10 to Midnight

Typical Charles Bronson vigilante B-movie classic.

Bronson plays about an 125 year old cop who is convinced he knows the identity of a serial killer, despite the fact that the killer has an airtight alibi for the last murder. Lacking any hard evidence, Bronson plants some. When he is caught falsifying the evidence, he is fired from the police force, and decides to go after the bad guy by himself. When the bad guy surrenders, and taunts Bronson with a potential insanity defense, Bronson simply kills the guy in cold blood, while he is standing there naked and handcuffed, in front of dozens of witnesses. The film ends right there.

Exploitation city! In addition to the manipulative portrayal of the violence committed by the killer as well as by Bronson, there is also a monumental amount of nudity, featuring Gene Davis, the look-alike brother of Brad Davis from Midnight Express. Davis commits all of his crimes while stark naked, and we see it all. In a couple of cases his victims are naked as well. In the first murder detailed in the film, a naked Davis chases a naked June Gilbert through an entire forest about the size of the Soviet Union.

Wouldn't this have been a great opportunity for a sequel? Bronson is clearly guilty of first degree murder, and has no possible legal defense. He's either going to get the chair or a sentence to spend the rest of his life getting beaten and sodomized in prison, where he will receive especially unpleasant treatment, since he's a cop who acknowledged falsifying evidence.

Unfortunately, there was to be no sequel. We have to imagine that Big Chuck has done the right thing.

Given his age when this movie was made, I suppose he could have gotten off by using a senility defense.

DVD info from Amazon.

Widescreen anamorphic 1.85, and a full screen version. Pretty good transfers, although slightly grainy
no meaningful features

She is now one of the most popular female recording artists and musical theater divas in French history, and her face is well known in that country, having appeared on ten best-selling albums. She is a versatile singer, having performed everything from opera to C&W to Broadway tunes to the traditional style of French popular chanson. She is also a respected stage and TV actress, having achieved first artistic success on stage, then universal recognition as the star of 130 episodes of Riviera, a sort of French version of Dynasty. She's even a published poet!

Despite her fame in France, this American girl is known in the States (if at all) only for her minimal screen career and her appearances in Mr. Hefner's famous magazine from 1974 to 1979, which I was not aware of until today! It's interesting, because she is probably the most accomplished former Playmate in history, yet the magazine rarely or never mentions her in retrospectives.

TUNA's THOUGHTS

10 to Midnight (1983) is half slasher film, and half "Bronson gets even". Someone is slashing young girls, and police Lieutenant Bronson is working the case. Things get more personal for him when his own daughter, a nursing student, becomes a target, stalked by the killer. Bronson tries to frame the killer, but is convinced to tell the truth by an idealistic partner, and is fired. At this point, Bronson starts stalking the killer.

With better acting, this story could have been a much better film. Bronson coasted simply trying to look mean, and we saw nearly no character development from anyone. The twist of Bronson becoming a stalker was a clever idea, but was wasted here. There was a very high body count, but not too much gore. The nudity was well lit.

The Critics Vote

no major reviews on line

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.3/10

domestic gross: $7 million

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, Scoop says, "this film is a C-. It is a repulsive, manipulative film that justifies vigilante justice, and the star (Gene Davis) is a completely wooden and effeminate actor. However, one must give the devil his due. It delivers "in the moment" with some tension and some shocks, and effectively manipulates you into sympathizing with Bronson's illegal activities". Tuna says, "D+"