I was in the 7-Eleven at Wrightwood and Lincoln buying a snack when two young guys approached me; one had a baby-face with puffy cheeks and curly hair, the other was scruffier, attempting some sort of facial hair. They were both buying Blunts. “That you?” the scruffy one asked, pointing out at the cab parked out front.
“Know where LaSalle Power Company is?” they asked. (It’s one of a couple dozen gigantic, yet indistinguishable bars in River North; at one time, the location housed Michael Jordan’s restaurant.) “How long will it take?” they wanted to know. “We’re not from around here. We’re from Notre Dame. By the way, what do you think of Charles Bronson?” the curly one added.
Being asked by a twenty-year-old about the star of “Death Wish” kind of threw me. I told him that I thought Bronson was pretty cool. “You see, I think Charles Bronson is pretty much the greatest. When I was little, my dad used to always say, ‘Don’t mess with Charles Bronson,’ so I had to find out who he was. Now I own like thirty of his movies…did you know that Charles Bronson lost his virginity at age five-and-a-half? That’s according to Charles Bronson and I wouldn’t dare to question him. He called it ‘making it.’ ”
Not to be outdone, his friend told me about the term paper he wrote for his World War ll film class. He favored “The Great Escape” and “The Dirty Dozen” over “Bataan” because the latter did not feature Bronson. “Charles Bronson smoked cigarettes when he was six. He only died in one movie, “The Mechanic”, and that was just so he could prove that he could still kill from beyond the grave. Pow!”
This was like attending a graduate-level seminar. They were very devoted. Only once during the ride did the conversation stray from Bronson and that was a brief tangent on what disagreements had caused them to get into fist fights. “I punched a kid in the face because he said Creed was lame. Because they’re not. They’re awesome,” the curly one said. “I chipped this dude’s tooth cuz he accused me of having Nickelback on my iPod,” his buddy countered.
We pulled up to LaSalle Power Company, one of half a dozen other taxis, limos, and valeted vehicles clogging up that block of LaSalle. “When was the last time you saw a Charles Bronson film and what’s your favorite, sir?” the curly one wanted to know. I wasn’t sure how to answer. “May I suggest ‘Death Wish 4: The Crackdown’? It’s a particular favorite of mine.” I thanked him for the tip and watched as they got out of the cab and made their way to the back of the velvet-roped line waiting to get into the bar.
It’s heartening to know that the younger generation hasn’t forgotten about the heroes of the past.
