well as Eduardo di Capua's famous Neapolitan song ’O sole mio. Release Home media Screen Archives Entertainment has released The Mechanic for the first time on Blu-ray on June 10, 2014. Reception Critical response Vincent Canby of The New York Times described The Mechanic as a "solemn, rather spurious action melodrama". Noting the "father son rivalry" between Arthur and Steve and picking up on the "latent homosexual bond" between the two, Canby concluded that the film was "non-stop, mostly irrelevant physical spectacle" and pondered what a different director might have done with the same material. A review in Variety called it an "action-drenched gangster yarn which has all the makings of a heavy b.o. grosser, but simultaneously is burdened with an overly-contrived plot development." Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and praised Bronson's performance, noting that he appears to be truly listening to Vincent rather than simply waiting for him to stop for Bronson's next line. While finding the plot twists "neat", Ebert found that director Winner failed to squarely address the relationship between the leads in favor of too many boring action sequences. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film only 1 star out of 4 and wrote, "The entirely unoriginal production moves at a numbing pace with Bronson mirroring the directorial lethargy with his silent, 'don't I have strong cheekbones' demeanor." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times praised the film as "A hard-edged, brutal yet absorbing contemporary gangster movie" with "top-notch" performances. Judith Crist dismissed the film as "a banal expedition into slaughter and sadism and stupid dialogue". Any hint of authenticity, she wrote, was obliterated by Winner's "bang-bang-bang approach". Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote, "It's a predictable, expendable piece of formula moviemaking, and the men responsible for it seem considerably more proficient at manufacturing thrills than generating and sustaining dramatic interest." Other media Novelization A novelization credited to screenwriter Lewis John Carlino was published by Signet Books to accompany the film's release. Remake On May 7, 2009, it was announced that director Simon West would be helming a remake with Jason Statham taking the lead role. The remake opened in the United States on January 28, 2011, making $11,500,000 on its opening weekend. A sequel was released in August 2016. See also List of American films of 1972 Notes La-La Land Records Album, LLLCD1191, released 2012. References Russo,