15 Best Charles Bronson Movies, Ranked

Today’s Hollywood action stars have nothing on the ones who came before them in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s not their fault, really, as everything from audience tastes to the new streaming reality has shifted the idea of what action movies are these days, but once upon a time it was character and charisma that ruled the day over pretty faces and social media follower counts. From Sylvester Stallone and Clint Eastwood to Chuck Norris and Steve McQueen, action on the big screen used to be more interested in tangible thrills and personality.

Charles Bronson was a member of that class, and after kicking off his film career in the early ’50s, he saw his star rise dramatically in the decades that followed playing cool as hell characters who knew that action speaks louder than words. He delivered more than a few genre gems, action hits, and unforgettable movies along the way — he even helped inspire a young wannabe filmmaker named Quentin Tarantino.

In ranking his best films, we’re focusing strictly on films where Bronson is a lead or co-lead. Movies like “The Dirty Dozen” and “The Great Escape” are obvious winners, with the latter showing a softer side to Bronson, but he’s far from the focus in both. He’s heartbreakingly great in “The Indian Runner,” but it’s too small of a role. Now keep reading to see our picks for the 15 best Charles Bronson movies, ranked.

Turkey in the 1920s is a hopping place thanks to an ongoing civil war, but it’s about to get even messier. Two Americans — ex-Army soldiers, current criminals — cross paths leading to a series of betrayals and double crosses before ultimately joining forces to help safeguard a train filled with valuables.

The odds are good that most of you have never heard of “You Can’t Win ‘em All,” let alone seen it, and its reputation isn’t all that great, but it’s still kicking off our list of the best Charles Bronson movies. There are some big action beats and attractive locales throughout Turkey, but the big draw here is the pairing of Bronson and Tony Curtis. It’s essentially a “buddy crook” action comedy, and while it’s far from Curtis’ best or most important “buddy” picture (that accolade goes to “The Defiant Ones” with Sidney Poitier), it’s still a fun time as both Bronson and Curtis share plenty of thrills and laughs in a movie that continually walks a fine line between enjoying itself and pointing out the real suffering of war and violence.

A hitman’s life is never easy, but for Jeff Heston, it’s getting more complicated by the hour. His main squeeze betrays him, he winds up in jail, and when he’s finally released, he goes looking for answers. Unfortunately for him, those answers come with more betrayal, double-crosses, and violence.

Many of Bronson’s efforts fall into familiar genre tropes, for better or worse, but 1970’s “Violent City” finds a more original narrative tract to follow that leads to some unexpected places. Bronson’s killer is being one-upped at every turn by friends and foes alike. From an opening car chase to a second act infused with plot and character, it’s a movie that puts Bronson’s character’s back against the wall for most of the time. It’s a fun change and a challenge to viewer expectations, especially as the film moves to a finale featuring a mostly dialogue-free last stand and a surprising denouement. It all makes for an atypical thriller that still finds time for character and drama.

Graham Dorsey is a bank robber who’s having second thoughts. He stays behind at a stranger’s ranch while his men head into town, and while they get arrested, he has an energetic afternoon with a widow named Amanda. What happens next would go on to become the stuff of legends.

“From Noon till Three” is one of sixteen films Bronson made with his wife, Jill Ireland, and that relationship goes a long way toward accepting the film’s initial setup. Graham plans on having his way with Amanda, but she talks her way out of it, before falling for her “abductor” anyway. It’s a somewhat twisted meet-cute, but the real-life couple share such a warm, loving chemistry that you can’t help but fall for their story. The film becomes a fascinating look at how legends are born and cultivated over the years before landing on a pitch-perfect ending that lands Graham exactly where he belongs. He may or may not be the legend that others have come to see, but they can’t stop him from being a legend in his own mind.

Two legends of the American West, famed lawman Wild Bill Hickok and Lakota nation leader Crazy Horse, join forces to hunt down a marauding white buffalo. Is it real, or is it only a legend? The two men are determined to find out, even if it costs them their lives.

Bronson’s second feature with director J. Lee Thompson makes plenty of choices that leave “The White Buffalo” feeling like something of a messy dream. From sound stages and dodgy practical effects to actual dream sequences, the film often seems at odds with the otherwise grandiose landscape. It works, though, as this oddball riff on “Moby Dick” and “Jaws” feels more fantastical than true as it embraces ideas of myth and obsession in a place known for birthing both. Bronson’s Hickok is a man fueled by violence, but here he’s forced to confront that past in the presence of both a monster and a Native American enemy, and the result is a movie that feels like a weirdly offbeat yet satisfying American adventure.

A killer is stalking young women across the city, and Det. Leo Kessler is determined to bring him down. Suspicion settles on a man named Warren, but Kessler can’t get past the man’s seemingly airtight alibis.

“10 to Midnight” is Bronson’s fourth film with director J. Lee Thompson, and it’s a terrifically sleazy thriller that delivers the goods for fans of memorable villains, disturbing exploitation, and cathartic justice. Bronson is a no-nonsense cop who knows Warren is guilty but unable to prove it, and that leads him to draw outside the lines of proper police behavior, something the film doesn’t exactly celebrate like you’d expect. Gene Davis plays the killer, a role that required him to be fully nude for much of the shoot, and it ramps up the graphic viciousness as he chases women through the woods and a sorority house. That last bit likely riffs on very real killings perpetrated (separately) by Richard Speck and Ted Bundy, and it makes for some genuinely frightening sequences. Bronson is his usual cool but angrily determined protagonist resulting in a highly satisfying final face-off.

Paul Kersey is an architect with a wife, a daughter, and a happy life in New York City, but that all changes when his family is assaulted and wife killed by thugs. Punks. Ne-er-do-wells. It changes something in him, and soon he’s spending his nights roaming the city’s streets, looking for trouble, and ending it with gunfire.

Bronson was already a leading man before “Death Wish,” but this is arguably the film that made him a household name (and helped inspire John Carpenter’s “Escape from New York”). The story of a good man pushed too far by rising crime struck a nerve with an easily scared American populace, and Bronson was the perfect man to give the bad guys what they deserve. While sequels would grow increasingly exaggerated, including part two’s vicious ramping up of the exploitation vibes, this first film is a mean and serious revenge thriller designed to anger viewers before satiating their bloodlust with vengeance. It’s a better, meaner movie than the franchise’s reputation would suggest, and it marked the box-office highpoint of Bronson’s leading man roles.

It’s the late 19th century, and a train is racing through the Rocky Mountains. Its destination appears to be a secret, but a bigger issue arises for the passengers when several of them wind up dead. The best chance anyone has of stopping the killings just might rest with a prisoner currently in custody aboard the train.

Setting a film on a train almost always guarantees a good time whether the genre is comedy (“Silver Streak”), horror (“Train to Busan”), sci-fi (“Snowpiercer”), or thriller (“Unstoppable”), and that goes double when there’s a mystery involved. “Breakheart Pass” is an action, adventure, and western with a rolling murder mystery and a terrific cast bringing it all to life, and Bronson’s convict is a man who uses deductive reasoning and investigative skills to narrow the suspect pool. It’s basically “Murder on the Orient Express” with six-shooters, brawls, and big stunts, and that’s a pretty fantastic combination. Charles Durning, Richard Crenna, Jill Ireland, and more add flavor and fun to the whodunnit, as does a grand American landscape rolling by right outside the windows.

Albert Johnson is a solitary trapper living in the remote wilds of the Yukon in 1931, and he prides himself on keeping to himself. He loses that option, though, after upsetting a man from the small nearby town, and soon a posse is on Albert’s trail for a murder he didn’t truly commit.

“Death Hunt” is the first of two films on this list that cast Bronson as a man being hunted by a posse for killing someone in self-defense. He’s technically the lead in both films even as the searchers seem to get more screen time, and both see their respective manhunts spread out over vast, beautiful, and dangerous landscapes, but the two really couldn’t be more different beyond that. Lee Marvin leads the chase here as a grizzled Canadian Mountie who knows Albert is being railroaded, and the pursuit sees a growing respect develop between them from afar with a scene where they catch sight of each other through binoculars being especially satisfying.

A “half-breed” named Chato kills a dirty lawman in self-defense, and a posse is quickly formed to hunt him down and hang him for the offense. Chato tries to discourage them in non-violent ways, but when the men assault his wife, he changes tactics with the intent of killing every last one of them.

“Chato’s Land” is the angry, ugly, and mean-spirited flip side to “Death Hunt” as respect is minimal, at best, and the only response to violence becomes more violence. We again spend plenty of time with the posse members who are basically a simmering group of racist, bloodthirsty men just aching to boil over with carnage. Some men break rank including an ex-Confederate officer and others who realize too late they’ve signed their own death warrants in their pursuit of an innocent man. Be warned, there are some incredibly cruel beats here — how it managed a PG-rating is an absolute mystery — but also? Bronson, who was fifty years old at the time of filming, cuts a tight, tan, and sculpted physique running around in nothing but shorts and booties.

It’s the late 19th century, and a Japanese ambassador is train bound to Washington D.C. with his entourage and a presidential gift by his side. They’re not expecting trouble, but plans change when two overly confident robbers make their presence known.

Bronson starred in several westerns through his career, including one of the greatest ever made (see the top spot below), and he was at home in traditional ones as he was the more eccentric or revisionist examples. “Red Sun” stands apart from the pack thanks largely to a combination of plot specifics and casting. On the former, there’s great fun to be had seeing western gunslingers share the screen with a samurai swordsman, and on the latter? Bronson is joined by Alain Delon, Toshiro Mifune, and Ursula Andress as the fellow gunslinger, the samurai, and the woman who catches everyone’s eye, respectively. It’s a story of betrayal and honor that puts Bronson’s character through the ringer before joining forces with Mifune for some West meets East justice, and the high concept never gets in the way of the sincerity and respect between them.

It’s been a decade since Paul Kersey shot up New York City on a quest for revenge and justice, and he’s finally returned in the hopes of settling down and hanging out with old friends. That’s just not in the cards, though, as he’s immediately drawn back into a fight against violent offenders.

Some might argue with this sequel’s placement over the first film (and if you do, then please enjoy our earlier ranking of the “Death Wish” films), but “Death Wish 3” is the series’ peak in both action and thematic relevance. While there’s a modicum of personal vengeance in play here, Kersey’s main motivation is the altruistic joy of helping a small community fight back against the brutal torments of a local gang. You know it’s joyful because Bronson gives us a small smile each time he mows someone down, drops them off a roof, blows them up, etc. Kersey is a man who lives by a very simple motto — do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life — and it shows. It’s still exploitation, but it’s become so ridiculous that even the mean-spirited sequences threaten to leave you smiling.

Arthur is a professional hitman — known in the industry as a “mechanic” — who’s hired to kill a longtime friend, and he says yes, because he’s a professional. The man’s adult son soon comes calling with an interest in becoming Arthur’s apprentice, and he says yes, because he knows it might just be time to pay the piper.

Bronson had a habit of working with the same directors again and again, including J. Lee Thompson, John Sturges, Tom Gries, and others. He made six films with Michael Winner, and while their three “Death Wish” films are best known, it’s “The Mechanic” that stands tallest among them. It’s a slick, elaborately crafted tale of honor among thieves, and it’s unafraid of going dialogue-free for substantial stretches of time. Assignments play out with a methodical attention to detail with sharp visuals and intricate preparation holding our attention without the need for chatter. Jan-Michael Vincent co-stars as the apprentice, and their relationship leads to a thrilling finale that the eventual Jason Statham remake chickened out on. 

Vince Majestyk has a simple goal — he wants to get his melons harvested before they go bad. It won’t be easy, though, as racist thugs cause trouble for his migrant workers and a vicious mobster wants him dead.

Action films are filled with all manner of motivations for their protagonists from the murder of a loved one to the death of a dog, but few have the courage to let their hero kick butt over 130-acres of ripe melons. Bronson’s insistence throughout “Mr. Majestyk” that he needs to get his melons in might earn snickers, but there’s a sincerity and simplicity to the character that Bronson nails. 

Helping out immigrant workers is just icing on the cake as the straightforward tale muscles its way forward with fun character bits and thrilling action sequences (including an off-road chase that might just make you want to purchase a seemingly invincible Ford F-100). Add in a terrifically charismatic turn by Al Lettieri as the increasingly flustered mobster, and you have a wildly entertaining film.

Chaney is a brawler, traveling town to town during the Great Depression and scraping by financially by winning back-alley fights. His friend and promoter, Speed, sets up a big score in New Orleans, but it quickly turns out that he’s a better promoter than friend.

Bronson faced criticisms of his acting chops throughout his career, but it wasn’t something that bothered him as he knew his niche and enjoyed playing in it. “Hard Times” is evidence that he was better than he let on (and better than his critics gave him credit for, too) as he gives a terrific performance as a tough guy powered as much by muscle and skill as he is by heart and determination. 

James Coburn does great work as the untrustworthy Speed, but it’s Bronson and Walter Hill’s double duty as writer and director that make this a thrilling and compelling underdog tale. Bronson feels like he should be too old for the role, but he owns it and easily convinces characters and viewers alike. It was Hill’s debut as a director and is still one of his best films, too.

A recently widowed woman arrives from the big city to a small desert homestead in the hopes of starting fresh, but a growing nation and the attention of three very different men are about to get in her way. One wants her land, another wants her dead, and the third simply wants revenge.

Sergio Leone’s western masterpiece, one of the greatest westerns of all time, may be an ensemble, but Bronson sits front and center alongside Henry Fonda and Jason Robards in “Once Upon a Time in the West.” They’re co-leads, along with Claudia Cardinale, and each are given the time to build character, earn our attention, and shine with memorable performances in an unforgettable film. 

Bronson’s character, known only as Harmonica, might not be a “good” guy, but there’s a purity that sees him stand apart from the merciless villains and dry desert winds. Leone crafts every scene with beauty and a methodical eye for a beaten and barren landscape given life by the people caught up within. This is a film that lives and breathes its tone and setting, and we’re all the better for it.