Originally posted on 8/9/20
Currently rewatching THEN CAME BRONSON (1969), the pilot movie for the TV series starring Michael Parks, via the Warner Archive Collection DVD.
The premise of the movie and subsequent series is that disillusioned newspaper reporter Jim Bronson (Parks) reacts to the suicide of his friend (Martin Sheen) by chucking it all--his job, his conformity, his adherence to other people's rules--and setting off on his Harley to discover America while rediscovering himself.
Every week he went to a different place and interacted with different characters, the first being a runaway bride played by a very endearing young Bonnie Bedelia (DIE HARD, DIE HARD 2, HEART LIKE A WHEEL) who latches onto him out of loneliness and desperation.
This classic scene from the movie became part of the weekly series' opening. Click to enlarge.
During their time together the pensive, introspective Bronson teaches her empathy and self-reliance while she helps mend the heartache he suffered after his friend's death. The episodic nature of the story serves as a sampling of what Bronson will encounter in the weeks ahead as the series continues.
Though the show was wildly popular with young viewers, Parks only stayed with it for one season. There was talk of replacing him with Lee Majors, but thankfully this never happened.
The pilot movie contains one of two very cringey scenes for "Bronson" fans. The first comes when he enters a hill climb competition and his Harley-Davidson Sportster street bike suddenly turns into a much smaller dirt bike.
The other memorably cringey scene for fans comes in a later episode where his bike is damaged considerably after rolling down a rocky cliff and he manages to fix it with a rock (known as the legendary "Bronson Rock").
The film is also noteworthy for its co-star Bonnie Bedelia, who would win plaudits for her starring role in the film biography "Heart Like A Wheel" and later gain fans as Bruce Willis' wife "Holly" in the "Die Hard" films.
Parks had such a strangely-affected acting style--one which was extremely mumbly and eccentric even among the most devoted "method" actors--that it's interesting seeing him in a scene with a more traditional actor like Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, or Akim Tamiroff and watching how awkwardly their acting styles clash. They may as well be from different planets as the other actors try to make their performances relate somehow to his.
From the MAD Magazine satire of the show. Click to enlarge.
The series itself harkened back to earlier days in television when writers used anthology shows (which this resembles) to wax eloquent about various issues and explore human relations in terms more intimate, poetic, and occasionally pretentious than other shows usually allowed.
Much later in his career, Parks would achieve renewed fame and popularity as Texas lawman Earl McGraw in a series of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino films.
But to most of his fans he'll always be Jim Bronson, cranking up his Harley and heading off to somewhere he's never been before to meet new people and change their lives.
The premise of the movie and subsequent series is that disillusioned newspaper reporter Jim Bronson (Parks) reacts to the suicide of his friend (Martin Sheen) by chucking it all--his job, his conformity, his adherence to other people's rules--and setting off on his Harley to discover America while rediscovering himself.
Every week he went to a different place and interacted with different characters, the first being a runaway bride played by a very endearing young Bonnie Bedelia (DIE HARD, DIE HARD 2, HEART LIKE A WHEEL) who latches onto him out of loneliness and desperation.
During their time together the pensive, introspective Bronson teaches her empathy and self-reliance while she helps mend the heartache he suffered after his friend's death. The episodic nature of the story serves as a sampling of what Bronson will encounter in the weeks ahead as the series continues.
Though the show was wildly popular with young viewers, Parks only stayed with it for one season. There was talk of replacing him with Lee Majors, but thankfully this never happened.
The pilot movie contains one of two very cringey scenes for "Bronson" fans. The first comes when he enters a hill climb competition and his Harley-Davidson Sportster street bike suddenly turns into a much smaller dirt bike.
The other memorably cringey scene for fans comes in a later episode where his bike is damaged considerably after rolling down a rocky cliff and he manages to fix it with a rock (known as the legendary "Bronson Rock").
The film is also noteworthy for its co-star Bonnie Bedelia, who would win plaudits for her starring role in the film biography "Heart Like A Wheel" and later gain fans as Bruce Willis' wife "Holly" in the "Die Hard" films.
Parks had such a strangely-affected acting style--one which was extremely mumbly and eccentric even among the most devoted "method" actors--that it's interesting seeing him in a scene with a more traditional actor like Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, or Akim Tamiroff and watching how awkwardly their acting styles clash. They may as well be from different planets as the other actors try to make their performances relate somehow to his.
The series itself harkened back to earlier days in television when writers used anthology shows (which this resembles) to wax eloquent about various issues and explore human relations in terms more intimate, poetic, and occasionally pretentious than other shows usually allowed.
Much later in his career, Parks would achieve renewed fame and popularity as Texas lawman Earl McGraw in a series of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino films.
But to most of his fans he'll always be Jim Bronson, cranking up his Harley and heading off to somewhere he's never been before to meet new people and change their lives.
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