{"id":1263,"date":"2024-07-23T21:28:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:40:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:40:22","slug":"death-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/23\/death-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Death Wish<\/strong> (1974)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount Pictures\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong violence, rape, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wendell Mayes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Herbie Hancock\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, Steven Keats, William Redfield, Stuart Margolin, Stephen Elliott, Kathleen Tolan, Jack Wallace, Fred J. Scollay, Chris Gampel, Robert Kya-Hill, Christopher Guest, Jeff Goldblum, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Dooley, Helen Martin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $22 million (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s the one that started it all! I saw Death Wish<\/strong> for the first time on network TV when I was 13 at my father\u2019s urging. It was the first time I saw Charles Bronson in anything. Two things happened that night. One, I became a Bronson fan, Two, I became a vigilante movie fan.<\/p>\n

When Death Wish<\/strong> was originally released in \u201974, it really touched a nerve with the American public due to the rapidly increasing crime rate in big cities. Audiences loved it because of how it showed one man doing what the legal system could not. Namely, he punished criminals in such a way that they\u2019d never commit another crime. Paul Kersey (Bronson) acted as judge, jury and executioner. Naturally, critics and criminal rights activists denounced it because it promoted vigilantism as a solution to the crime problem. Perhaps it does, but there\u2019s no denying the vicarious satisfaction in seeing Bronson gun down assorted creeps and scumbags. In fact, it\u2019s freaking awesome! It\u2019s just too bad that he doesn\u2019t kill the creeps that started him on his path of vengeance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When we first meet Kersey, he\u2019s something of a bleeding-heart liberal in that he believes people should be more understanding of those underprivileged people that commit violent crimes. That all changes when the violence directly affects him. A trio of muggers, including a young Jeff Goldblum, follows his wife Joanna (Lange, Blue Velvet) and daughter Carol (Tolan, The Rosary Murders) home from the local market. Posing as delivery boys, they barge into their apartment and do unthinkable things to them. They beat Joanna to death and rape Carol.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Paul\u2019s grief isn\u2019t lessened any by the police telling him that there\u2019s little chance they\u2019ll ever catch the criminals. He takes an extended business trip to Tucson to assist in the planning of a new residential development (he\u2019s an architect). It\u2019s there that we learn more about Paul, like that he was a CO (conscientious objector) during the Korean War and has an excellent working knowledge of firearms thanks to his father. He concludes his business and returns to New York where he learns that his daughter\u2019s condition has worsened to the point of catatonia. He and his son-in-law Jack (Keats, Turk 182!) are forced to commit her to a psychiatric hospital.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Given all that\u2019s happened, it\u2019s completely understandable why Kersey is angry. As luck would have it, the client in Arizona gifted him with a pistol. Specifically, a .32 Colt Police Positive revolver. He begins his one-man crusade by killing a guy that tries to mug him. It isn\u2019t until he guns down three muggers the following night that the police realize they have a vigilante on their hands. In charge of the investigation is Lt. Frank Ochoa (Gardenia, Moonstruck). Since the action takes place before the computer age, narrowing down a list of suspects will take a lot of time, effort and manpower.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Once the deeds of \u201cThe Vigilante\u201d (as he\u2019s known in the press) are made public, he becomes a hero. The public rallies behind him while the politicians and police officials aren\u2019t so sure they want to apprehend him. The crime rate has gone down and they\u2019d like to keep it that way. Meanwhile, Kersey continues to kill muggers as the police close in. Ochoa would like to arrest him, but his superiors have other ideas. In short, they order him to tell Kersey to leave the city. An arrest would be political suicide and the crime rate would rise again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Because Death Wish <\/strong>has been around for 40 years, you probably already know how it ends. I won\u2019t reveal the ending as a courtesy to those that haven\u2019t seen it yet, but I will remind you that it generated four sequels.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Michael Winner (The Mechanic, The Stone Killer), it\u2019s both an excellent, thought-provoking piece AND an awesome kick-ass action flick. It sparked nationwide debates over vigilantism and the state of law enforcement. People were also shocked by the brutal violence depicted in Death Wish<\/strong>. The rape scene is still difficult to watch. Some were turned off by the idea of taking the law into one\u2019s own hands. Me, I think it\u2019s cool!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Bronson is terrific in the role. It\u2019s also the only time in one of these movies that he delivers an actual performance. He handles his character\u2019s transformation from bleeding-heart liberal to cold-blooded killer very well. He\u2019s also a real bad ass! That\u2019s what the audience has come to see and they won\u2019t be let down.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The screenplay by Wendell Mayes is solid; the story is well-told and exciting. The jazzy score by Herbie Hancock is a real asset. It really adds to the gritty tone of the movie. The best parts of Death Wish<\/strong> are the scenes in which Bronson metes out his brand of justice to muggers. My favorite is the subway scene in which Kersey blows away two dirtbags then calmly exits at the next stop. I love stuff like that. This movie totally kicks ass! In the end, that\u2019s what really counts when it comes to a Charles Bronson flick.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Death Wish (1974)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount Pictures\/Action-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 93 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong violence, rape, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wendell Mayes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Herbie Hancock\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, Steven Keats, William Redfield, Stuart Margolin, Stephen Elliott, Kathleen Tolan, Jack Wallace, Fred J. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,31,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Death-Wish-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1889,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions\/1889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}