ACT OF VENGEANCE (1986) ** ½

Charles Bronson stars as a union worker who represents coal miners in this made for HBO drama based on a true story.   When eighty men lose their lives in a mining accident, the union president (Wilford Brimley) doesn’t do a damned thing to help.  Bronson gets fed up with his bullshit and decides to run against him in the next election.  Brimley knows everyone is going to vote for Chuck, so he rigs the election.  Bronson finds out and sets out to expose Wilford, who then puts a hit out on Chuck and his family. 

Chuck doesn’t have his trademark mustache in this one, which is the tip-off he’s really acting in a serious movie.  Because of that, Act of Vengeance lacks the fun of a Death Wish 3 or a 10 to Midnight.  Despite that, the strong supporting cast keeps you watching.  In addition to Brimley, who plays a solid heavy, we have Ellen Burstyn (as Bronson’s faithful wife), Hoyt Axton (Brimley’s crooked cohort), Ellen Barkin (Axton’s daughter), and a young Keanu Reeves (whose name is misspelled in the credits).  It’s pretty amusing seeing Reeves in this, mostly because his Bill and Ted co-star, Alex Winter starred alongside Bronson in Death Wish 3 the year before.   

Director John Mackenzie is best known for The Long Good Friday, but he’s a legend to me for directing Apaches, a demented PSA about the dangers of children playing on abandoned farm equipment.  I readily admit that union dramas aren’t my cup of tea.  Usually, the only way to get me to watch one of these is if you have someone like Stallone (F.I.S.T.), Nicholson (Hoffa), or DeNiro (The Irishman) in them.  Luckily for me, the presence of Charles Bronson made it worth a look.   

Act of Vengeance is watchable for the most part.  Bronson’s compelling performance keeps you invested for an act and a half.  However, things start to slide once the focus shifts to the gunmen Brimley hires to take out Bronson.  These sections just aren’t as dramatically involving and feel more like a cheap true crime reenactment than anything.  On the other hand, this movie answers the age-old question:  Who would win in a contest between Paul Kersey and John Wick?  Because of that, it gets a marginal recommendation. 

Brimley gets the best line of the movie when he says, “I don’t care who you pray to or if you’re a Catholic, Methodist, or a Republican!”   

AKA:  Local 323.  AKA:  Act of Vengeance… A True Story.