10 TO MIDNIGHT

US, 1985, 95 minutes, Colour.
Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Wilford Brimley, Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis.
Directed by J. Lee Thompson.

10 To Midnight is one of Charles Bronson's later action adventures. After making his mark as an actor in the '50s and '60s, Bronson became something of a cult hero for action films during the '70s with such films as Death Wish. His popularity waned though he continued to make films like this. This is one of his better later thrillers. The ingredients are familiar: lurid sex murderer in Los Angeles, the inability of the law to hold the killer, the personal vendetta waged by Bronson. It is a variation on his Death Wish films.

The film is directed by English director J. Lee- Thompson who made many interesting films in Britain in the '50s including Tiger Bay, moved to Hollywood with The Guns of Navarone and had a career over several decades but whose films were not outstanding. He directed Bronson in St. Ives, The White Buffalo, Capo Blanco. There is a strong supporting cast - especially Gene Davis as the psychotic killer. Bronson is more 'laid back' in this film which makes it more persuasive than other films he made at this time.

1. The popularity of the police and crime thriller? Entertaining? The workings of the police? The insane criminal mind? The effectiveness of justice and the law? individual justice? Impact in terms of understanding, emotion?

2. Charles Bronson vehicle: Bronson's presence, appearance. age, authority? The background of the Death Wish films? Upholding the law? Critical of the law? Taking it into his own hands?

3. The Los Angeles background: the ordinary life - hospitals, nurses, offices? The police precincts and the work of the police? The law courts? The streets and the lurid background of the city? Atmosphere of authenticity? Visual violence? Lurid aspects? Editing and pace? The musical score?

4. The emotional response to the situations portrayed? Audiences identifying with the injustice and cruelty? The seeming fallibility of the law? Attitudes towards justice, law and its protection of criminals, lawyers exploiting the law? The final confrontation and its credibility? Leaving the audience with questions about justice?

5. The portrait of warren Stacey: his madness, his antagonism towards women - and the suggestions about their humiliating him, calling him a creep, pouring coffee over him etc.? The importance of the insertion of the flashbacks of these memories? The few facts given about him? His memories and his final explanation? The popular psychology used - his distrust and dislike of women, humiliation, sexual aberration, the knife as his penis etc.? His looking at himself in the mirror, self-absorption, dressing? The Butch Cassidy episode and his working out an alibi? His using the same technique later? Callous use of the girls in the cinema? The violence of his stalking his victim, nude, violent, blood-spattered? The irony of his attending the funeral? His meeting with Laurie and her thinking she knew him? Stalking Karen in her apartment and murdering her? The diary already taken by the police? His being taken in, questions and his asserting of rights, his anger? The obscene phone calls - especially to Laurie? His arrest and protests? The relationship with the lawyer - and the suggestion of a mental plea? The response to the planting of the blood on his clothes? His being freed again? Leo pursuing him: phone calls, watching, the photos in his office? The girl suspicious of him at the office and his being sacked? Picking up the prostitute? Using her for an alibi? His nude going berserk in the nurses' rooms and slaying them? His lurking for Laurie, chasing her down the street? His defying Leo at the end and using the mental plea? His death? A sketch of a psychotic killer? The audience encountering him as did the police? Fewness of facts? Emotional response to behaviour and crime? Sufficient explanation? The verdict?

6. Bronson as policeman: his work and reaction to the old nun confessing during the credits? His sneering at Mc Ann and their working as partners? His skill in investigation? The scene of the crime? His telling the victim's parents - and the pathos of his knowing them? His ability in searching Warren's apartment? The interrogation and his violence, his accusations about sexual aberration? His anger at the system? The sparring with Mc Cann, gradual appreciation of him, his love for his daughter and yet his being too busy to see her? The cafeteria sequence? The taping of the obscene phone call and testing it with Warren's voice? His device for taking the blood and planting it? The arrest? His satisfaction at the court? Mc Cann refusing to lie? The reaction of the judge, his being sacked? His drinking with Laurie? His obsessive pursuit of Warren: phone, car, the photos in the office? His pursuit from the hotel to save Laurie? Confronting Warren and killing him? The facts, justice, sympathy for his action? Could it be justified in law?

7. Mc Cann as the younger version of Leo? Education? Dress and people saying he didn't look like a policeman? Working with Leo? Helping? The attraction towards Laurie? The dance. the meal? The comic touches? The lawyer's pressure on him about the planting of the blood? His own investigations? Confronting Leo? Watching for Laurie? The living by the letter of the law?

8. Malone and his work on the case? The D.A. and the office staff? The background of forensic investigation? The pot-smoking attendant and his being used?

9. Warren's lawyer and his smooth talk. manipulation of the case, mental pleas etc.? The quick sketch of the smooth criminal lawyer?

10. The portrayal of women in the film: victims, good and bad? As seen through Warren's perspective? The women at the office? The stories about the first victim and her promiscuity? Karen and her death - and the grief of her boyfriend? The nurses and their friendliness with Laurie? The pathos of their deaths?

11. Laurie as similar to he father? Trying to see him. the funeral, offering the photo of Warren, the cafeteria sequence? Her story about her parents and her father's absence? The obscene phone calls? The dance and outing with Mc Cann? Her presence in the court, disgust with Mc Ann, drinking with her father? Her being terrorised with the nurses? Her quick-wittedness? The chase in the street?

12. The film as another example of the popularity of police cases in the media of the '70s and '80s? The emphasis on the lurid, the real and the ugly? The police having to cope with this kind of murder and mentality? The stances to be taken?