Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is an artist. He listens to classical music, he loves the finest in artwork and knows the best wines. Yet he can’t trust anyone. He can’t have any emotions. Because his art is murder and that puts him under so much stress that he passes out at times. The only love in his life is paid for, as a call girl (Jill Ireland) writes letters and meets him for a girlfriend experience that ultimately is meaningless.

For the first sixteen minutes of The Mechanic, he moves in absolute quiet to make his kill.

After completing the job of killing a high ranking official in his own group, “Big Harry” McKenna (Keenan Wynn), he meets the man’s son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent). He has the same aptitude for murder, so Bishop begins training him against the wishes of his superiors, which makes them doubt the older killer. And when Bishop finds notes on himself in Steve’s papers, has he let the wrong person into his life?

The second movie that Bronson would make with Michael Winner, but it was originally intended to be Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop) making the movie. The script was also altered, as it was about the sexual relationship between the two men and there’s no way that Bronson was going to make that film.