Death Wish (1974)

Overrated and overhyped

One of my all time favorites.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Disgusting piece of right wing anti hippy pro-gun propaganda that is also showing its age even though not badly made for its time. I can totally see why the remake is getting bad reviews. This kind of subject treatment and the public response to it shows why many Americans look screwed up from an outside POV.

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

Michael Winner's gritty slice of vigilante cinema has finally been released here after twenty-five years of unavailability. Like most films of the period that were "banned" as such, seen today this is relatively tame viewing material which has had its effect lessened by what has come since. Nonetheless, Winner's film is still pretty good viewing, a movie that actually has something to say about modern society and man's place in it. It's a film that gave me food for thought, in any case. Unlike the later THE EXTERMINATOR and even DEATH WISH II, this is a film that tones down the sensationalism to concentrate on the morals behind the story.Firstly, the movie is not as unpleasant as I had imagined. The build-up to the actual attack on the wife and daughter is worse than the event itself, and thankfully Winner skims over the gory details (or maybe they've just been cut out). Bronson's subsequent vigilante crimes on the dark streets of New York are staged well, with crisp photography giving the film a realistic, gritty edge to it. They're also invariably exciting, and without any unnecessary stylish trimmings; Bronson shoots people with an aim to kill, and that's it. There are no over-the-top gun battles a la John Woo; here it's straightforward cold-blooded murder, shot in a matter-of-fact way.Bronson here is actually very good as the grieving husband and father who takes justice in the only way he knows how; the script gives him unusual characterisation which makes you feel for him. For instance, he doesn't just go out and start killing people; it's a gradual process, and scenes of Bronson being physically sick after shooting a man in the stomach remind us that he is human after all. The supporting cast are uniformly great, and watch out for a very young-looking Jeff Goldblum in his first film role as a thug.So, not only is this a very slick thriller, it's also a film with important things to say. Winner is definitely behind Bronson in his actions, and shows the police as the manipulated buffoons that they really are, although he is sure to show both sides of the coin. No doubt the viewer will find himself siding with Bronson over his actions also. An essential slice of the hard-edged world of the '70s, this movie would have been unthinkable back in the peace-loving '60s.

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.