Charles Bronson appeared in a right stinker in the form of "St. Ives." This film has no action, a dull and confusing plot and no interest of any kind. The whole cast is thoroughly wasted. The scenes look as though they were put together in haste. There is no narrative structure to speak of. Even hardened fans of Bronson might frown down upon this one!

Even if not filmed in that recognizable style, this thriller's plot could be deemed noir-ish – with Charles Bronson as the outwardly cool but increasingly bewildered hero, and where the Jacqueline Bisset character is eventually revealed as a femme fatale.This was the star's first of 9 films with director Thompson, and it's also one of his better vehicles (which, again, I had inexplicably missed out on several times on TV in the past). Generally enjoyable and fast-paced, though needlessly convoluted, it definitely benefits from a strong cast – including John Houseman as the mysterious old man (and something of a Silent movie aficionado) who gives Bronson a deceptively simple assignment which soon turns deadly; Maximilian Schell as Houseman's physician (suffering from a bad cold throughout) who also transpires to be not quite what he seems; ditto Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum cops Harry Guardino and Harris Yulin; Burr De Benning as a traffic cop with ambitions above his station; Dana Elcar as a sympathetic Police Captain; Michael Lerner (who appears far too briefly) as Bronson's flustered lawyer; genre stalwart Elisha Cook Jr. as a hotel desk-clerk who's perennially asleep on the job, and even Jeff Goldblum and Robert Englund as thugs (who contrive to throw Bronson down an elevator shaft)! There's also a good, upbeat score by Lalo Schifrin.Though the all-important drive-in sequence towards the end becomes unintentionally amusing – when the same stampede sequence (as far as I could tell, it's taken from the Warners-produced John Wayne vehicle CHISUM [1970]) is repeated over and over! – the film makes up for this with the busy climax, which as I said, provides a number of twists. It's capped, then, by a wonderful coda involving Bronson's bemused reaction to the incorrigible Bisset's wiles (he leaves her in the embarrassed Elcar's custody).

Jeff Goldblum seem to like playing bad guys in Charlie's films. He gets back at Goldblum for the Death Wish film. A few good scenes, and good b actors. This film has one of those 70's films that makes little sense. I would not rent this one again, it seem the 70's made many films with huge holes in the scripts 3/10

It was 1976, Bronson had just scored one of his bigger creative triumphs with Hard Times late the past year and had effectively changed pace earlier that year with the satirical, western set From Noon Till Three and the more traditional western mystery Breakheart Pass. As the titular mystery writer/troubleshooter, his performance is more loose in the style of some of his better efforts.A good cast surrounds him, most of whom play some part in the intrigue. It's not classic mystery or classic Bronson, but is easy to enjoy even for non-fans. Check out the late stuntman-extraodinaire Dar Robinson in one of his few acting appearances and a pre-Freddy Robert Englund (who had one of his best roles that same year in Stay Hungry).