Messenger of Death
| Messenger of Death | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | J. Lee Thompson |
| Produced by | Pancho Kohner |
| Written by |
Rex Burns (novel The Avenging Angel) Paul Jarrico (screenplay) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Robert O. Ragland |
| Cinematography | Gideon Porath |
| Edited by | Peter Lee-Thompson |
| Distributed by | Cannon Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | unknown |
| Box office | $3,074,681 (USA) |
Messenger of Death is a 1988 American crime-thriller film starring Charles Bronson about an attempt by a water company to start a family feud among fundamentalist Mormons to take the family's land for the company.
The movie marks the eighth collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson (following 1976's St. Ives, 1977's The White Buffalo, 1980's Caboblanco, 1983's 10 to Midnight, 1984's The Evil That Men Do, 1986's Murphy's Law, and 1987's Death Wish 4: The Crackdown).
Children play outside a rural Colorado home. They belong to Orville Beecham (Charles Dierkop) and his three wives. Two masked men pull up in a truck and wait for the children to go inside. They proceed to kill the three mothers, who are sister wives, and then the kids. The police arrive before the father, Orville, who returns to find his family massacred.
Arriving on the scene with the chief of police, Barney Doyle (Daniel Benzali) is a Denver newspaper reporter, Garret Smith (Charles Bronson). They were having lunch with a wealthy local businessman, Homer Foxx (Laurence Luckinbill), to discuss how to get Barney elected Denver mayor when Barney was called about the murders.
Garret does a news story on the massacre. Orville is in a local jail, there "for his own protection." Orville is reluctant to talk to Garret but does reveal that his father, Willis Beecham (Jeff Corey), may have been involved. Willis lives in a compound with his followers. He is an excommunicated fundamentalist Mormon who practices polygamy, as do his son and followers. Willis is the sect's prophet.
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Wikipedia