Sick Product of a Sick System

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Despite l'm against all sort of death penalty,striking l love this movie,it was made in early 70' where New York was a nobody's land,so this picture fully fit at this time,but the revenge's idea in fact come instintively from human being,so it's so crude feeling about us,Bronson gave us a propper Vigilante whose all us wants to be,the picture make history in cinema industry,largely emulated but never surpassed through the time,the stone face became a hero!!Resume:First watch: 1984 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8

"Death Wish" was the film that made Charles Bronson into an overnight star and a box office draw. He had made several movies in Europe for a while and became a star over there. He had worked with the British director Michael Winner on three previous occasions and the films they made are great. The above film is their best collaboration. Released in 1974, "Death Wish" pulls no punches in depicting the efforts of Paul Kersey who kills off as many muggers and street punks as he can. These events have resulted after his wife is murdered and his daughter viciously attacked. The audience is truly on the side of Bronson as he takes the law into his own hands. New York is the ideal setting and location for this film. It works to the films advantage to be made in winter time. This adds to the gritty and harsh look of the film - shades of "The French Connection." Charles Bronson was never an actor in the usual sense of the word but his image is perfect for his role here. The supporting cast are excellent, look out for Jeff Goldblum in an early role as a mugger. The plot is fairly streamlined which is an advantage, as the film is kept on an even keel without any unnecessary subplots. The violence isn't particularly pleasant, especially at the beginning of the film. It is no wonder that the B.B.F.C refused to grant "Death Wish" a video certificate when all videos considered for release in the early 80s in Britain, had to be reclassified. As a result, "Death Wish" was exceptionally hard to obtain. Then in 2000, the film suddenly turned up on video, albeit in a censored form. Now on DVD, we have the uncensored version. There are some great action scenes along the way but "Death Wish" is more than that, it is making both political and social comments about vigilantes and law and order in general. The dialogue is certainly above average, considering the films content. It could have easily been the case of just producing cliché- ridden stuff but luckily, this doesn't happen. It is debatable whether Bronson is slightly unhinged in some way, as the vigilante. I would say it is more likely he is expressing the anger and injustice he feels after what has happened to his family and to his way of life. The sequels that followed are pretty good but the original is still my favourite. A classic film of 1970s American cinema and not to be missed.

This movie tapped into what people's feelings were as far as the crime issue goes during that time. Unless you lived in that era, it is hard to see how a film like this could be so controversial at the time. But the very thought of an ordinary citizen taking the law into his own hands was unheard of. After many years of insipid sequels and countless imitators, Death Wish still shines like a gem. This is one of Charles Bronson's best performances and he is very convincing and believable as the conscientious objector turned vigilante. His later performances in the subsequent sequels were as emotional man involved as a wet dish rag. Steven Keats is excellent as the beleaguered son in law, Jack, and Vincent Gardenia shines as the police inspector Frank Ochoa who is determined to apprehend the vigilante.The movie was and is controversial. The liberals hate it, the conservatives love it. The move has been attacked as exaggerating the danger of urban crime. It doesn't. I lived in the very area and at the very time of the movie. Virtually everyone I knew (including myself) had some kind of incident with a street criminal. The movie is not realistic with regard to what would have happened to Paul Kersy once found out. He would have been arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm, and other felonies. He would have been attacked on the editorial page of the New York Times, by Mayor Lindsey, the police commissioner and slew of newspaper columnists and TV commentators. The families of the slain criminals would have sued him, most likely with William Kunstler as the lawyer. There would have been a relentless and effective campaign of personal destruction directed at Paul culminating in a trial. So in this sense the movie fails as social commentary, because it doesn't confront the real issues of crime and punishment and urban politics. But it succeeds splendidly as an emotional cathartic.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

The one that started it all, and of course the best, sees our unforgettable vigilante, Paul Kersey (Bronson), deliver justice to those punks at night, who like to do stick ups, and rob us innocent folk. But it's the catalyst of this, that is most interesting. Bronson wife (The Ghost and Mrs Muir's Hope Lange) and daughter in law are raped, (Lange not surviving) by a group of punks (the head an early Jeff Goldblum, like you've never seen em before). The daughter in law has resorted to a state of catatonia, blocking it out, making her, as her husband, describes "a vegetable". I imagine this film at the time, would of stirred up a lot of controversy, or may'be caution some muggers out there, on the New York streets at night. The early rape scene is quite intense and disturbing (I was 14 when I first saw this movie) and that's the scene that stands out. Bronson of course, doesn't show enough range of emotions, yet still is wonderfully effective, doing it his own way. I like Stuart Margolin too, and really it's Vincent Gardenia, as the Inspector who's notable, who really has taken Bronson's side from the start. What wasn't believable, really, in this otherwise excellent film, was some of the victims, and community fighting back at muggers, like that old bag lady, which did provide some laughs, on that news bulletin. The film does make you question, should these muggers die, and are we right to fight back? If judging against Goldblum and his freaks at the start, it's an easy "Yes". Goldblum and co company never get caught, and when Bronson asks, the chief detective "Is there a chance they'll catch these guys" and he answers, "Yes, there's always a chance", hey that's really telling like it is. I myself would be afraid to walk the streets of New York, today. One defining moment is when Gardenia, about to exit Bronson's hospital room, coughs with laugh at shock, to Bronson's former statement. The last shot of a sickly smiling Bronson, cocking his finger at some muggers at a bus station, should be etched in the annals of movie history. One fault moment- when the son goes over to Bronsons for dinner, and he's about to turn the music down, just before this, you'll notice a mic, partially sticking down in shot.