You’ve heard of Bruceploitation, but have you heard of Bronsploitation? If not, you’re not alone, but an upcoming documentary about three men who each had a showbiz career that traded on his resemblance to tough-guy actor Charles Bronson: Bobby Kim, Robert Bronzi and Fenelón Guajardo Lopez. Watch an exclusive preview clip at the end.
Read the official release below:
Coming from writer/director Mike Malloy (EUROCRIME!), BRONSPLOITATION is the type of cinema documentary that’d typically be a lightweight pop-culture romp. But Malloy seeks also to tell the human stories of three men—one Chilean, one Korean and one Hungarian—who each had a showbiz career that traded on his resemblance to American tough-guy actor Charles Bronson (DEATH WISH, THE DIRTY DOZEN).
Says Mike, “When ‘the Hungarian Bronson’ came on the scene about ten years ago, a lot of Bronson fans went nuts—both favorably and negatively—not realizing that there had been a ‘Chilean Bronson’ and a ‘Korean Bronson’ who got their starts in the 1970s. The fans thought this was a totally novel one-off, ut it was really just the latest actor in a phenomenon, making it more like the Brucesploitation movement that arose after Bruce Lee’s death. And I’ve had ‘Bronsploitation’ as an idea in the back of my mind ever since.”
Charles Bronson may be a jumping off point, but ultimately it’s not Bronson’s story. The three true subjects of the doc are “Korean Bronson” Bobby Kim, “Chilean Bronson” Fenelón Guajardo and “Hungarian Bronson” Robert Bronzi.
When Mike realized he had willing colleagues in Greater Denver (where Bobby Kim now resides), in Chile (where the late Fenelon Guajardo lived) and in Los Angeles (where regular collaborators to Robert Bronzi operate), he felt confident enough to lurch into the project, beginning filmed interviews in 2023.
Bobby Kim in 1984’s “Manchurian Avenger”
The doc draws on more than 15 new interviews spanning the globe, clips from all three actors’ films, behind-the-scenes footage and hundreds of rare images (many previously unpublished).
“When I mention the subject of the documentary to people,” says Mike, “One common response is, ‘Will you be covering Bronson Lee?’ in reference to the Japanese actor who occasionally bore that billing. But we’re only mentioning Bronson Lee in passing—same for any others who had only tenuous marketing connections to Charles Bronson.”
Mike continues: “By sticking primarily to three actors who had longtime Bronson associations, we can strike a balance between a fun pop-culture doc and a personal look at several men whose careers existed in a shadow.”
That said, the doc will have a catch-all sequence that runs the gamut: the unauthorized appearances of Bronson’s likeness in international comic books, the DEATH WISH parody films of the ‘70s, the meet-and-greet actors who impersonated Charles Bronson for events, and the stand-up comedians who successfully mastered Bronson impressions. It even covers Lance Henriksen’s portrayal of Charlie in a sensitive TV movie!
And the pop-cultural craziness can’t help but to emerge, even within serious portraits. Robert Bronzi’s films 12 TO MIDNIGHT and DEATH KISS, for instance, flagrantly echo the titles of Bronson vehicles 10 TO MIDNIGHT and DEATH WISH. Meanwhile, Bobby Kim was sometimes asked to bear such billings as “Bobby Bonson” or “Bone-Crusher Bronson.” And both Kim and Bronzi shared the screen with actual Bronson co-stars. (Fenelón Guajardo didn’t have as many colorful interactions with Bronson’s legacy, as his career was limited by Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship.)
Robert Bronzi in “Death Kiss”
About the director: Mike Malloy has made a name for himself by focusing his professional efforts on tough-guy cinema. He has written (and contributed to) books, like the biography of Spaghetti Western star Lee Van Cleef. He’s been assigned to write such screenplays as the official, unproduced DJANGO sequel. And for the past decade, he’s been focused on producing and/or appearing in Blu-Ray extras for films starring Bronson, Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, etc, for such companies as StudioCanal and MGM. His feature-length documentary, EUROCRIME!, sold around the world and received praise from such outlets as VARIETY, EMPIRE, MAXIM and CINEASTE.
The BRONSPLOITATION crew includes: Executive producer John Joseph Dunn, cinematographer Michael A. Martinez (responsible for Malloy’s on-camera segments in the doc), Los Angeles field producer Eric Zaldivar, Chilean field producer Ema María Arredondo Martínez, Denver field producer John Grace, Italian field producer Francesco Massaccesi and associate producer Richard Bowling.
Watch an Exclusive clip from the documentary below:
For more information about this upcoming documentary, visit: instagram.com/bronsploitation/
Interesting, did not know. “Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.”