Messenger Of Death Details

The title promises the usual Charles Bronson bloodfest. Hang on a minute, though: the script is by Paul Jarrico, a mild-mannered intellectual who was blacklisted and then produced the provocative, Union-financed Salt of the Earth. This was Jarrico's final screen credit. Bronson plays a Denver crime reporter whose investigation of a multiple killing leads him into Mormon society and a family who seem to be ritualistically following the examples of Cain and Abel. Veteran British director J Lee Thompson juggles the various elements — mystery, biblical allegory, bloody thriller — with great assurance.