Death Wish 3 (1985)    Cannon Films/Action    RT: 91 minutes    Rated R (language, strong violence, rape, nudity, some sexual content, drugs)    Director: Michael Winner    Screenplay: Don Jakoby (as Michael Edmonds)    Music: Jimmy Page    Cinematography: John Stanier    Release date: November 1, 1985 (US)    Cast: Charles Bronson, Deborah Raffin, Ed Lauter, Martin Balsam, Gavan O’Herlihy, Kirk Taylor, Alex Winter, Joseph Gonzalez, Marina Sirtis, Leo Kharibian, Hana-Maria Pravda, John Gabriel, Mildred Shay, Barbie Wilde.    Box Office: $16.1 million (US)

Rating: ****

 With Death Wish 3, the “Kiss of Death Wish” rule was firmly established. It states any woman that becomes romantically involved with Bronson’s character will be dead by the end of movie. The universe can be a cruel place, even to those who seek to better it by ridding it of scumbags.

 Interesting side note, Death Wish 3 might not have happened if not for a real life incident of vigilantism.  In December ’84, a man named Bernard Goetz was accosted on a New York subway by four youths who attempted to rob him. He pulled out a gun and shot all four. He then went over to one of them and said, “You don’t look too bad. Here’s another.” before shooting him a second time leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He garnered a great deal of public support, especially from those who felt crime was too out of control for the understaffed, overworked police to handle. I was working in a doughnut place at the time and the owner put up a picture of Goetz from the newspaper with the words “OUR HERO!” written on it.

 Since public interest in vigilantes was sparked by the Goetz incident, Cannon went ahead and green-lighted Death Wish 3. I’m glad they did, it’s my absolute favorite of the sequels. How can you NOT love a movie in which a 63YO Bronson grabs a machine gun and mows down scores of punks and lowlifes? I saw it opening night with my dad and it was a decent-sized crowd for a 6pm show. Like me, the audience was really into it!

 Kersey returns to New York after receiving a letter from his friend Charley expressing his fear of the vicious street gang that terrorizes the area residents, most of them elderly. He arrives just in time to see his pal die after being brutally beaten by gang members in his own apartment. Naturally, that’s when the police finally show up and promptly arrest Kersey for the murder.

 At the station, Lt. Shriker (Lauter, Raw Deal) recognizes him as “The Vigilante” from ten years before. He doesn’t want to charge Kersey with any crime; rather, he wants his help in putting an end to the epidemic of gang-related crime that’s been plaguing the area. Of course, it’s going to take some persuading since Kersey claims to have given up his murderous ways. If you believe that, you don’t know the man very well.

 While in a holding cell, Kersey gets into a fight with a psycho named Manny Fraker (O’Herlihy, Superman III) who turns out to be the leader of the street gang. I should stop and mention that this area of Brooklyn looks like Beirut on a good day. It’s a burned-out war zone where decent people are afraid to go out on the streets. The young punks rob, terrorize, threaten and harass the residents on a non-stop basis. It’s their turf. At least it was until Kersey came along. He agrees to help Shriker in exchange for all charges being dropped (what charges, he didn’t do anything!). He’s turned loose (in more ways than one) and takes up residence in Charley’s apartment. This is when Death Wish 3 starts getting awesome!

 One of his first allies is Bennett (Balsam, The Delta Force), a clock repairman who’s also had enough of the creeps that run rampant through the streets. He also becomes friends with Rodriguez (Gonzalez) after saving his wife Maria (Sirtis, Star Trek: TNG) from being raped in a parking garage. Now the fun really begins. Kersey baits the hook by buying a used car and parking it outside the building. Sure enough, a couple of punks try to steal it and he shoots them dead. None of this even fazes Kersey anymore. After he guns them down, he calmly returns to having dinner with his Orthodox Jewish neighbors, the Kaprovs (Kharibian and Pravda). Funny thing is they don’t seem to mind that their guest, somebody they just met not moments earlier, just killed a couple of people. Talk about gracious hosts.

 In this installment, Kersey obtains quite an impressive arsenal, most of it through mail order. He gets his hands on a .475 Wildey Magnum which he explains is a smaller version of a big game hunting rifle. It blows huge holes in people. That brings to the classic scene in which Kersey uses his weapon against a thief known as “The Giggler” (Taylor, The Last Dragon). The creep grabs his camera (BAIT!) and starts running, but only makes it as far as across the street before Kersey takes out his piece and blows him away, an action applauded by the entire neighborhood. It is a pretty cool scene.

 Well, let’s cut right to the chase. A few more innocent people die and Kersey gets his mitts on a .30 Browning M1919 machine gun that Charley brought home from the war. The last 20 minutes of Death Wish 3 are epic, to say the least.

 In the midst of all the carnage and bloodshed, Kersey finds the time to romance public defender Kathryn Davis (Raffin, God Told Me To). She defends criminals, but it doesn’t mean she has to like them. And she doesn’t. She makes this clear to Kersey during one of their few conversations. Anyway, Fraker finds out about her and kills her. Now Kersey is really on the warpath.

 I’m not going to sit here and say Death Wish 3 represents fine cinema. It’s B-movie junk, pure exploitation nonsense. It’s a freaking mindless bloodbath. I don’t care, I love it! I love how ridiculous and over the top it is. He may be a senior citizen, but Bronson is still a bad ass. I really like the supporting cast, especially Lauter, Balsam and Raffin. O’Herlihy is an actor that’s always given me the creeps, mainly because he usually plays creeps. For those of you who don’t know, he’s the actor who played Chuck Cunningham, the older brother that mysteriously vanished, never to be heard from again, after the first season of Happy Days. He makes a great villain. But this is one peculiar street gang. It’s the kind of tough street gang that one only encounters in bad 80s movies. They look more like a New Wave band than a bunch of street hoods. It doesn’t help that one of them is played by Bill S. Preston, Esquire himself (as in Bill & Ted).

 Director Michael Winner doesn’t skimp on the action, that’s the good news. The better news is he doesn’t skimp on the dumb dialogue and silly plot developments either. I honestly don’t know where some of it comes from. When a doctor informs a character that a loved one has died, he says that this person “expired”. What the hell kind of bedside manner is that? Near the end, Manny calls somebody on the phone for reinforcements. Who exactly do you call for additional scumbags? Is it in the Yellow Pages? My theory is that he called the extras department and they sent a bunch of no-names looking to break into show business. Again, it’s only a theory.

 I make these comments with great affection for Death Wish 3. I mean, I can’t hate a movie in which a gang member says, “They killed the Giggler, man!” to which Manny responds, “They had no business doing that.” And where are the cops while all this is going on? Sitting back and letting it happen, of course. After a couple of impassioned speeches to his guys, Shriker puts up a smokescreen by saying that the dirtbags are finally killing each other. In typical Cannon fashion, Death Wish 3 looks like it takes place on a studio back lot. It definitely isn’t filmed in any real locations. Again, this is something that increases the movie’s cool quotient. Yes, this one brings out my inner psycho. I see no point in lying. I love watching Bronson kill punks. I love vigilante flicks. This one totally rocks!