The Mechanic (1972)

"Bishop" (Charles Bronson) is the epitome of the hit man. Highly paid, he meticulously plans his projects so as to leave no trace of anything to suggest the deaths are not natural or accidents. When he is ordered to carry out a job on his handler "Harry" (Keenan Wynn), he doesn't flinch but he does take the man's son "Steve" (Jan-Michael Vincent) under his wing afterwards. It's clear that the younger man wants to emulate "Bishop" and so he takes him in training and onto a couple of jobs. These jobs don't go as smoothly as he'd expected, though, and pretty swiftly "Bishop" begins to wonder if he's being set up. If his employers can turn on "Harry" then could they turn on him, too - no more loose ends? Bronson is on his best form here as the grumpy but highly effective killer and as the plot develops, his less-is-more style of delivery, aided by a sensible paucity of dialogue, helps to build quite a sense of peril. Vincent isn't quite in that class, but he's adequate enough as the enthusiastic apostle in a story that maybe isn't the hardest to solve, but one that does play out well with a fine twist at the end. It's got some elements of "007" to it - fast cars, speed boats and even Jill Ireland, and shows why the star had the box office status he did have at the start of the 1970s.