This movie with Charles Bronson was extremely no nonsense, whatsoever. "The Stone Killer" is when Bronson plays a hard as nails cop who uncovered a group of Vietnam veterans who are do the dirty work for the Mafia. That form of dirty work is to take out the completion. In this movie, there are future "Three's Company" stars John Ritter and Norman Fell. Ritter plays the one in uniform, while Fell plays Lou Torrey's boss Les Daniels. Lou Torrey (Bronson) worked for the NYPD, until a incident with a young offender caused him to quit the force. So he ends up moving to Los Angeles as a detective to investigate mob like killings. It turns out that the mafia has been using Vietnam veterans to kill the competition. Some of their help have ended up dead by the people that hired them. This was a coast to coast situation for the police to handle. And Torres showed plenty of tenacity to put an end to this mess. The shootout in both areas was awesome. Especially in the parking lot scene in New York. Great movie, great plot, great cast, "The Stone Killer" makes great sense! 3 out of 5 stars

Tense but violent film about a tough detective named Lou Torrey (Charles Bronson) who from New York is transferred in the underworlds of Los Angeles and uncovers a perfectly executed scheme carried out by a Sicilian gangster (Martin Balsam) to utilize Vietnam vets (Stuart Margolin , among others) to murder all his enemies in a mass killing , rerun of the 30's "Sicilian Vespers" when the former generation of Sicilian mobsters were all murdered on a single day by orders Lucky Luciano . Lou Torrey gets numerous tracks that something big occurs.

This exciting film contains suspense, noisy action-packed drama, intrigue, thrills and lots of violence . Interesting screenplay Gerald Wilson from the book ¨A complete state of death¨ by John Gardner .This is a formula two-fisted cop stuff in the Vigilante mould . Bronson with his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapons such as ¨Dirty Harry¨ style and killing mercilessly nasties . Bronson as wealthy and cold cop who takes the law on his own hands offers the sort of monolithic acting as always . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the top cop Bronson's side . Packs thrilling multiple shootouts staged in a remote location on Mojave desert . As the picture emerges as a series of spectacular set-pieces , each perfectly realized ; the best of theses are the chase scenes between Charles Bronson-Paul Koslo , the busting on the desert and the Mafiosi slaughter with subsequent climax final . Furthermore, appears a nice secondary cast as Norman Fell as assistant cop , Ralph Waite as obstinate police , Paul Koslo as heinous hoodlum ,John Ritter in his film debut, Charles Tyner in minor role, Stuart Margolin as Vietnam veteran and Martin Balsam as mafioso chief. In addition , an atmospheric musical score composed, orchestrated and performed by Roy Budd .

This motion picture is professionally directed by Michael Winner though passionless , such as the successive films with his main star, Charles Bronson. In the mid-70 Winner had great commercial hit , ¨Death Wish¨¨ , a box office success he repeated when badly in need of another big hit smash with the sequel , but both of whom , Bronson and Winner, looked increasingly cold , clinic and mechanical in the later years of their partnership . The worst sequels in which Kersey goes on to torture robbers, all of them inferior and the violence could be deemed excessive, are the following : ¨Death wish II¨ by Michael Winner with Jill Ireland and Vincent Gardenia, ¨Death wish III¨ again by Winner with Ed Lauter and Deborah Raffin . Subsequently Michael Winner career was failed , alternating some hit as ¨the sentinel¨ and various flops as ¨Firepower,The big sleep,The wicked lady, Appointed with death, A chorus of disapproval, Bullseye¨ and of course ¨The stone killer¨ that got a mediocre box office . Rating : average but is indispensable ,essential and well worth watching for Charles Bronson fans.

Mafia don Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) seeks revenge against the heads of criminal families around the country using a team of Vietnam vets. Police detective Lou Torrey (Charles Bronson) loses his job after the death of a young suspect. He gets a new job in L.A. He stumbles upon Vescari's plan and starts investigating with Daniels (Norman Fell).

This has some darker police drama. It's not the most thought out but it works. There are some interesting bad guys. Bronson would do Death Wish the year after. The movie climaxes with lots of crashing cars, gunfire, and general fire in an underground parking lot. It's a fun, action-packed, exciting ending to a fine crime drama.