The Mechanic Movie Review

The Mechanic (1972)

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Written by: Lewis John Carlino (screenplay), Lewis John Carlino (story)
Directed by: Michael Winner
Starring: Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn
Rated: PG (PG-13)
Watch the trailer

Plot
An aging hitman befriends a young man who wants to be a professional killer. Eventually it becomes clear that someone has betrayed them. 

Verdict
It's an enjoyable movie that eschews the typical action genre of assassins movies for something more thoughtful. This hitman isn't invincible. We see his meticulousness and how this job weighs on him mentally. He's amassed stuff at the cost of relationships. He takes on a protege, but what are the underlying motivations? This delves deeper than most movies from this genre, becoming more of a character study.
It depends.

Review
The lack of any dialog creates an engrossing fifteen minutes as Bishop (Charles Bronson) watches a targets house and then infiltrates. While we don't know exactly what he's doing, we get the concept. Bishop is setting a trap.

We see that Bishop is unscrupulous. He takes on any target, even someone he knows. This occupation has allowed him a luxurious lifestyle. He has a nice house, and he's knowledgeable about wine and presumably art. The prominent painting in his house is "The Garden of Earthly Delights." That's a commentary on the physical objects Bishop has amassed in this occupation, but also a reminder that he's forgone relationships too. He has stuff, but you get the idea that it lacks fulfillment as physical objects often do.

Bishop leads a hollow life with no friends or relationships. The closest thing to a friend is his handler. He's meticulous and unsentimental. To do this job well, you have to look at every angle. A mistake could be the end of your career. That creates a lot of anxiety

Bishop takes on a protege, training him to be an assassin. There are plenty of rules in this underworld, and taking on a protege without permission is a clear violation.

Jan-Michael Vincent and Charles Bronson play Steve and Bishop.

It's not clear why Bishop begins to train Steve. I would guess because Steve lives unconstrained. Steve has friends and parties, it's completely different from Bishop. With their first interaction, I wondered if Bishop felt attraction for Steve. Originally the writer wanted the two to have a romantic relationship, and the movie focus on the power play between student and teacher who are also a couple. Due to the time period and many actors refusing to do the movie at all with that plot point, it was scrapped. As the movie is, this could be Bishop desperate for any relationship or this is the son he never had since he lives a solitary life. Steve could be his means to fulfillment.

This is certainly a slower movie that most hitman flicks, but this pieces together Bishop's life, giving us an insight we rarely see. Being a hitman isn't portrayed as glamorous, and we don't get over the top action to distract us from just how isolating this life is. The subtext of the relationship adds nice depth, even if it's buried deep.