Bronson was actually a great actor before he became a star. Stardom kind of ruined him. He rarely took chances after the mid-'70s. (HARD TIMES and FROM NOON TILL THREE were among the few changes of pace for him after DEATH WISH.)

Look at him in the '50s and '60s:

PAT AND MIKE (a comedy!)
HOUSE OF WAX
VERA CRUZ
APACHE
DRUM BEAT
JUBAL
RUN OF THE ARROW
MACHINE GUN KELLY
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
THE GREAT ESCAPE
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
THE SANDPIPER
THE DIRTY DOZEN
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
CITTA VIOLENTA
RIDER ON THE RAIN
RED SUN

That's off the top of my head and I'm probably missing a few.

Personally I think a lot of it is just longing for the "old days". Back in MY day we walked uphill to school and uphill again back home and our movie stars were tough guys. Today's action stars are pussies just like today's music is shit and music 30 years ago was the bomb. We always remember the past being better. 40 years from now we'll probably say, "back in my day we had real action stars like Jason Statham, Sam Worthington and Christian Bale. Not like the pussies of today. "

Since when has Bale been an action star?

The 3 Batman movies and Terminator 4 weren't action movies? Nor were Reign of Fire or Equilibrium?

But if you want to plug in a different current action star that's perfectly fine by me.

I think Snake was thinking more along the lines of Vin Diesel or The Rock. I think they fit the bill better than Bale.

I personally don't classify Nolan's Batman films under the action category.

Nolan films aren't action films. Also...Bale sure as hell isn't as recognized for his films w/ action in comparison to his more dramatic work.

Well the actors in question really wasn't my main point. Let's replace Bale with Vin Diesel.

I also forgot that Nolan's Batman movies are fine art and not comic book movies about a guy that runs around in a bat costume beating people up.

far from fine art....but still not action films. They have action though...but aren't action films.

So what genre do they fall into? Drama? Sci-Fi? Adventure? Adventure and Action pretty much go together in my book. I could see them being dramas but there are countless dramas where a loud conversation is the most action in the entire movie. That's definitely not the case with the first two Batmans at least. Both have tons of action.

I bet you at least got summer vacation. We had to go all year to make up for lost days due to indian attacks on the covered wagon that took us to school.

I've always been a Bronson fan. Not to say that he was always in 10 bell movies. I remember him in that 1953 House of Wax movie with Vincent Price. I really liked him in The White Buffalo in the late 70's. Death Wish, I can take them or leave them.

I have been watching a lot of Bronson lately.

I cant believe how long it took me to see Once Upon a Time in the West (ashamed).
One of his obscure favorites of mine is Master of the World where he raises his voice. Its kind of funny to hear him getting mad.
He didnt have a gun handy-just a swiss army knife. And he didnt use it. I'd love to hear anecdotes of him and Vincent Price.

Whew... just got out of a couple other threads and about reviews and some SBC Dictator. I can tell you he is needed in there!!