to really enjoy himself. I think all of us appreciate it when the special people in our lives will watch and enjoy a movie with us. That was one of those best movie moments ever when you consider it was with my dad. Not only do I have a fond memory of my first viewing, but HARD TIMES has also proven itself over the years to be one of Bronson’s best films and, in my opinion, an underrated 70’s classic. The polar opposite performances of Bronson as the quiet, powerful Chaney, and James Coburn as the fast-talking, hustler Speed, set the stage for high stakes drama in depression-era New Orleans. Somewhat like Harmonica from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Chaney is almost a mythic superhero as he rides into town on the train, impacts a lot of lives, and then gets back on the train and rides away. The audience satisfaction is off the charts as the mysterious drifter Chaney punches out smirking, younger opponents, hulking bald-headed opponents, shady managers who refuse to hand over the cash after a loss, and even a ringer who’s brought in all the way from Chicago. It’s a great film that was bought for me by a great dad, that’s filled with great actors who give great performances, all put together by a great director who would continue to make some of the greatest action movies of all time. How could this NOT be my favorite Charles Bronson film?!!