Death Wish

Plot synopsis:
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) and his wife Joanna (Hope Lange) vacation in Hawaii. They return to New York City, where Paul works as an architect.Joanna and their daughter Carol Anne (Kathleen Tolan) shop for groceries at D'Agostino's. Three hooligans (one played by Jeff Goldblum) are wreaking havoc in the supermarket. They catch Joanna's address after she asks that her groceries be delivered. They follow her to the apartment, burst in and trash the apartment. They search for money but find only $7. The hooligans then rape Carol and savagely beat Joanna, escaping scot-free.Paul's son-in-law Jack Toby (Steven Keats) calls to tell him only that Joanna and Carol are in the hospital. After waiting impatiently, Paul is told by a doctor that his daughter is okay and that she was sedated and put to bed, but his wife has died. Devastated, he is told by police that the likelihood of catching the criminals is small since his wife is dead and his daughter, the only witness, traumatized from her ordeal of being raped, cannot speak. That night, a frustrated Paul goes out for a walk and quickly encounters a mugger who attempts to rob him with a gun. Carrying a sock full of quarters, Paul swings it at the would-be-mugger and flees, narrowly escaping from being shot.The next day, Paul's boss gives him an extended business vacation to Tucson, Arizona to meet a client, Ames Jainchill (Stuart Margolin), who shows him the ropes. Paul witnesses a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town used as a movie set. At a gun club, Ames is impressed when Paul shoots near bulls-eye accuracy. He reveals that he was a "CO" (conscientious objector) during the Korean War who served his country as a combat medic. Ames drops him at the airport, slipping a little going-away present into Paul's bag.Back in New York, Paul visits Jack who tells him that his daughter is catatonic and will likely never recover. At home, Paul opens his suitcase and the gift box that Ames left him to find a nickel-plated .32 Colt Police Positive revolver. He pockets the gun and takes a stroll that night. While walking alone in Riverside Park, Paul almost immediately encounters a mugger, a doped-up ex-convict named Thomas Leroy Marston who attempts to rob him at gunpoint with a .38 Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver. Paul shoots him with his own revolver, killing him.Shocked that he just killed a human being, Paul runs home and throws up. But his vigilantism continues the following night, when he guns down three black men (one with an afro is played by an uncredited Denzel Washington) who are robbing a defenseless old man in a vacant alley.A few nights later, two muggers see Paul on a subway, holding a bag of groceries. They attempt to rob him at knife-point but Paul shoots them both with the revolver. Paul again gets away.Another night later, Paul is sitting in a sleazy 8th Avenue coffee shop surrounded by prostitutes and assorted street people. He pays his bill to the cashier purposely revealing a wallet full of cash. He leaves followed by two black thugs, named George and Joseph, who have taken the bait. Yet again a robbery attempt is made in a subway tunnel. Paul shoots one but the other manages to stab him in his shoulder before he gets shot as well. As a wounded Paul stumbles off, the one who stabbed him gets away mortally wounded, dying at a hospital.Police Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) investigates the vigilante killings. His department narrows a list to men who have had a family member recently killed by muggers and who are war veterans. The public, meanwhile, is happy that somebody is doing something about crime.Lt. Ochoa soon suspects Paul. He is about to make an arrest when the District Attorney (Fred J. Scollay) intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead. Ochoa doesn't like the idea, but relents.In the meantime, Paul has his daughter committed to a mental hospital in upstate New Hampshire where she will remain catatonic, possibly for life. After returning to New York, Paul hides his .32 gun in a hidden drawer in his office while adjusting (and possibly enjoying) committing murder against muggers to "clean up the city". When Paul invites Jack over for dinner, Jack cannot understand Paul's sudden and happy mood.(Note: The three muggers who murdered Paul's wife and assaulted his daughter are never seen again in the movie, so their fate is left ambiguous. Since Paul was not present during their attack, it is implied that Paul only targets random muggers to vent his frustration at not being able to find the ones who assaulted his family.)One evening, Lt. Ochoa anonymously phones Paul at his office to tip him off that the police are watching him, hoping to provoke a reaction or slip up from Paul. When Paul is briefly detained by the police after leaving his office, they do not find any gun on him and allow him to continue on his way.Aware that the police are starting to catch on to him, Paul gives them the slip by sneaking out of his apartment building through a backdoor service entrance. He goes to his office to retrieve his gun and then goes out looking for more would-be muggers where he is confronted by three street gang members in Central Park who try to mug him. Paul shoots two of them before he is wounded in his right leg by a third mugger who is armed with a .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol. Despite his wound, Paul chases the third mugger through the park, the streets, and to an industrial warehouse area where the third mugger gets away as Paul attempts to take aim at him, only to fall to the ground.Hospitalized, Paul is confronted by Ochoa after a sympathetic policeman finds Paul's revolver near the latest crime scene and gives it to the detective. Ochoa makes Paul promise to leave New York, permanently in exchange to avoid prosecution for the vigilante killings. Paul replies, "By sundown?"In the final scene, set one week later. Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train. Being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlums harassing a woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman. The hoodlums make obscene gestures, but Kersey points his right hand like a gun and smiles... suggesting that his vigilantism will resume sooner or later.

Tags: revenge, cult, neo noir, murder, violence

Review:
Death Wish (1974) is a classic, realistic powerful cinema action drama about a men and origins of how he become one-men army type to fight against hoodlums and criminals at night on the street of New York.
It's not the action-packed thrill-fest that movies like "Kill Bill" or "The Punisher" seek to be, instead it's a haunting, sometimes intoxicating look at our society's views on justice.Charles Bronson is Paul Kersey, a New York architect whose wife is killed by a group of muggers ransacking their apartment, an attack that also leaves his daughter catatonic.
Kersey soon realizes the cathartic release of enacting vigilante revenge as the media reports his killings and other private citizens take action, all while police officer Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) leads a task force to capture the vigilante and stop future violence."Death Wish" was a product of its day -- a Nixon-era knee jerk reaction to rampant crime that turned out to be quite a hit.
I'm sure the movie's audiences in New York, and probably across the country, enjoyed living out their revenge fantasies vicariously through Kersey.It should be said that Bronson, normally criticized as a wooden actor, gives a remarkably strong performance.
One of the best favorite action movies of all time, Death Wish glitters Charles Bronson's glory famously.
At present(2009) while the remake version is being filmed I have to say that; no matter who will perform Paul Kersey for the second time, he won't be able to impress us as Bronson did.Rather than Bronson's performance Death Wish has its significant themes and screenplay components which were used at almost every action/crime movie later on, thus became clichés of their genre.
Charles Bronson was already a major movie star in 1974 in Europe and a top action actor in the USA but it was "Death Wish" released that year that made him the super star that he became.
What's so unusual is that in the movie "Death Wish" he played a man who was a pacifist all of his life, he served in the Korean War as a conscientious objector, who then turned into the vigilante executioner!
A role which Bronson has become known for and identified with more then any of the scores of actions roles that he made during his long film career.Bronson as well as director Michael Winner and writer Brian Garfield touched a raw nerve in "Death Wish" with the American people in big cities under siege like no other movie ever did before and, now some 30 years later, after.
Some time later going to Arizona to do his job as a land developer for his firm in NYC he's given a .32 handgun as a gift by the person that he worked for Ames Janichill, Stuart Margolis, for the great job that he did for him.One night back home in New York City taking a stroll in the park with the gun on him Kersey is accosted by a local junkie who pulls a handgun on him but Kersey draws first and shoots and kills him.
When Bernie Goetz in December 1984 gunned down four muggers, much like Charles Bronson did in the movie "Death Wish", who tried to attack him in the New York subway crime dropped a lot more then if one hundred policemen were put on the trains.
Nobody can doubt now that Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" was not only a major milestone in films about urban crime but also a major milestone in what the public thinks about crime and what's best to do to stop it..
Directed by Michael Winner and starring the late Charles Bronson in the lead role, this is a gritty inner city revenge film which comes off as a competent and effective social statement.Paul Kersey (Bronson) is a liberal architect living in a not so nice, crime ridden area of the city.
Kersey becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted during a break in at the family home.Few films in the 70s have the reputation that is afforded Michael Winner's Death Wish, it seems that if you like the film then you must be an advocate of fascist exploitation cinema, or if you don't like it then you are a bleeding heart liberal.
If you are a fan or not, rate or hate, Death Wish is a landmark in cinema history, it's an urban nightmare as an everyman working Joe takes up arms and fights back against the slime that would take all that we hold dear, purely because they don't have it themselves.Outside of the moral questions that Death Wish throws up, the film contains a searingly brilliant turn from Charles Bronson as Kersey, a sedate hard working man reduced to being vigilante on account of a society that can't protect the honest.
Before I saw Death Wish, I knew there was more than just the context of it being a starring vehicle for one of the major bad-asses of the action picture, Charles Bronson (who's best role is still the one with the least words, Once Upon a Time in the West), and that it contains the elements that would spark an entire sub-genre (for better or worse).
The rest of the film unfolds as it would, at least under the circumstances of the genre.Yet within the grip of Death Wish being a genre picture (and this is something that the sequels and other lessor B films have forgotten) is that there has to be a sense of reality, and real dangers, to the film, not to mention the sort of evolution of Kersey into how he becomes- a killer, a vigilante of the scum who try to rob and threaten to kill.
It starts with a chilling rape sequence - still provocative thirty years on - and develops from there into an exciting and perversely funny story of how a man whose life is affected by these disturbing events gets his revenge.New York businessman Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is devastated when his wife (Hope Lange) and daughter (Kathleen Tolan) are sexually assaulted in their own home.
Near the end, Bronson's actions even seem to have driven him a bit mad, loosening his grip on reality (evidenced when he confronts the last thug and starts vacantly spouting Western cliches like they're both in "Gunfight at the OK Corral").But (and as they say, this is a BIG BUT) I can't enjoy the uncut film because the murder of Kersey's wife and the viscous rape of his daughter is simply too repulsive to watch.
I think this is nonsense, since if this movie is violent, then what about others like "First Blood", "Commando" or "Rambo" just to name a few?...If one watches this movie carefully can see it´s a very likely story.Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is not a violent man at all, it´s a liberal and broad-minded architect who leads an ordinary life until his wife is murdered by some punks...
The one that started it all, and of course the best, sees our unforgettable vigilante, Paul Kersey (Bronson), deliver justice to those punks at night, who like to do stick ups, and rob us innocent folk.
Then he stalks the slums of N.Y. and takes the law into his own hands, searching vengeance on crooks, hoodlums, muggers, pimps making the neighborhood safer and bumping off delinquents and street scum.This first outing from the novel ¨Death wish¨ by Brian Garfield contains suspense, noisy action-packed, intrigue, thrills and lots of violence.Bronson with his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapon such as ¨Harry the Dirty¨ and killing mercilessly nasties .It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Kersey-Bronson's side .
His nearly-mute daughter unable to identify her attackers, Bronson is left to stalk the streets and make a statement rather than seek revenge, capping whomever approaches him.Director Michael Winner's result was a timely and culturally pleasing comment on the good guys vs.
Charlie's performance overall is abundantly subdued, but he did manage the incredible once-in-a-lifetime feat for an actor: becoming a movie-star sensation in his 50s."Death Wish" isn't a perfect film, the set-up dragging listlessly to its middle, and the shooting becoming painfully repetitive (Bronson turns, gun in pocket, blam!, ad naseum).
Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a typical liberal New Yorker who struggles with his bleeding heart ideals after his family become the victims of a violent crime.
But there's no doubt that Bronson attained his enduring popularity on the strength of the five films in the series.In this the original Death Wish, Charles Bronson introduces us to Paul Kersey, successful architect and family man with wife Hope Lange and married daughter Kathleen Tolan.
Bronson usually plays stoic characters in his films, but in the Death Wish series he never articulates what's going on with him, but you see it in a face that was made for movie closeups in the same way that Gary Cooper's and John Wayne's faces were.A trip out west on a project brings him in touch with a different mentality about settling urban problems and the present of a 32 Caliber pistol from the man he was contracted to work for gives Bronson a whole new outlook.
And Stuart Margolin as Bronson's western host who presents him with the tool of his trade is also worth noting.In 1982 Bronson finally due to a lot of audience demand and the fact that the money was too good to turn down, repeated his role of Paul Kersey in a series of Death Wish films of varying quality.
Let's look more closely at the film....Charles Bronson, in his seminal role, plays mild-mannered architect Paul Kersey.
INTRO Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a successful architect who turns vigilante after his wife and daughter are ferociously attacked by a gang of violent thugs in their New York city apartment.Set in the mean streets of New York city, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) plays a man completely overcome by the horrific assault on his family,with that his comfortable professional life comes to an abrupt end.
When the police are slow to respond, Paul Kersey (Bronson) takes the law into his own hands and sets out seeking revenge by himself with a revolver, prowling for muggers on the crime ridden mean city streets at night.
It's not long before he becomes a well known vigilante in the city by both the cheering residents and the sympathetic police who funny enough actually see the urban crime rate start to fall in the city.MY VIEWS Being a fan of the late, great Charles Bronson I enjoyed "Death Wish" very much with it's exciting quick pace and engaging music by Herbie Hancock, builds the tempo for a great powerful 70's classic thriller.
Charles Bronson, is extremely well cast in this film as he plays a gentle professional family man Paul Kersey who is driven to complete despair when his family is set opon by savage thugs.
With the help of great directing from Michael Winner this film will captivate you for the full 93mins, as the good guy (Charles Bronson) seeks revenge on the city streets stalking the muggers and thugs.
Now My point is, many will tell you "Death Wish" is his masterpiece, and though I don't quite agree it's undeniably the best of the series and does show that he had hidden acting skills that unfortunately weren't tested often enough.Everyone knows the story by now: Architect Paul Kersey, when coming home from work finds that his wife and daughter have been raped.
Self defense is one thing, getting revenge is one thing, taking it out on a large group of people whom despite being a problem and a nuisance, don't quite deserve death.It's a well told story, but the points it's trying to make are hard to find at first, and could have been done slightly more effectively, but it's nevertheless a pretty good movie.
This is the film that Charles Bronson is best known for as a man named Paul Kersey who turns vigilante after his wife and daughter were attacked by muggers.
Death Wish (1974) **** (out of 4) A mild manured Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) turns vigilante after his wife and daughter are attacked by muggers.
If you like Charles Bronson and want to see him bust up some punks and like to see great revenge films with great action then watch Death Wish!.
I don't think it is an accident that there is a sequence in Death Wish where Charles Bronson's character travels to a western settlement and learns there that the lessons of the wild west gunfighter had to be brought back to his crime infested home town of New York City.
Both films are, or course, supremely politically incorrect; and naturally even more entertaining to watch because of this.The story follows a liberal architect from New York whose life and attitudes are turned upside down when his wife is murdered and his daughter raped by a trio of thugs.
These sequences are well shot and the city of New York is a major character in this movie, it really truly had mean streets in those days.This grim, controversial film remains a thrilling watch partially because it is a well-paced and very direct crime-thriller but also because it is the kind of thing we just don't see very much of these days any more.
Vigilante Man. When Michael Winner asked the late Charles Bronson if he'd like to star in his new movie 'Death Wish', about a mild mannered chap who goes on a rampage shooting scumbags when his family is attacked, Bronson replied "Id like to do that".
With its violent rape scene and apparent condoning of Paul Kersey's vigilante activities, Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it "one of the sickest movies ever made", claiming that it "raises complex questions in order to offer bigoted, frivolous, oversimplified answers".The films message in enunciated best by Kersey in conversation with his wet blanket of a son in law; "What do you call people who, when they're faced with a condition of fear, run away?".
Charles Bronson is too macho an actor for the role of "bleeding heart liberal" turned vigilante Paul Kersey.
We follow his exploits as he continues to carry on his new found role as armed and dangerous decoy.The story continually gives us examples of just how even a well trained and hard working Police Department cannot have Cops everywhere and that it is still up to us to be prepared to defend ourselves.At the time of its initial release, there were some critics who described DEATH WISH as being gratuitously violent and having an appeal to a lynch-mob mentality.
Charles Bronson, who'd enjoyed previous success in feature films prior to Death Wish, became an anti-hero of sorts in a couple dozen movies throughout the next fifteen years after its release.Bronson plays Paul Kersey, an architect who lives in a New York City apartment.
Before the days of Steven Seagal and Sylvester Stallone, and before movies such as Kill Bill (2003), Taken (2008) and The Equalizer (2014), Death Wish has always been the definitive vigilante movie.Mild mannered bleeding heart architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) who lives a peaceful life in New York City.
Kersey decides to clean up the town - to remove all thugs within the city of New York.This is a good crime thriller - and extremely graphic/violent for 1974, a forewarning to people that cannot watch extreme violence on film.If you like Death Wish the you might like: Death Wish 2 or 10 to Midnight (both films are starring Charles Bronson).8/10.
Although 1974's "Death Wish" spawned a bunch of inferior sequels in the 80s, the original film stands out as an excellent drama/thriller about a "bleeding heart liberal" man, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson), who turns to vigilanteism when his wife is murdered and his daughter turned into a vegetable by low-life scum in New York City.
Architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a liberal in New York City who hasn't held a gun since his father was killed in a hunting accident.
A New York City architect (Charles Bronson) becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife (Hope Lange) is murdered by street punks in which he randomly goes out and kills would-be muggers on the mean streets after dark.Not only is this the film debut of both Jeff Goldblum and Denzel Washington, it is possibly the greatest revenge film of all time.
Mild-mannered architect Charles Bronson becomes a street vigilante in New York City after his wife and daughter are attacked in their apartment.
Maybe we just limit ourselves to reading the obits every day and hoping to see a name, but Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) took the step that we all have wished at one time or another that we had the guts to take.Being a liberal, opposed to the death penalty, that is hard to say, but it is true.
Maybe we just limit ourselves to reading the obits every day and hoping to see a name, but Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) took the step that we all have wished at one time or another that we had the guts to take.Being a liberal, opposed to the death penalty, that is hard to say, but it is true.
DEATH WISH (1974) is Bronson's best movie ever & his greatest performance as an actor & his vigilante Paul Kersey is my number 1 favourite movie character of all time!!!!
Michael Winner directs this controversial & hard-hitting urban vigilante thriller that casts Charles Bronson as architect & family man Paul Kersey, whose life is shattered when his wife and daughter are viciously attacked by degenerate muggers in their apartment.
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a land developer whose wife is killed and daughter is viciously raped by burglars in his New York City apartment.
The story is rather simple, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a nice man who loves his wife.