Rating: 
Summary: Vigilante Man
Review: 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". "The movie?" Winner enquired, "No", responded Bronson, "Shoot some scumbags".When it was released in 1974, Death Wish stirred up enormous controversy. 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?". His son sheepishly asks "Civilised?". In the west, society works on the understanding that when members of the public are done wrong, the State, which holds the monopoly on legitimate violence, takes peoples rights of revenge and retribution on itself. With this comes the caveat that the State is duty bound to exercise this right of revenge and retribution. But, as this film poses, what are we supposed to do when the authorities rescind this right, and by definition the rights of victims and the public, in the face of left wing/liberal notions of fairness for crooks? When the police don't protect us, who does? For those who think this film silly, just look at the case of British farmer Tony Martin. Repeatedly burgled and repeatedly told by the police that they were powerless to act, Martin shot one burglar dead and wounded another when his home was broken into again. Unlike the burglars, Martin was arrested and sent to jail. The burglar who escaped was subsequently given legal aid to sue Martin. In Death Wish the police spend considerably more time trying to apprehend Kersey than the scum he is after. This is provocative political film making of the highest calibre, not far behind Pontecorvo's 'Battle of Algiers' and Costa Gavras' 'Z'. Some criticise the film for the ease with which Bronson finds muggers. As the Canadian film critic Mark Steyn wrote, "To be sure, he sort of goes looking for trouble. But in 1970's New York you didn't have to look far: just go to the park, ride the subway, take an evening stroll". This great movie loses one star only because it is not quite as good as the similarly themed 'Dirty Harry'. There are a couple of problems with this movie. Charles Bronson is too macho an actor for the role of "bleeding heart liberal" turned vigilante Paul Kersey. He looks like a killer from frame one, and as a result his transformation is a little hard to swallow. A more normal looking actor might have been more believable, as Dustin Hoffmann demonstrates in 'Straw Dogs'. It also suffers in comparison to the book. The back story about a gun fighting father, introduced in the movie, is plain daft, and the police investigation in the film, which tracks Kersey down in pretty short order, feels tacked on and ill thought out. The ending of the book is better also. Called Paul Benjamin in the book, the Bronson character is caught red handed by a police officer. The officer removes his hat, turns his back and allows the Vigilante to escape. Oochoa gets nowhere near him in the book. Ask yourself the question posed on the back of the paperback version of the book; "What do you do when your life lies in ruins and fear clutches at your heart? Do you shun the city and flee from its violence? Or do you do what Paul did - get a gun, learn to use it and start fighting back?"
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Knight.
Review: It's hard to remember now, but there was a time when Michael Winner was just another director, one who produced some decent b-movies before having a freak hit that caught the mood of America at the time. 'Death Wish' was the hit - it elevated Charles Bronson to iconhood, and even today Winner's increasingly-laughable films have 'From the Director of 'Death Wish'' on the posters. This is the closet he ever got to creating a classic piece of cinema. This is based on a book, although the emphasis has been changed. Whereas the 'hero' of the novel was presented as a dangerous man who had eventually lost all reason, here, Bronson is basically Batman - Dirty Harry without restraint. As such, it's ambivalent. On the one hand, there's a primal kick in watching Bronson blow away thugs, but on the other hand it's hard to believe that real-life would be so clear-cut, and subsequent witch-hunts of paedophiles, satanists and rock fans show that it's hard to put rage back into the bottle from whence it came. The sequels became increasingly-harder to take seriously, and the bazooka-toting 'Death Wish 3' is a modern classic of silliness. As with all Winner's films, it looks like a television movie, and as with all Bronson's films, Bronson is Bronson - an older, grizzled tamplate for Schwarzenegger et al, he acts not as Paul Kersy but as Charles Bronson, movie star. It is, at the very least, interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: Brings new meaning to the words,"necessary force."
Review: I love seeing works of both fiction and non fiction where the content is presented in as blunt a form as possible, and I think this is the case with Death Wish. Although some may accuse this film's makers of exploiting peoples' fear of criminals I think that the director was simply trying to be realistic, this way the viewer can get an idea of what it is like to be a victim of violent crime, be it yourself or a family member. Also, I'm sure that there are things happening in real life that are far worse that what has been shown in this film, but that's a different issue. This is why the rape scene, brutal as it may have been, was a necessity to set this film apart as a realistic action/vigilante film. Another interesting thing about Death Wish is that the protagonist does not seem like a person who would be an vigilante, he's a middle aged man who is, dare I say, gentle. But when rape and murder hit his family he does not know what to do, especially when the police do not seem able to help at all. And so after receiving a pistol from a newly made cowboy type friend in the Southwest he begins to walk the streets awaiting the latest mugger attack so that he can properly undertake the capping of their behinds. This is one of the unique features of the first Death Wish compared to its sequels, Paul Kersey does not know who he is hunting, and so he simply caps whosoever should try to mug him. But in the sequels he knows exactly who he is searching for. I also liked the action in this movie. It seemed to me that what Paul Kersey lacked in physical finesse he made up for in marksmanship. I particularly liked the scene where the two men follow him into the tunnel from the café and he has to fend off two men with knives at close range with a pistol. Even the slightest wrong move on the part of Kersey would have meant his doom. Death Wish is a film of relief for those who have completely lost their patience with crime waves. It doesn't show muggers and rapists as victims of society, but as people who are able to exist freely in it. The film is correct in showing that so many of these criminals can do whatever they want and walk freely; statistically, only one out of every sixteen rapists will ever spend a day in jail. But it does fail statistically, as more sexual assaults are perpetrated on young women by people they know rather than by strangers, but that too is another issue.
Rating:
Summary: Liberal in a glass house
Review: Don't listen to the leftist opinions of the "expert" movie critics! Their dissing the movie for it's message is the same mentality as that of liberal criminal cuddlers that created the demand for Paul Kersey and Dirty Harry! In Death Wish, Bronson's character is such a liberal. Never having been a victim to crime, war conciencious objector Paul Kersey has his glass house shattered when his wife and daughter are attacked by street thugs. With his wife dead and his daughter a vegetable, Kersey is introduced to conservative crime prevention while on a trip to the southwest. From this point, Kersey begins his conversion to vigilantism. Systematically eliminating criminals, the city's crime plumments. The "vigilante" gains support for his actions from the general public while at the same time, the legal system is feeling the pressure of lost business (Trial attorneys?), and assigns one of New York's best to quietly make the problem go away. Herbie Hancock's blend of music helps you to feel the adrenal rush that Kersey is buiding as he is on the hunt for society's scum. Anyone that has ever been a victim of crime will connect with this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Don't mess with Bronson's wife and daughter.
Review: This is it! This is the original classic, Death Wish-Starring the most unlucky and harassed hero in cinematic history, Charles Bronson! You all know the story: Bronson is a "bleeding heart liberal" who goes on a murderous rampage when Jeff Goldblum and a few other punks sexually assault his wife and daughter, spraypaint his daughter's behind , and kill his wife. Naturally, this agitates Bronson. So, he hits the streets locked and loaded with a pistol that was given to him by a buddy and wages a one man war against the scum of New York. It's great to watch him take out lousy punks(like the guys who remade The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but unfortunately he doesn't get to them). Bronson really is a true punk-magnet-I mean, every time he goes out for a walk he runs into someone who tries to mug him! I 've never been to New York, but I'm sure it's not THAT bad. If you ask me, Bronson(and Eastwood) are THE original movie ... Before Rambo took on all of Vietnam by himself, Bronson was the one man wrecking crew. But Bronson isn't exactly the juggernaut action hero we all know him as in this film. The movie shows him awkwardly starting out as a vigilante. First by whacking a mugger with a sock full of quarters, then eventually graduating to shooting them. He even pukes after he shoots his first mugger! It's pretty interesting to see Charles Bronson apprehensive about shooting someone! This added a touch of realism to an already far fetched movie. But this is a good movie, a very good movie. The sequels gave it a bad name and made it a series that people look upon with laughter. Very similar to Rambo. The first one was actually very good before it got blown way out of proportion for the sequels. I will admit, I love the Death Wish sequels, but in a different way. Man, I'm really gonna miss the guy!
Rating:
Summary: CONTROVERSY IS GOOD.
Review: I don't remember too many films from the 1970's the earned an entire OP/ED page in the N.Y. Times, but this urban classic did. Controversy proved to be good box office and Bronson became a superstar as Paul Kersey. DEATH WISH is a taunt thriller that sparked more than one water cooler discussion in 1974. Michael Winner worked this one into a poster child for street justice and inspired more than a few real life imitators (the ad campaign boasted: "Paul Kersey is going to kill 3 muggers tonight: One for his murdered wife, one for his raped daughter and one for you!"). What was more unfortunate is that DEATH WISH became a parody of itself with 4 awful sequels. Forgot the rest, cheer for Bronson here everytime he caps a bad guy.
Rating:
Summary: Bronson's most famous movie role.
Review: Although Charles Bronson has appeared in a fistful of genuine classic movies (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon A Time in the West, and The Dirty Dozen) it is this urban crime/revenge thriller that is most often associated with him. Paul Kersey is a New York based 'bleeding heart liberal' architect that has his life destroyed when a trio of thugs (one played by future star Jeff Goldblum) assault his wife and daughter. His wife dies and his daughter slowly sinks into a catatonic state. Kersey's rage grows and, after acquiring a pistol during a business trip to Arizona, he begins killing muggers while wading through the crime choked streets of New York. Director Michael Winner handles the material in as blunt a fashion as possible, presenting Kersey as a heroic Everyman doing what anyone would want to do under similar circumstances. Yet it is all salvaged by a wonderfully nuanced performance by Charles Bronson. At the time of its release, critics complained that the blue collar looking actor was terribly miscast as an upper class white collar victim turned victimizer. Yet the actor handles it well, by the film's end he has become the character and was thus permanantly type cast in the public's mind as the vigilante that cleaned up New York (although he would not play the actual role again until a series of lurid sequels made almost ten years later). While Death Wish is an essential for Charles Bronson fans (I cannot think of one who wouldn't want to have a copy), the actual subject matter was better handled in the Clint Eastwood thriller Dirty Harry (1971) and its 1973 vigilante themed sequel, Magnum Force.
Rating:
Summary: Liberal in a glass house
Review: Don't listen to the leftist opinions of the "expert" movie critics! Their dissing the movie for it's message is the same mentality as that of liberal criminal cuddlers that created the demand for Paul Kersey and Dirty Harry! In Death Wish, Bronson's character is such a liberal. Never having been a victim to crime, war conciencious objector Paul Kersey has his glass house shattered when his wife and daughter are attacked by street thugs. With his wife dead and his daughter a vegetable, Kersey is introduced to conservative crime prevention while on a trip to the southwest. From this point, Kersey begins his conversion to vigilantism. Systematically eliminating criminals, the city's crime plumments. The "vigilante" gains support for his actions from the general public while at the same time, the legal system is feeling the pressure of lost business (Trial attorneys?), and assigns one of New York's best to quietly make the problem go away. Herbie Hancock's blend of music helps you to feel the adrenal rush that Kersey is buiding as he is on the hunt for society's scum. Anyone that has ever been a victim of crime will connect with this movie.
Rating:
Summary: carbolic acid
Review: This is the original in the Death Wish series,and its still the best.Paul Kersey(Bronson)is devastated after his wife and daughter are raped and killed,he goes on a killing rampage of revenge.As he dispatches each thug with his own brand of justice,we cheer their deaths from Kersey`s trusty 32 caliber revolver.This film is a favorite of vigilante justice supporters.
Rating:
Summary: get this one
Review: Death Wish is a winner. Add this to your DVD library today.
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