Are they homosexuals?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Mechanic
mab8485 — 22 years ago(December 23, 2003 03:36 AM)
Bill Collins, Leonard Maltin's Australian equivalent, suggested that this movie has homosexual undertones ie. the relationship between Bronson's & JMV's characters. Frankly, I just though it was a good action movie but there you go. Any thoughts from others?
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warnerclassic — 21 years ago(April 30, 2004 11:39 AM)
Bronson's character went to a hooker and so he wasn't gay, as for Vincent's character he may well have been. He looks gay in the film, although his obsession with killing probably casts a shadow over any sexual thoughts.
Warner Classic -
inspectors71 — 19 years ago(February 26, 2007 03:23 PM)
Warnerclassic has backed into the truth here. Bronson is so emotionally vacant that he has to go to a nutjob hooker to find some play-acting reality. Vincent isn't gay, but he is a sociopath and that means he may do anything he feels justified in doing to get what he wants. Watch his girlfriend bleed to death-so what? Betray his teacher-why not? Sleep with a man if it gets him whatever he wants-possible, isn't it?
Oh, well. Just bloviating here.
"You eat guts."Nick Devlin -
rusty-26 — 21 years ago(November 04, 2004 06:20 AM)
No I do not think they are gay. Bronson visits a prostitute and Vincent has a girlfriend, though he apparantly does not really care if she lives or dies. (the suicide scene) Also it is stated in the Vincent dossier Bronson works out, that his (Vincents) interests are fast cars, freaks and girls (and killing I might add). When Vincent sleeps over at Bronson he clearly sleeps in his own bedroom, using a single bed. At last: the very thought of Bronson being gay is impossible, the most macho actor ever!
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CalDexter — 21 years ago(November 13, 2004 07:16 AM)
What is this lunacy about homosexuality because of a 'buddy' concept? You might as well ask the same question about Riggs and Murtaugh, Tango And Cash, Starsky and Hutch, then you find out that it seems to be the 'in' thing to determine the sexuality of male/female characters because of a certain light they are portrayed in. its ridiculous. Another thing, The Mechanic is an action thriller starring Charles Bronson, you hear me? CHARLES BRONSON! You gonna suggest his character's a poof?!
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HAMMERTHROW — 21 years ago(November 15, 2004 06:26 AM)
It's like that Movie Q & A where the character says, "You gays always accuse everybody else of being Gay". The same crap they tried to pull with Batman. Bob Kane clearly states in his Auto the reason why he created Robin; not the reasons everybody puts on it.Bronson & Vincent weren't Gay.
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ninfilms — 21 years ago(December 06, 2004 07:27 AM)
According to Michael Winner, the original script had homosexual elements between Arthur and Steve. Winner decided to make the character straight. Winner mentioned that Charles Bronson would of refuse to be in the film if Bishop was gay.
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djensen1 — 14 years ago(January 27, 2012 07:16 PM)
And Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint in
Diamonds Are Forever
in 1971, which was before
The Mechanic
. The Jackal has sex with a man as well as a woman in
Day of the Jackal
in 1973, right after
The Mechanic
.
Then there's Camp Freddy in 1969's
The Italian Job
, altho he's more of a gangster, not specifically a hit man. And much later, James Gandolfini played a gay hit man in
The Mexican
.
soooo, not first and not unique. Actually, about as trite as an albino hit man (
Foul Play, Stick, Lethal Weapon, Da Vinci Code, Moby Dick
*).
*lol -
dkaybee — 18 years ago(January 19, 2008 06:20 PM)
I'd heard this as well, that the story was originally about two characters who's relationship was sexually ambiguous. There is a lot of dialogue here that supports that undercurrent. Personally, I found that element added something to the film, not detracted from it.
Bronson was probably afraid that playing an openly gay character in a major film back in 1972 would sound the death knell for his career. Hopefully he didn't have anything personally against gay people. -
korevette — 10 years ago(May 30, 2015 11:16 AM)
Bronson was probably afraid that playing an openly gay character in a major film back in 1972 would sound the death knell for his career.""
Ha,hahis career would be over if he portrayed a gay manbut portraying a hit man is machoand your career zooms. -
chas77 — 14 years ago(October 18, 2011 03:15 PM)
According to Michael Winner, the original script had homosexual elements between Arthur and Steve. Winner decided to make the character straight. Winner mentioned that Charles Bronson would of refuse to be in the film if Bishop was gay.
You are correct. I read an interview with Monte Hellman recently. He was originally "attached" to this project and was working on it "in development." It was about two homosexual killers. Once Michael Winner expressed interest in the project Hellman was out and so were the homo references. You can make of it what you willthough I think the prostitute scene looks forced, like they just added it at the last minute to show that Bishop was definitely not gay. -
KeithC — 21 years ago(January 02, 2005 11:04 AM)
I read in an online review that in the book, Vincent's character plants a kiss on the lips of a dying Bronson before he leaves the hotel room in Naples. So yes, there must have been some homosexual undertones in one of the early drafts. Few, if any, show on-screen.
What bothers me about the movie is that Bronson discovers Vincent wants to kill him from the file he finds inside Vincent's desk. Who sent Vincent that file? Their Mafia organisation hated the fact Bronson brought Vincent in on the deal without notifying them. Moreover, the Mafia tried to kill them both and at the end of the movie Vincent says he wants to be a freelance hitman (unlike Bronson). If he never had a boss, where'd he get that information file on Bronson from?
It's a hole in the script necessary for the Bronson character to find out Vincent's plan, to increase tension and have the cool surprise ending. -
ciphoid_9 — 21 years ago(January 11, 2005 08:11 PM)
Well, maybe freelancing included gathering the info file on his own as well. If he did not collect that data, my only other guess would be that he lied when claiming he was picking his own targets and that in fact the organisation contracted him to remove Bishop, knowing that Bishop would find out and hopefully kill McKenna first. (They wanted McKenna dead, but Bishop wouldn't do it if they didn't 'force' him.)
As to the gay question: No, they aren't. Btw. McKenna does not even seem to sleep over at Bishop's house, the bedroom we can see him in later in the movie is in his OWN house (it's the same bedroom as earlier on, in the party scene).