THEN CAME BRONSON
US, 1969, 100 minutes, Colour.
Michael Parks, Bonnie Bedelia, Akim Tamiroff, Gary Merrill, Sheree North, Martin Sheen, Burt Freed.
Directed by William A. Graham.
Then Came Bronson was the pilot for a successful television series starring Michael Parks. Parks had appeared in The Bible and a number of other films but was to find a long career on television. Bonnie Bedelia and Martin Sheen were at the beginning of their careers. Veteran Akim Tamiroff had been in films since the 30s. Gary Merrill and Sheree North had been stalwarts of many movies of the 1950s.
The film, set in 1969, the year of the release of Easy Rider, resembles the story and ethos of that film. This time a newspaper reporter decides to leave his work after his friend commits suicide. He travels across America by motorcycle encountering a number of typical and representative characters of the period. The film was popular as was the series because it echoed the searching spirit of the times, the period of the Vietnam war, university campuses and their revolutions, the changing of values that had occurred during the 1960s.
1. The implications and tone of the title? Atmosphere of the hero and his impact on people? A TV pilot? What is necessary for a pilot – as regards ingredients, outlining characters, tone for the series? A successful pilot for a successful series?
2. The filming of the initial suicide, cinematic styles for the impact of the suicide? What tone did it give? The impact on Bronson of his friend’s death? Suddenness, feelings, response to the situation?
3. How did this compare with Bronson’s clash with the editor, his being pushed off? Comment being made about Bronson and his clash with the establishment?
4. What kind of hero was Bronson? The nature of his heroism? Why did he drop out? The bike, the riding, the exhilaration of the sequences along the road, nature and beauty? The exhilaration on the beach? The cleansing of his memories of the past? The aims for his journey?
5. His encounter with Temple, a heroine for this kind of film, the mystery of her behaviour, attraction for him, clash, clash on the road? Car versus bike? The challenge between man and woman? Why did she ask to go with him? Why was he surprised? Why did she continue, what choices did she have? What was wrong with her? Why did she fail in her engagement?
6. How successful was the picaresque style of the film? Too episodic? Too drawn out? Sustaining the interest, the era, the bikes?
7. Bronson’s encounters with the family, being at home with them, the wisdom of the father, the effect on Temple?
8. The ride up the hill, the effort that Bronson made? Achievement and success, symbolising? The importance for Temple?
9. The contrast with the sequence where the pipe went into the water, being tested by the man? Bronson’s reactions? The group effort of getting out the bike? Symbolising?
10. New Orleans and the achievement, a goal? Did it give Bronson a chance for a new start? How did his memories fit in with this achievement? What choices open to him? Relationship with Temple? The choices that he offered her?
11. The accident, did it seem too contrived, Bronson’s reaction, Temple’s reaction? How did it bond her with him? A future together?
12. Why did this film have so much appeal to the audiences of the time? Ideals presented to the audience, relying on conventional clichés, the value of the images and their meaning, scenic beauty, symbols for achievement? The value of the songs, especially the song sung by Bronson and Temple?
