Charles Bronson look-alike Robert Bronzi has cornered the market in Bronson-sploition movies. Charles Bronson cut his teeth as an actor in the likes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Machine Gun Kelly before finding roles in bigger movies. He was a memorable supporting player in classic ensembles like The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen, but it was only when he traveled to Europe that he became a leading man, which was cemented by his turn in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West.
He returned to American films in the early 1970s and worked with director Michael Winner on the likes of The Mechanic. It was Winner’s Death Wish that would officially make him a movie star, however, with the controversial thriller casting him as an ordinary man who becomes a vigilante in New York after a vicious attack on his family.
The film became a genre landmark, with Bronson becoming somewhat typecast as stoic revenge seekers for much of his later career. He also appeared in four Death Wish sequels, which became increasingly over the top as his character mowed down gangs with machine guns and rocket launchers.
Charles Bronson’s final appearance in the franchise was 1994’s Death Wish V: The Face Of Death, while Bruce Willis would later lead a remake in 2018. Death Wish also got an unofficial remake of sorts with 2018’s Death Kiss, which starred newcomer Robert Bronzi as The Stranger, a vigilante who blasts assorted criminals and lowlifes. Outside of its obvious Death Wish inspiration is the fact it’s leading man bears an incredible resemblance to Charles Bronson.
Robert Bronzi is a Hungarian actor who previously worked as a carpenter and horse trainer, and after realizing his resemblance to Charles Bronson at a young age, he started to style himself after the actor. He made his film debut with 2017 horror/western From Hell To The Wild West by director Rene Perez. Robert Bronzi now has his own genre of Bronson-sploition going, including prison thriller Escape From Death Block 13, a riff on Assault On Precinct 13 and Brawl In Cell Block 99.
There’s also 2019’s Once Upon A Time In Deadwood, casting Bronzi as a gunslinger who has been given a slow-acting poison and has to kill a bunch of dudes in the town of Deadwood for an antidote. The Bronson-sploition train is set to keep moving with upcoming action movie The Gardener, with Robert Bronzi playing a gardener with a specific set of Taken-style skills who has to defend his employers against a home invasion.