Rating: 
Summary: classic
Review: What can I say about this excellent film? It's a classic. This is the best Death Wish, although I also enjoyed it each time Bronson returned as Paul Kersey, and should be viewed by all. There's just something about Bronson in this role that makes for compelling viewing. Excellent direction and soundtrack. Even after all these years, Death Wish still remains a powerful film.
Rating:
Summary: first Death Wish
Review: I have heard that "Death Wish" is a western set in contemperary New York City. It is not. It is very rooted in urban gang war fare and it's victoms. Charles Bronson plays an everyman (well, that may be streaching it bit) who's wife is killed and daughter is raped. He then completely loses it and starts a vigilante war through the allys and subways aginst punks and thugs all over NYC. I noticed that there is not a specific bad guy, and I think there was a reason for that. Crime is not localized, it is a real social problem. This is certainly the best of the "Death Wish" series. The other movies were silly and way too Dirty Harryish; this one seems almost plausable. Charles Bronson really shot to stardom in this movie, as the guy anyone wants to be.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Vigilante Killer"
Review: I recently saw "Death Wish" this year and instantly became one of my favorite films. The ageless Charles Bronson potrays a New York everyman whose wife and daughter are brutally attacked by scumbag intruders. The result has his wife dead and his daughter so distraught she has to be instutionized. Bronson's social mannerisms has turned into inner rage. He is given a handgun by an employee in Arizona and roams the scummy streets of NY. Bronson goes on a murder spree against muggers who try to piss him off. The police nickname the murderer the "vigilante killer." I like the realism of Bronson's character. He's not a psychotic killer, just an ordinary man that's pissed off at the world. He feels remorse at first (throwing up after his first killing) but can't stop from killing people. The cops soon catch up to him but not after several slayings. Bronson gives a excellent performance who's like "dirty harry" ina way. I haven't seen the endless sequels, but i heard there not so good.
Rating:
Summary: The Movie!
Review: I will never forget this movie.Charles Bronson plays the main
starring role in this landmark movie.After going to the grocery store his wife and daughter are assualted and killed by a group
of punks.The police prove to be totally ineffective in their
efforts to catch the criminals.After a visit out west Bronson tekes the law into his own hands.One street punk after the other is gunned down by an irate Bronson.The streets once become safe.
The police finally figure out who the vigilante is.He is finally subdued after killing a staggering number of street thugs. After shipping him out of town the movie ends. This is just the beginning of a sucessful movie string.This is one of the all time
movie classics.Like I have already said. I will never forget this movie. God Bless you Charles Bronson.
Rating:
Summary: After 30 years, questions still remain....
Review: This is the first of several films featuring Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a modern day urban equivalent of Robin Hood, Zorro, and the Lone Ranger. When initially released, Death Wish was immediately controversial as was Dirty Harry (1971). Audiences tended to be divided between those who were offended by what they considered to be excessive violence and those who (like Harry Callahan and Paul Kersey) had lost confidence in society's willingness and/or ability to respond effectively to violent crime. After seeing each of the two films for the first time, I vividly recall joining those around me in the theatre as they rose and cheered...and continued to applaud for several minutes. (By the way, that was the same audience reaction when I first saw Walking Tall.) I asked myself, "What's going on here? What's this all about?" At least in the larger U.S. cities 30 years ago, residents had become totally fed up with traditional law enforcement initiatives. It was no longer safe to walk the streets at night. Even more dangerous to do so in public parks. Homes were robbed while people worked during the day. Many of the same homes were robbed again later after insurance coverage replaced the articles previously stolen. Racial animosities, drug abuse, and a widespread contempt for institutional authority all contributed to such problems. When we first meet Kersey, he is in all respects a gentle man. A successful architect who is happily married (Joanna, Hope Lange) and a proud father of his beloved daughter, he is carefully positioned as a law-abiding citizen. To repeat, a gentle man. Over time, after his wife and daughter are brutally attacked by thugs who escape punishment, Kersey commits himself to ridding the city of such creatures. In fact, he seeks them out in the most likely areas (e.g. public parks and on subways), coldly and systematically killing as many as he can. Of course, other law abiding citizens are wholly supportive of his efforts but law enforcement officials correctly fear the possible implications of such vigilantism. Director Michael Winner does a brilliant job of orchestrating Kersey's crusade with efforts by detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) to identify and then capture the public hero. Ochoa seems torn between admiration of such heroism and obligations to end it. Many of those who live in areas plagued by violent crime admire this movie. Others quite properly have concerns about anyone who "goes outside the law," as Kersey obviously does. Who among vigilantes will be Paul Kerseys? And who among them will be Travis Bickles? Good question.
Rating: 
Summary: Ahh....
Review: Okay for the seventies I guess, considering I wasn't even born during this film's release. I am not a Charles Bronson fan because all of his films seem to be one Death Wish after the other ( and I don't mean the actual sequels ). Charles was believable in the role but the movie got stupid when he started whacking muggers on the street. It was as if we were supposed to believe he'd snapped because of his daughter and wife's tragic situation, but the film never showed him progressing into that sort of state. At one moment he was dealing with his wife's death and his daughter's rape, the next he was killing folks, but he still ACTED as normal as he was before. I didn't think the writing or the direction was done very well, but for Charles Bronson fans, it scores. I was impressed by Jeff Goldblum most of all. He wasn't on screen long but he left a lasting impact. Jeff was fabulous as a rapist and great in his first role.
Rating: 
Summary: Vile
Review: Now here is an interesting moral dilemma. Some of you are probably bleeding heart liberals. You probably think there is some nice understanding way of rehabilitating directors like Michael Winner. You might think if he were compelled to spend a few decades watching halfway decent films he would somehow come to see the error of his ways. He could then perhaps be trained up in some profession more suited to his talents (pizza delivery springs to mind). But those of you who think that way have probably never been deeply traumatised by watching garbage like this. If you have you might all too easily find yourself slipping over the edge and going after Mr Winner with some serious firearms. If you want to understand -really understand, you hear, y'all bleeding heart liberals you - how that might happen to you, you only need to watch this film. Let's face it, he's been making terrible films like this for decades now and what have the police done? Nothing. (It's not really the politics that is most objectionable. Liberal ideas about violence, vengeance and the law can and have been intelligently criticized. But intelligent critics of such ideas will simply be embarrassed by this crude and awful movie.) Winner probably can't bear all the blame. What does everyone else think they're doing associating themselves with this? Is the score really written with the same Herbie Hancock who made those glorious records with Miles Davis? Why? What got into you, Herbie? And, let's face is, Bronson is pretty wooden. He's supposed to be portraying a man trying to deal emotionally with a violent bereavement and failing. To those in any doubt, I suggest the following. Go watch Tom Wilkinson in "In The Bedroom" (an excellent point of comparison generally: a humane, intelligent, believable film with a similar theme that could not be more different) and then have another look at this. You'll see what I mean. He should have stuck to the harmonica. But then I guess Wilkinson had a script in front of his that from someone who could halfway write. Hateful.
Rating:
Summary: "FILL YOUR HAND."
Review: THIS MOVIE IS SO SUPERIOR TO ALL OF THE 'REVENGE' FLICKS IT SPAWNED THAT MOST OF THEM DONT DESERVE MENTION IN THE SAME BREATH. DESPITE WHAT A LOT OF CRITICS SPEW, GIVEN THE RIGHT RESOURSES BRONSON IS A HECK OF AN ACTOR, AND THIS FILM IS EVIDENCE OF THAT. LIBERAL (HASNT BEEN MUGGED YET) PAUL KERSEY'S WIFE AND DAUGHTER ARE BRUTALLY RAPED AND LEFT FOR DEAD IN THEIR UP TOWN NEW YORK CONDO. THE WIFE DIES AND THE DAUGHTER IS LEFT, A CATATONIC VEGETABLE. KERSEY GRIEVES BY PLUNGING HIMSELF INTO HIS WORK WHICH SENDS HIM TO ARIZONA TO TROUBLESHOOT A SUBDIVISION. HE IS BEFRIENDED BY A WESTERNER BUSSINES TYPE, GREATLY PLAYED BY STUART MARGOLIAN OF 'ROCKFORD FILES' FAME. THEY WIND UP GOING TO A GUN CLUB WHERE KERSEY IS REINTRODUCED TO THE PLEASURES OF PISTOLS AND SOUND CONSERVATIVE PHILOSOPHY. KERSEY RETURNS TO THE GUTTERS OF NEW YORK WITH A PISTOL AND A PLAN. MY ONLY PROBLEM WITH THE WHOLE FILM IS WHY THEY DIDNT REWRITE A LITTLE BIT AND GIVE KERSEY A MORE FORMIDABLE CALIBER OF REVOLVER, A .357 OR AT LEAST A .38. AT ANY RATE KERSEY SETS OUT TO TEMPT MUGGERS INTO TARGETING HIM AND THEN HE COOLY DOES WHAT THE 'LIBERAL' JUSTICE SYSTEM WONT. HE BALANCES THE SCALES BY BLOWING AWAY VARIOUS STREET SCUM WITH RUTHLESS EFFECIENCY. WE CHEER AS KERSEY TAKES OUT THE TRASH. THE THING THAT MAKES THIS FILM SO REALISTIC IS THE SAME ELEMENT THAT MAKES ALL THE SEQUELS SUCK. IN 'DEATH WISH' KERSEY NEVER ACTUALLY CONFRONTS THE ACTUAL TURDS THAT DESTROYED HIS FAMILY. THIS ISNT HOLLYWOOD BUT IT IS REALITY AND THAT IS THE SINGLE MOST CREDIBLE THING ABOUT THIS PICTURE. IN HIS LAST DECISIVE GUN BATTLE, KERESY, WHO IS WOUNDED HIMSELF AND IS ABOUT TO PASS OUT FROM BLOOD LOSS CHALLENGES A THUG TO FACE HIM IN TRUE 'DUKE' STYLE. "FILL YOUR HAND." HE SAYS MIMIKING A SCENE FROM JOHN WAYNES CLASSIC 'TRUE GRIT.' OF COURSE THE PUNK HAS NO CONCEPT OF ANYTHING BEYOND 'GETTING HIS FIX.' AND ABSCONDS WITHOUT DAMAGE AS KERSEY COLLAPSES. FORGET THE SEQUELS AND AVOID THE LOOK A LIKES. 'DEATH WISH' IS THE ORIGINAL AND THE ONLY ONE THAT WORKS.
Rating:
Summary: Good movies ages well
Review: I missed this one in the theaters. It was banned in Iceland on video (because of the violence) but finally got it now. It's basicly just a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Death Wish
Review: In "Death Wish", pimps, drug-addicts, extortionists, thieves and other petty crooks rule most of New York City. When an ordinary, politically-noninterventionist citizen, Paul Kersey (played by Charles Bronson), finds that street ruffians have attacked his wife to death and raped his daughter causing her to go into a loss of consciousness, he seeks help from the law. With the police's apparent unwillingness to ameliorate the situation by finding the crooks, he is pushed to the limit, making Kersey decide to become vigilante. With a revolver he received from a friend while on a vacation in Texas soon after the tragedy, he stalks the streets of NYC. He lures any people he suspects as a crook or sees doing unlawful deeds into following him to a decent spot where he can shoot them. Although he greatly reduces the crime-rate of the city, this nonetheless has the police in question as to whether they are really doing their proper duties. The media tries to portray "the vigilante" as a menace to society but fail to convince people. But Kersey must beware of being caught. Although Bronson's characterization as a normal-mild-mannered-man-turned-vigilante is specified for an acquired taste, as he seems like super-cool hero at times, the film's concept is thought-provoking. The scenes where Charles Bronson confronts random petty crooks are very suspenseful. The music is well orchestrated with catchy vibes and a good match for the overall tone of the film. Be warned: "Death Wish" is manipulating at times as it is very hard to deny that what the character is doing is more helpful than the operations carried out by law-enforcement. I do not recommend "Death Wish" to anyone with a weak stomach. If you liked this film I would also recommend "Gorky Park". Overall rating: 4 stars Rated R for violence including an intense rape scene with nudity, and language.
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