Death Wish II

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a grand view of Los Angeles, with a news broadcast in the background detailing an increase in crime in the city. The overview of the city goes until the end of the opening credits where we zoom in on the new house of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) where the maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo), is preparing dinner. He seems to have picked up the pieces of his life to move on, as his girlfriend is KABC news/radio reporter Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland) and they both go and pick up Carol from the hospital and spend the day with her. Paul talks to the doctor, who says that despite her traumatic catatonia, she has begun to speak again. Her husband, Jack Toby, though not seen or mentioned, presumably divorced Carol. Paul, Geri, and Carol spend the rest of the afternoon at a carnival, where Paul offers to buy ice cream while the girls look around. While waiting in line for some ice cream, he gets mugged and his dollar bill is stolen by five gang members. At first Paul does not mind but realizes they also took his wallet. Paul manages to catch up with one of them (Jiver), but Jiver exclaims that he was not the one who took the wallet.Geri heads to do an interview with the senator while Carol and Paul go on a boat ride. The same five muggers who stole Kersey's wallet arrive at his house determined to kill him. The thugs break in, tightly bind, and gag, and then gang rape Rosario. Paul arrives home with Carol, only to get beaten unconscious when he walks in the door. Rosario tries to call the police, but the thugs hear the sound and quickly kill Rosario by bashing her head in. They then take Carol to their hideout, where one of the muggers rapes her. After the attack, she runs away from the thugs and jumps from a window, becoming impaled on the railings below.Geri arrives to the house as Paul regains consciousness and the police arrive. Lt. Mankewicz (Ben Frank) is one of the first on the scene, asking Paul about the identification of the muggers because the description was "a little vague". A short time later, Paul learns about the death of his daughter and is sent to the station to ID her. Later, Mankewicz asks Paul to view some photos at the station to rejog his memory since Paul is the only witness. Paul declines by saying: "it won't do any good."The next scene is at a funeral where Paul and Geri both attend. That night, Paul pulls out a .32 caliber semi-automatic handgun he kept hidden in his closet, changes clothing, and rents a low-rent apartment in the inner city as his forward base of operations. After wondering around most of the night through the rough part of downtown L.A. Paul returns to his own house. Geri arrives the next morning and lets herself in, where she nearly discovers Paul's gun laying on a dresser. Paul quickly gets up and hides it. After Geri leaves, he calls a locksmith to have the locks on his house changed.The next night, Paul spots one of the muggers, Stomper, and follows him into an abandoned hotel building as a drug deal is about to be made between his partner and two buyers. Kersey tries to be quiet as he can, but the others notice his presence when he knocks over a can. Kersey kills Stomper's partner, then orders the other two out of the room where he kills Stomper.The following evening, as he is patrolling the streets, Paul hears a scream coming from an underground parking garage where a man and a woman are being assaulted by four muggers. One of the muggers is Jiver, whom Kersey chased down the alley the day of his daughter's death. Paul opens fire on the muggers, killing two of them. Jiver is wounded, but he and the fourth mugger manage to get away. Taking a .45 caliber pistol off one of the dead muggers, Paul follows the trail of blood, and manages to wound and kill Jiver at a warehouse across the street. Paul flees before the police arrive.The L.A. police quickly hear about the murders, as does the NY Police Department. Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) is called by the LAPD to help. The Police Commissioner (Anthony Francoisa) thinks the vigilante killings may be done by Kersey again. Fearing that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that they let him go instead of prosecuting him, the NYPD sends Inspector Frank Ochoa to make sure that does not happen. Ochoa meets with Lt. Mankewicz, who suspects that Frank is hiding something.That night, Ochoa breaks into Geri's apartment where he meets Geri and tells her about Paul's past and recent vigilante spree. But when Geri confronts Paul, he quickly denies it, ascribing the tale to Ochoa's imagination. Paul drives Geri to work the next morning, where Ochoa is waiting. In order to keep tabs on Paul, Ochoa calls Mankiewicz and asks him to park his car near Paul's apartment (but he doesn't tell Mankiewicz about following Kersey himself).Another night later, Ochoa follows an unknowing Kersey from his house to his low-rent apartment and from there to a local square where Kersey spots the three remaining gang members who attacked him: Cutter (Laurence Fishburne), Punkcut (E. Lamont Johnson), and Nirvana (Thomas F. Duffy). Kersey follows the trio on a bus to an abandoned park, where a major drug deal goes down. Ochoa follows Kersey and sees him from a distance hiding in a bush, but decides to help Paul after detecting a spotlight heading in his direction. Ochoa warns Paul with a shot by shooting a gang member who tries to shoot Paul. Paul runs behind a tree as the gang members grab their guns and fire back. Ochoa gets shot by a hail of gunfire, but Paul manages to kill Cutter (who vainly tries to shield his head with a boom box) with a bullet through the face. Punkcut is also wounded by a gunshot to the chest, as is another gang member. Paul also shoots and kills the getaway driver and seller of the firearms, who plummets off a cliff to a fiery doom below. The final mugger, Nirvana, gets away. Paul goes over to Ochoa and asks him why he saved his life. Ochoa responds he had to side with Paul against the criminals, and tells Paul to kill Nirvana for him. Ochoa dies as the police arrive, and Paul escapes into the night. The police get the name of Ochoa's killer from a badly injured Punkcut by inflicting pain, who succumbs to his injuries and dies.A few days later, Nirvana (who's real name is revealed to be Charles Wilson) is found by the police hiding out in an apartment. Paul, monitoring the police radio frequency from an acquired radio scanner, tries to get to Nirvana to kill him before the police do. But in the apartment building hallway, Paul narrowly misses his opportunity for a kill when he gets slashed on the arm by Nirvana during a chase. Nirvana runs outside when he sees the police approaching and gets tasered, but with no effect due to an influence of PCP. He is finally arrested after stabbing several officers.Tried and found criminally insane, Charles 'Nirvana' Wilson is sent to McLarren State Hospital. Paul comes along with Geri to the hospital where she is interviewing Charles Wilson's doctor. The visit allows Paul to secretly steal a facility ID card and a white doctor's lab coat. Despite his plans for revenge to kill the last surviving thug who assaulted him, Paul has lunch with Geri the next day and proposes to her. Geri accepts.The night they plan to go to Mexico for their wedding, Paul uses his altered doctor ID and stolen lab coat to gain access to the hospital and confronts Wilson in the hospital meeting room. They have a violent fight and Kersey is stabbed repeatedly by Wilson with a scalpel. But when Wilson slams Kersey up against an electrical device, Kersey ducks the oncoming punch. Wilson's hand smashes through the machine and Kersey turns the power up, electrocuting Wilson. Donald Kay (Charles Cyphers), the head orderly on duty, witnesses Wilson's death, but sympathizes with Kersey and gives him three minutes to escape from the hospital before sounding the alarm.Geri goes to his apartment later that night and finds the scanned copy of the stolen ID. She realizes that Paul is actually the vigilante after she hears a report of Wilson's death on the radio. She puts the paper and the engagement ring on the table and drives off. Paul arrives home minutes later to an empty apartment.Five months later, Paul is at his office speaking to his clients about a party in celebration of a new architectural design. His boss Elliott Cass (Michael Prince) invites him to a party that very evening, and when Paul is asked if he's free, he answers: "What else would I be doing?" The movie ends with gunshots heard on L.A.'s skid row, implying that Paul will continue his vigilante spree undisturbed.

Tags: revenge, cult, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
Charles Bronson is fantastic as Architect Paul Kersey getting revenge on a muggers who raped and killed his house keeper and his daughter.
Be grateful for Michael Winner's sledgehammer sensitivity because it produced this classic.None of Paul Kersey's (Charles Bronson) remaining family and friends get off lightly in this twisted nightmare of domestic violence, anal rape, vigilante justice and simplistic politics.For fans of rough justice, the rape of Bronson's Mexican housemaid is truly amazing and eroticized like crazy by Winner's leering direction.Thomas F.
Duffy as Nirvana, the film's lead thug, is really horrible and a joy to behold (in a perverse way).Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page provides a rock score that scorches the L.A. imagery and Vincent Gardenia returns as the cop who prefers to look the other way.A Cannon-backed sleazefest that brings home the groceries if you like eating trash.Screw GONE WITH THE WIND.
Charles Bronson reunites with director Michael Winner in this highly controversial sequel that sees poor Paul Kersey in L.A, and once again the target of degenerate muggers/gangsters, who viciously attack his housekeeper and daughter Carol(again!) leading to their deaths.
Enraged, Paul Kersey returns to his vigilante ways, bringing on the attentions of New York cop Frank O'Choa(Vincent Gardenia again) who is sent to stop Kersey, but ends up helping him instead...Jill Ireland plays his new girlfriend.Sequel pulls no punches in the violence and assaults(too much so I would agree, difficult to watch) yet otherwise delivers the expected vigilante retribution in effective and stylish fashion, depicting the stark nature of the streets memorably.
Like the films that best display gritty 1970s New York City--such as Taxi Driver (1976) and Basket Case (1982)--Death Wish II makes you feel almost dirty (in the grimy despair way, not a sexual way) while watching it.
This scene found me laughing in disbelief, shocked and horrified over what the Paul Kersey-character has become, and at the same time impressed that somebody actually dared to make this stuff more than 20 years ago, and even starring one of the biggest movie-stars in the world!This once bleedin' heart liberal family man has for sure turned into a messenger of death, with about as much mercy for the criminals as a hungry stray cat has for a limp mouse!
It's shocking to watch, but at the same time fascinating because the whole movie looks great, the atmosphere gets under your skin, and you still find yourself rooting for Bronson's character.This is still the best of the "Death Wish"-sequels, and it still packs a wallop and manages to stir controversy even today.
One of the gang members in here, by the way, is a young Laurence Fishburne.The negatives are (1) sub-par acting performances by Bronson and his real-life wife, Jill Ireland; (2) some blatant credibility problems with the story ( such as how Bronson could get across town all bloody but never be noticed;) and (3) not exactly the most intelligent dialog!Yet, this is still an appealing movie to our conditioned satisfaction for instant revenge.
It sparks the id, pummels it into submission, so that when the experience is over, a sigh of relief is uttered.The original "Death Wish" was a well-done exploitation flick with the professional gloss of an A picture; despite its relatively shallow insight into the murky moral terrain of vigilante justice, it contained an intensely subdued performance by Charles Bronson, and confident direction by Michael Winner.By comparison, "Death Wish 2" is a typical sequel, taking what the original had and dumbing it down to milk some cash for the franchise.
The plot is as before: Paul Kersey has begun a new life (courting the cheerfully cardboard Jill Ireland) which is shattered when a gang of punks (including a young Laurence Fishburne) rape and murder his housekeeper and daughter.
The film moves from one random encounter to the next, wherein Kersey stumbles across gang members and kills them.Of course this doesn't sound like highbrow film-making, but "Death Wish 2" never teases the audience with any notions of greatness.
Following to successful crime thriller that created the Vigilante genre with Bronson as the main star as architect Paul Kersey (wooding acting by Bronson who looks bored and tired with this rehash material) turned the one-man vigilante and he tries to find the five sadistic street punks who attacked his daughter and housekeeper , this time on the dark streets of Los Angeles .
The original film ¨Death wish¨ had great commercial hit , it was followed by various extremely violent sequels to this successful 1974 movie , that's , of course , the best from the series , being starred by Hope Lange , Stuart Margolin , William Redfield and Jeff Goldblum .
Architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) once again becomes a vigilante when he tries to find the five street punks who murdered his daughter and housekeeper, this time on the dark streets of Los Angeles.Early on, we have a nasty rape scene with Larry Fishburne.
While this is by no means as good as the original, which I consider to be a minor classic, Death Wish 2 is a great example of the short lived early 80s embrace of ultra violent entertainment before these kind of movies were labelled "video nasties" and expelled from the mainstream.The main reason why the Death Wish series became increasingly ridiculous is the improbability of one man suffering so much bad luck.
Unfortunately, I don't think that it is a coincidence, as the entire Death Wish series had dubious racial undertones.The action becomes increasing twisted when Paul's daughter, Carol, still traumatised from the attack in the original film, is kidnapped and raped.
I love the Death wish franchise i really do & have watched them all so many times it's crazy & Paul Kersey is my favourite movie character ever or atleast stands next to Snake Plisskin!!!
But either way it gives an eerie other worldly look to the night time world of Death Wish 2 & even feels very noir at times with it's look!!!It's actually a nice comfort seeing rugged old Bronson out stalking the dark & dangerous streets at night it's because he's a good man a vigilante hero & it's a comfort seeing some one taking revenge on the evil scum out there that in real life that doesn't happen oh no in real life the scum usually get away with the evil things they do & there is no vigilante hero out the getting vengeance on them so it's a nice fantasy comfort to watch Bronson act it out.& that's very important the look has to show us the night time world is dangerous & scary & Death Wish 2 oozes that Atmospheric look & atmosphere it's spot on.
Legendary Charles Bronson is excellent as Paul Kersey once again & this time targets & hunts just the one sick gang of thugs that Murdered his daughter & house maid.
Following these events, Kersey goes back to his old ways and sets about tracking down the gang of muggers.I think what I liked about Death Wish 2 is the fact that it is more focused than the first film.
It's horribly out of kilter with the outrageous (bordering on ridiculous) shoot-'em-up carnage that follows, as is a similarly disturbing scene in which Bronson's mute daughter is raped (again - remember the first film?) before jumping through a (closed) window to her death, a messy and graphic impaling on metal railings.
This time he's in Los Angeles stalking a street gang after they brutally raped and murdered his daughter (Robin Sherwood) and maid (Silvana Gallardo).Repellent sequel has Bronson in his wooden Indian performance who is no longer convincing as in the 1974 hit, but a man on a mission to kill making him no better than the thugs that he dispatches.
Bronson returns as the vigilante Paul Kersey who had to leave New York in a hurry at the end of the previous film, having gone a little nuts after the murder of his wife and eradicating various muggers and scum-bags.
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!.
Death Wish II (1982) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Two years after the death of his wife, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is now living in Los Angeles where he's dating a woman (Jill Ireland) working for a local radio station.
Yes, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is back along with his daughter, Carol (Robin Sherwood) and a new love name Geri(Jill Ireland, 1936-90) who lives in Los Angeles.
At the time of the film's release the BBFC cut over 3 minutes from the film (chief censor James Ferman seemed proud of this and said that it was surely a record) due to two rape scenes contained within the movie.The vigilante Paul Kersey (played with badass aloofness by Charles Bronson aka 'The Man') has moved from New York (the setting of the original movie) and is now practicing his considerable architectural skills in L.A. But after his housekeeper is raped and killed and his already traumatised daughter is subjected to the same treatment Kersey goes back into ass-kicking mode.There's so much to love about this film.
While the original Death Wish was more lavish and haunting as Bronson played a man who objected violence, the second film has him already used to it.
Plot follows a familiar trajectory, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is now in Los Angeles living a normal life, when wouldn't you know it, some scumbag youths cross his path after administering some rape and pillage on folk close to him...The problem here, and the reason why some critics positively burst blood vessels after watching it, is that for the first half it just is pure exploitation, this in spite of some decent production value.
"Death Wish 2" is nearly a carbon copy of the 1st.this time,the location has changed from NewYork to Los Angelos.i won't bore you with the plot here,but let's just say Mr Vigilante Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is forced back into action,doing what he does best.and of course once again the police can't have that.there is one amusing scene where Kersey has just saved a man from being possibly killed and his wife brutally raped.Kersey flees the scene,and when the police arrive,the only thing the care about is who shot the attackers,never mind that 2 innocent people were attacked.when questioned about what their Saviour looked like, of their Saviour,they give some riotous descriptions of him,something along the lines of "he was a tall black man with red beard or he was 2 feet tall and ha d ac left club foot.this movie does not have the importance of it's predecessor,but it is still a fairly good movie,and still illustrates some good points.
I watch the Death Wish movies for the sheer redeeming entertainment pleasure of watching Bronson (aka Kersey)getting his revenge on the bad guys by blowing them to hell in various methods of violence especially this bunch.
He runs into some low life Hoodlums who steal his wallet but not before Bronson gives them a beating for their troubles.With his I.D they go to his house for REVENGE, and boy so they get it, but of course good old veteran Charlie boy gets the last word.Filled with brutality and shockingly good Exploitation elements this is one awesome REVENGE movie that actually lives upto its name.Bronson cleans up the city but police don't like vigilante's taking the law into their own hands.If there was more men like Charles Bronson around today Mugggers, rapist and arseholes wouldn't mess with innocent members of the public.Quite simply there is a lesson to be learned from this film- DO NOT F*CK WITH THE BRONSON OR HE'LL BE ALL OVER YOUR ASS LIKE A BAD CASE OF H.I.V CAUGHT FROM ONE OF THE ETHNIC CHAPPIES YOUR MOMMA WARNED YOU ABOUT.Buy this film, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT..
Eight years after Charles Bronson had first walked the mean streets of New York as the Sidewalk Vigilante in "Death Wish" (1974), director Michael Winner sends motion picture's toughest architect back on duty to cleanse the neighborhood of violent scum.
Director Winner doesn't even bother to throw in a long story before the action starts, and yet "Death Wish II" is all a Bronson fan could possibly desire.Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) has moved to LA with his daughter, who is still suffering from the traumatic events in the first film.
It was eight years before Winner reunited with Charles Bronson to bring us the first trashy sequel (of the five piece franchise) looking to eventually pickpocket the success of the original and urban vigilante films (like "The Exterminator (1980)") that were flooding the screens at the time.
Once again violence hits too close to home for Paul Kersey(Charles Bronson) and this time the muggers kill his comatose daughter and maid causing Bronson to turn vigilante and get those responsible.(Which creates the biggest flaw) In Death Wish 2 the biggest problem is that you know who Bronson is going to kill and therefore the movie covers the same ground over and over again.
The gang of thugs find Paul Kersey's (Bronson) daughter and housemaid - this is where the movie gets graphic.
The part where Kersey's mute daughter (a strong performance by the otherwise completely unknown Robin Sherwood) is raped is so uneasy, so bizarre, so awkward to look at that it will always be the first scene that comes to mind when I think of the "Death Wish"-series.
This time having Charles Bronson's house maid being raped and murdered and his mentally ill daughter (from the first film) being kidnapped and killed.
Part of the strength of the original Death Wish film is that Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) never actually tracks down the crooks who attack his family.
Death Wish 2, basically re-hashes the original's Plot once again, only this time The Violence is More Extreme and the Rape Scenes are far More shocking and Uneccessarliy more Frequent.This time Paul Kersey(Charles Bronson)Has moved to L.A With His Daughter and New Wife to start a new life, but one day his wallet is stolen by some street punks (One Played by a Young Laurence Fishburne), the punks find his address from his Drivers Licence and Decide to Rape and Kill both His Housekeeper and Daughter(Who Was recovering from the last Incident) This time Kersey Is more Determined than ever before to Catch these Guys and a lot of Bloody Carnage Ensues along the way.The Film is not as Deep as the Original nor is it as Stylishly Filmed, And this being the Uncut Version I'm reviewing, The film has Two Main Rape Scenes which Go on For WAY Too long, Which makes it Gratuitous, and they way it's filmed and acted is unpleasant but in a different way than in the original What i mean by that is it seems like the film is trying to be a Sadistic Porno at times, Which is very Disturbing Considering the Seriousness of the topic, Rape is unpleasant it's not a joke, which at times during those scenes is how its portrayed as a Joke, In which it should not be portrayed in that way.Aside from that the film moves at a better pace than the original and the Villains in this film are more Despiseable and you truly feel they deserve whats coming to them, and the Action is a few steps above the original making this film more of a traditional Action/Thriller, rather than a Drama/Thriller, Charles Bronson does well as usual but this time he seems to Camp up his character a little more with a few cheesy One Liners but they do work, and the score by Led Zeppelin Guitarist Jimmy Page is A treat.NOTE: Like the Original it's very shocking this time even more so,so much in fact I think I'll be Fast Fowarding the rape scenes in this film if i see it again in the Future, So once again for those who are easily disturbed by Brutality and Rape you have been Warned, there is a slightly Censored Version out there, but its still fairly Shocking.Overall: 5/10.
Charles Bronson recreates the role of Paul Kersey, who we can remember lived in New York previously at the time of the first Death Wish film, now he lives in Los Angeles.
Well, we don't get the great Herbie Hancock score of the first movie, but we do get Jill Ireland, Mrs. Bronson, in one of her last films, directed as Death Wish I and III, by Michael Winner.We also get what I feel is the biggest collection of scumbags ever assembled.
Well, we don't get the great Herbie Hancock score of the first movie, but we do get Jill Ireland, Mrs. Bronson, in one of her last films, directed as Death Wish I and III, by Michael Winner.We also get what I feel is the biggest collection of scumbags ever assembled.
It's been a few years now that Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is been living the good life in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Geri (Jill Ireland) and his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood), who's still traumatized after the brutal rape in the past.
It's been a few years now that Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is been living the good life in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Geri (Jill Ireland) and his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood), who's still traumatized after the brutal rape in the past.
Now Paul goes back being a vigilante in the mean streets of L.A. by night to finding these murderous, stealing, rapists thugs.Directed by Michael Winner (Lawman, The Mechanic, The Sentinel) made an OK if unnecessary sequel to the effective "Death Wish".
Now Paul goes back being a vigilante in the mean streets of L.A. by night to finding these murderous, stealing, rapists thugs.Directed by Michael Winner (Lawman, The Mechanic, The Sentinel) made an OK if unnecessary sequel to the effective "Death Wish".