Mr. Majestyk

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promotional poster for Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk is an action film released in 1974. It was directed by Richard Fleischer and starred Charles Bronson. The film is based on a novel written by Elmore Leonard. This film was one of the more popular Bronson tough-guy movies during the 1970s.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Cast
4 References

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Vince Majestyk (played by Bronson) is a former U. S. Army Ranger instructer and Vietnam War veteran returning to his watermelon farm. He needs to harvest his crop in order to keep the farm financially solvent. A small-time hoodlum tries to coerce Majestyk into a protection racket of using drunks for his farm workers (and the hoodlum would pick up the wages for the work and pay off the drunks with cheap liquor). Majestyk runs off the hoodlum and instead hires skilled Mexican migrant workers who need the jobs. The hoodlum brings up assault charges against Majestyk with the police and Majestyk is sent to the local jail. There he meets Renda, a mob hit man being transferred to a higher security prison. Renda's men try to break him out of police custody. In the escape attempt, Majestyk gains the upper hand and drives off with a hand-cuffed Renda. Majestyk plans on trading Renda back to the police so that he can finish his crop harvest. Renda offers a fortune for his freedom but Majestyk just wants to get back to his farm, which infuriates Renda. Before Majestyk can complete his plan, Renda escapes and meets up with his henchmen. Renda now wants revenge against Majestyk and they start hunting the Vietnam veteran. Slowly they realize that Majestyk is not a man to be messed with and in fact they are the ones being hunted.

[edit] Trivia

One of the movie's admirers is Quentin Tarantino, who shows a poster of Mr. Majestyk in Kill Bill, Volume 2.
Some years after the movie's release, the Ford Motor Company used highlights from the chase scene near the end to demonstrate how tough Ford pickup trucks were supposed to be.