Death Wish is a 1974 action-crime-drama 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 muggers. The film was a major commercial success and generated a movie franchise lasting four sequels over a twenty-year period. The film was denounced by critics as advocating vigilantism and unlimited punishment to criminals[citation needed], but it was seen as echoing a growing mood in the United States as crime rose during the 1970s.[1]
Plot
The film opens with a montage of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) and his wife Joanna (Hope Lange) vacationing in Hawaii. They return to New York City where Paul works as an architect. That day, Joanna and their daughter Carol Anne (Kathleen Tolan) are out shopping for groceries at D'Agostino's Supermarket. Three hooligans (one of whom is played by Jeff Goldblum in an early film appearance) are wreaking havoc in the supermarket, and catch Joanna's address after telling the man that she would like the groceries delivered to her apartment. They follow her to the apartment, and ring the doorbell. Believing it to be the delivery-man from the grocery store, Carol answers. The hooligans proceed in and trash the apartment. They then search the apartment for money, but only find $7. The three hooligans then sexually assault Carol, killing Joanna in the process before fleeing the scene.
Paul receives a call from his son-in-law Jack Toby (Steven Keats), explaining that both Joanna and Carol are in the hospital, but is not told yet of their current condition. After waiting impatiently at the hospital, Paul is told by a doctor that his wife has died. Devastated by the loss, he goes to the police but is told that the likelihood of catching the criminals is small. The next day at work, 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.
While in Arizona, Paul witnesses a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town that is often used as a movie set. The day before Paul leaves, Ames invites him to a gun club, and is impressed when Paul shoots near bulls-eye accuracy. He reveals that he used to be a crack shot in his youth, and although he was a "CO" (conscientious objector) during the Korean War he served his country as a combat medic. Ames drops Paul off at the airport, and puts a little going-away present in his bag.
Upon arriving back in New York, he is greeted by Jack who informs Paul of his daughter's weak comatose condition. Paul visits her before going back to the apartment to unload his suitcase. He opens Ames' present; a nickel plated Colt Police Positive .32 caliber revolver in a gun case. He puts the gun in his pocket as he takes a nightly stroll. That very night, Paul shoots and kills a mugger, an ex-convict named Thomas Leroy Marston who attemps to rob him at gunpoint. Shocked at the fact that he just killed a human being. Paul runs back home and throws up. However, Paul continues with his vigilantism. The following night, he kills three more men who are beating and robbing a defenseless old man in a vacant alley.
A few nights later, Paul, posing as a decrepit old man carrying a bag of groceries, lures two subway muggers who see him and attempt to rob him on the train, but Paul shoots and kills both of them.
Another night later, Paul ventures to a rough area of Harlem where after eating at an all-night diner, he is followed out by two local thugs who attempt to rob him in the nearby subway station. Paul shoots one of them, but the other manages to stab him in his shoulder with a knife before getting shot. As the wounded Paul stumbles away, the one who stabed him gets away mortally wounded and later dies at the hospital.
At the climax, Paul ventures to another rough area of the city where he shoots two more on the park stairs before Paul is wounded himself by a third mugger. Paul collapses at that point, while the other mugger runs off. (Note: the three men who assaulted Kersey's family are never seen again after the crime, and since their fate is never specified, Paul's vengeance apparently falls only on other criminals that he comes in random contact with.)
All the while, Police Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) investigates the vigilante killings. He has the department narrow down the list to certain war veterans, and then the people whose families have been assaulted by muggers. The public, on the other hand, is happy that the crime rate is dropping and that somebody is doing something about crime. When Paul is admited to the hospital after being wounded in the climax, Ochoa is about to arrest Paul when the District Attorney (Fred J. Scollay) intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead of arresting him. Ochoa doesn't like the idea, but relents. Ochoa then informs Paul in his hospital bed that he must leave New York, permanently, to which Paul replies, "By sundown?"
The film ends as Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train from New York. As he is being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlums harassing a woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman out, while the hoodlums give Kersey the "middle finger". The last image is that of Kersey making a gun shape with his right hand at the hoodlums and smiling implying that he intends, sooner or later, to continue his vigilante quest.
Cast
Jeff Goldblum had his screen debut in Death Wish, playing one of the criminals who attack Kersey's wife and daughter, especially forcing the daughter to perform fellatio on him. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, who would later co-star on the highly successful TV show Welcome Back, Kotter, had an uncredited role as a mugger near the end of the film. Actress Helen Martin, who had a minor role, subsequently appeared in the television sitcoms Good Times and 227. Sonia Manzano, 'Maria' from Sesame Street has an uncredited role as a grocery clerk. Christopher Guest makes one of his earliest film appearances as a young police officer. Also you can find a young Saul Rubinek as one of the robbers on the subway. Saul also appears as a lawyer in the last Death Wish movie Death Wish V the Face Of Death.
Production
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 was rejected by other studios because of the controversial subject matter and was dropped by United Artists (which ironically was sold to MGM, which would go on to own the rights to the first 3 sequels) after budget constraints forced producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts to liquidate their rights.
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 most adheres to Garfield's novel.
The address at which Kersey was purported to have lived, 33 Riverside Drive, is in fact located on West 75th street on the Upper West Side; several scenes were shot on location on this block.
Soundtrack
Multiple 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."
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 Kersey's daughter as well as the explicit portrayal of Bronson's premeditated 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.
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.[2] 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 advocate vigilantism unlike his two novels of which are the exact opposite.
Impact and influence
Death Wish remains a milestone in cinema history, considered the first urban film to depict a civilian taking up arms against criminals. 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.
The film was a watershed 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, during which he starred in four sequels to the film:
In the series' later years, Death Wish became a subject of parody for its over-the-top violence and the advancing age of Bronson (An episode of The Simpsons showed a fictional ad for Death Wish 9, consisting of a bed-ridden Bronson saying "I wish I was dead"). 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 broadcast on television.
References
External links
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The Death Wish Pentalogy |
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