Death Wish (1974 film)

For the novel this film is based on, see Death Wish.

Death Wish
Film poster
Directed by	Michael Winner
Written by	Novel: Brian Garfield Screenplay: Wendell Mayes
Produced by	Hal Landers Bobby Roberts Michael Winner Dino De Laurentiis
Starring	Charles Bronson
Cinematography	Arthur J. Ornitz
Edited by	Bernard Gribble
Music by	Herbie Hancock
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	July 24 1974
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000

Death Wish is a 1974 film based on the 1972 novel by Brian Garfield. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a man who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by burglars. The film was a major commercial success and generated a movie franchise lasting four sequels over a twenty-year period. The film was widely denounced by critics for advocating vigilantism and unlimited punishment to criminals.

Death Wish (1974)

Death Wish was first released to United States audiences in July 1974. It was produced by Italian film mogul Dino De Laurentiis and marketed by Paramount Pictures. The film underwent rejections by other studios due to the controversial subject matter and was dropped by United Artists after producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts liquidated their rights due to budget constraints.

The original film was written by Wendell Mayes, also known for such thrillers as Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Michael Winner, a favorite director of Dino De Laurentiis, oversaw its filming and would go on to direct the first two sequels. Of all of the five Death Wish films, the original largely adheres to Garfield's novel.

Tagline

• Vigilante, city style -- Judge, Jury, and Executioner

Plot

When three muggers rape and traumatize his daughter, Carol, (Kathleen Tolan) and murder his wife, Joanna, (Hope Lange), New York resident Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) realizes that the possibility of the muggers who attacked his family being apprehended is highly unlikely. It is the police themselves who bring Paul to this realization, since they admittedly reveal that they are overwhelmed with violent crime in the city on a daily basis. During the aftermath, Paul's employer sends him on an assignment to Tucson, Arizona, where he meets with a company client who is sympathetic to Paul's dilemma. Soon afterward, Paul returns home to New York City. When he opens his suit case he finds a gift left to him by the company client. He opens a box to find a nickel plated .32 cal revolver, unregistered and untraceable. Paul then begins to go out at night, walking around the city alone waiting to be mugged, then shooting the muggers. Paul also soon finds that the police begin pursuing him, all while public sentiment steadily grows in support of his vigilante tactics.

Cast

• Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey
• Jeff Goldblum as Freak #1
• Hope Lange as Joanna Kersey
• Stuart Margolin as Aimes Jainchill
• Vincent Gardenia as Inspector Frank Ochoa
• Robert Kya-Hill as Officer Joe Charles
• Christopher Logan as Freak #2
• Gregory Rozakis as Spraycan
• Kathleen Tolan as Carol Kersey Toby
• Steven Keats as Jack Toby

Critical Reception

Critical reception to Death Wish was mixed, but it had an unexpectedly large impact on U.S. audiences and began widespread debate over how to deal with rampant crime. The film's graphic violence particularly the brutal rape scene of Bronson's daughter as well as the explicit portrayal of Bronson's premeditated and often in the back slayings was considered exploitive but realistic in the backdrop of an urban U.S. atmosphere of rising crime rates. This film was one of the highest-grossing titles during the early 1970s; it became an immediate classic and the defining film for both Bronson and Michael Winner.

Death Wish was a major film scoring project for jazz composer Herbie Hancock, which earned him a Grammy nomination.

Death Wish II (1982)

After Bronson's hesitance to play the Paul Kersey role a second time, Death Wish II was released to the United States in February 1982. It was produced by exploitation giant Cannon Films, which had purchased rights to the Death Wish concept from De Laurentiis. First planned for Cannon executive Menahem Golan to direct, Michael Winner eventually returned on Bronson's insistence.

Death Wish II (also known as Death Wish 2 in more recent years) is generally considered a rehash of the original film with greater amounts of violence depicted on screen. The script, written by David Engelbach, moves Kersey to Los Angeles, where he has begun a relationship with radio journalist Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland). While Kersey's girlfriend is left unharmed (the only time this occurs in the series), he loses his mentally scarred daughter and housemaid to assaults by street thugs.

The first Death Wish sequel makes a complete break from Death Wish and Death Sentence, Garfield's novel series, and redefines the Paul Kersey character. Unlike in the original film where he hunts down every criminal he encounters, Kersey only pursues the violators of his family. He begins by renting an apartment in a low class area of L.A. to use as a "headquarters" while he looks for his daughters killers. Then he prowls back streets, video arcades, and local hangouts for the criminals. Their faces are burned into his memory.

Of unusual notoriety is the film's score by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who is a neighbor of Michael Winner in London. Page's score was later reused in Death Wish 3 after its role as a temporary track during that film's editing stage.

Death Wish 3 (1985)

Death Wish 3 is the last film in this series to be directed by Michael Winner, released to the United States in November 1985. The film was shot in both New York and London to reduce production costs.

Considered the most over-the-top and outlandish installment of the series, Death Wish 3 pits Kersey against members of New York street gangs while receiving support from a local police lieutenant (played by Ed Lauter). The film focuses more on action sets in the vein of Rambo and Commando. Kersey is shown firing a Wildey .475 caliber handgun, a .38 caliber snubnose revolver, a .30 caliber Browning air cooled machine gun, and a L.A.W.S. handheld rocket launcher.

Widely considered a satire of the vigilante genre and the most popular Death Wish sequel, Death Wish 3 was written by Don Jacoby, also known for the science-fiction epic Lifeforce (1985). Jacoby is listed under pseudonym 'Michael Edmonds' in the movie's final print.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is the first film in this series to carry a subtitle, the first to be directed by someone other than Michael Winner, and the last to be released by Cannon Films. It was helmed by J. Lee Thompson, best known in Hollywood for The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Cape Fear (1962). He also collaborated with Bronson on several action films during the late 1970s and 1980s.

The Crackdown had a substantially cheaper budget and limited release, first appearing at U.S. theaters in November 1987. The screenplay by Gail Morgan Hickman relocates Kersey to Los Angeles where he has begun a relationship with Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz), a newspaper reporter. Sheldon's teenage daughter Erica (Dana Barron) dies after overdosing on 'crack' cocaine from a local pusher and Kersey begins a self-contained war against two Los Angeles drug rings with backing from a third drug trader posing as a 'concerned parent' (John P. Ryan). Weapons used in this film include an unknown caliber rifle (semiauto) with scope and silencer, timed explosives, a small but unknown caliber revolver, an M-16 with M-203 grenade launcher attachment, and an Uzi submachine gun with silencer (which jams in one scene, forcing Paul to resort to hand to hand combat).

Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)

Death Wish V: The Face of Death (also listed as Death Wish 5) is the final installment of the Death Wish series, as well as Charles Bronson's final theatrical starring role in the movie industry. This time the film is produced by 21st Century Film Corporation, a company under Menahem Golan after Cannon Films' bankruptcy. The film was shot in Toronto and helmed by Canadian director Allan Goldstein.

Both critics and fans of the series considered it the worst and weakest installment in the series due to its cheap budget and clichéd script. The plot takes place in New York despite its Toronto filming and has Paul Kersey (now under the witness protection program, after his last escapade) as a college professor of architecture who has become engaged to Olivia Regent (Lesley-Anne Down), a fashion designer previously married to Irish mobster Tommy O'Shea (Michael Parks). O'Shea, looking to take over Regent's clothing firm, arranges her murder and Kersey takes up arms to avenge her death and to protect her young daughter Chelsea (Erica Lancaster).

After Death Wish V' s limited release, Bronson and Menahem Golan ended their working relationship. Golan announced plans for a sixth Death Wish installment without Bronson, but the film was never made. Rumors have spread that a remake of the original film is under discussion, yet it remains a lingering question of who owns rights to the Death Wish concept. Meanwhile, a film version of Death Sentence is due for release in August 2007, starring Kevin Bacon.

Impact of the series

Death Wish remains a guidepost in cinema history, considered the first urban film to depict a civilian taking up arms against other civilians. While this concept existed in many previous westerns, Death Wish was the first to place it in a modern setting.

The film had unexpected resonance in cities like New York and Los Angeles, where crime had reached incredible levels during the early-to-mid 1970s. Moviegoers applauded Kersey whenever he shot criminals down and cinemas enjoyed record ticket sales during the movie's first run.

Many critics were displeased with the film, considering it an immoral threat to society and an encouragement of antisocial behavior. Vincent Canby of the New York Times was one of the most outspoken writers, condemning Death Wish in two extensive articles. Brian Garfield was also unhappy with the final product, calling the film 'incendiary', and even stated that each of the following sequels are all pointless and rancid, since they all depart to the advocation of vigilantism to what the novels are against.

Nevertheless, the film was a watershed moment for Charles Bronson, who was better known in Europe and Asia at the time of Death Wish's release. Bronson became an American film icon who experienced great popularity over the next twenty years.

In the series' later years, Death Wish became a subject of parody for its over-the-top violence and the advancing age of Bronson. However, the Death Wish franchise remained lucrative and drew support from fans of exploitation cinema. The series continues to have widespread following on home video and is occasionally broadcasted on television. Despite its flaws, especially in the sequels, Death Wish is viewed as one of American cinema's reactions to the presence of crime in modern life.

Trivia

• Death Wish was the favorite movie of John Ausonius, the Swedish racist killer who roamed the streets of Stockholm looking for immigrants to kill.
• Jeff Goldblum had his screen debut in Death Wish, playing one of the criminals who attack Kersey's wife and daughter. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, who would later co-star on the highly successful TV show Welcome Back, Kotter, has an uncredited role as a mugger near the end of the film.
• Christopher Guest made his screen debut as a young police officer.
• Multiple-time Grammy award winning Jazz musician Herbie Hancock, produced and composed the original score for the soundtrack to the original Death Wish movie. This would be his third film score, behind the 1966 movie Blow-Up and 1973's The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Michael Winner said, "[Dino] De Laurentiis said 'Get a cheap English band.' Because the English bands were very successful. But I had a girlfriend who was in Sesame Street, a Puerto Rican actress (Sonia Manzano), who played a checkout girl at the supermarket [in Death Wish], and she was a great jazz fan. She said, 'Well, you should have Herbie Hancock. He's got this record out called Head Hunters.' She gave me Head Hunters, which was staggering. And I said, 'Dino, never mind a cheap English band, we'll have Herbie Hancock.' Which we did."
• Paul Kersey kills at least 106 people onscreen in all 5 Death Wish movies combined.

Death Wish in popular culture

File:MadMagazineDeathWishCover.jpg

Mad Magazine cover

• The Bernhard Goetz case in 1984 led Charles Bronson to speak out against the values of the character he played in Death Wish, and to disavow vigilantism.
• Popular radio duo Opie and Anthony often use the Jeff Goldblum soundbites "GOD DAMN RICH CUNT" and "I KILL RICH CUNTS" during their XM Satellite Radio show. The clips have gained so much notoriety that they use "sanitized" versions for their FCC compliant show on terrestrial radio, "GOD DAMN RICH VOS" and "I KILL RICH VOS" heard primarily on CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting radio stations nationwide. (Rich Vos is a comedian that frequents the show)
• Minneapolis rapper P.O.S. refers to Death Wish and Charles Bronson several times throughout his CD Audition, even going so far as to name one track "Paul Kersey to Jack Kimball."
• In the movie The Boondock Saints Connor talks about how "Charlie Bronson's always got a rope...and [he] always ends up using it." A reference to the film.
• In Reservoir Dogs during a conversation between Mr White and Mr Orange about the planning of the upcoming bank heist, Mr White said "If someone thinks he is Charles Bronson, just go straight up to him and smack his face with your gun..." Probably a reference to Charles Bronsons as a vigilant Paul.
• In The Simpsons episode A Star Is Burns, movie critic Jay Sherman reviews Death Wish 9, which merely consists of Charles Bronson lying in a hospital bed wishing he were dead.
• Another Simpsons episode features a scene of a Death Wish-style Charles Bronson filling in for Andy Griffith on The Andy Griffith Show.
• In his Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin compares the Sally Field film Eye for an Eye to Death Wish.
• In the console video game Enter the Matrix, Sparks references the film with the line "I think you have a death wish! A major, full-on Bronson!"
• The upcoming Jodie Foster movie The Brave One is somewhat similar if not inspired by Death Wish.

External links

• Death Wish Files