Death Wish (1974)

People are voting emotionally.

Instant Favorite.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Death Wish (1974) is a classic, realistic powerful cinema action drama about a men and origins of how he become one-men army type to fight against hoodlums and criminals at night on the street of New York. This is the original, powerful realistic performed film. It deals with realism and real performance on screen. "Death Wish" doesn't deal with CGI nor does it deal with special effects. It deals or tries to deal really hard on what is real. I love this film to death it is my favorite film in the franchise. The first four films are great I love action and drama in this movie delivered. Fifth film sucked and they are making now the remake with Bruce Wills and Eli Roth. The guy who directed Knock Knock another awful remake with Keanu Reeves that sucked. Remake "Death Wish" will suck I don't care if it is rated R, it will suck! Charles Bronson and Michael Winner are the real deal. The film is based on Brian Garfield's novel. Wendell Mayes wrote a script while Michael Winner powerful directed this film. Charles Bronson acts perfectly as architect Paul Kersey who turns in to vigilante. The movie shows trough in tier film how this men become a vigilante and mysterious hero. He is not a super hero or The Punisher he is just a normal average working guy. He didn't just turn a vigilante at night so soon, he was a torn apart after his family was brutally assaulted in front of daylight in his apartment. His wife was beaten, murdered and his daughter was raped. The men becomes torn apart and the police doesn't do anything they don't have chance to catch those people who did it. I love the characters in this film, Charles Bronson's performance. I love Vincent Gardenia as Detective Frank Ochoa it also shows the police work, that they do everything to catch the guy who is killing muggers. Vincent Gardenia does a powerful realistic performance as police officer Frank Ochoa doing his job. The movie in my opinion shows realism, that it could have happen to everyone like it did to Paul Kersey. I know sequels are bashed because they are more action films while this film is an action, realistic drama performance from everyone. I only wish that Paul Kersey would catch the killers who killed his wife the movie never showed that. The movie shows the real mean streets of New York that was filmed in the 70's and the movie was shot in New York. Paul Kersey is not a robot, he is a human been who also bleeds and is scared, terrified, not safe on his own streets at night and kills people only in self defense. He even safe a men from been beaten almost to death. This film is the best in the Death Wish series because I understand the character and I understand why he is acting violent. "Death Wish" doesn't bring us Paul Kersey, the action hero but Paul Kersey, a regular men with a lot of demons he must face. "Death Wish" is the best in the series. 10/10 my third favorite in the franchise I enjoy the sequels more, but this movie is arguably great that I will still watch.

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

Though the theme had been tackled many times before, it can be argued that Death Wish is the father of all revenge films. Countless knockoffs, both good and bad, have been made since its release in 1974. Yet to characterize it solely as a revenge movie would be a disservice. It is a culturally significant movie which raises issues about the role of vigilantism in our society. Charles Bronson, who'd enjoyed previous success in feature films prior to Death Wish, became an anti-hero of sorts in a couple dozen movies throughout the next fifteen years after its release.Bronson plays Paul Kersey, an architect who lives in a New York City apartment. His world is shattered when his wife is beaten to death and his daughter is savagely raped by thugs posing as grocery deliverymen. After an unspecified mourning period and for cathartic effect, he is sent on a land developing assignment in New Mexico, where he meets client Ames Jainchill (Stuart Margolin). In contrast to Kersey's conscientious objector war beliefs, Jainchill embraces responsible gun use and winces at the "toilet" New York has become. He piques Kersey's interest at a gun range and a Wild West re-enactment show. Following completion of the project, Jainchill sees off Kersey at the airport and puts a gift in his luggage: a shiny new revolver.Kersey is accosted one night by a mugger and shoots him dead, after which he returns to his apartment and becomes physically sick. Ruminating on the death of his wife and his now-catatonic daughter, he sets himself up as a target for a variety of street scum throughout the city, killing them at various intervals and earning himself the tag of "vigilante killer" by the Press. Police Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) is tasked with the dilemma of upholding the law in identifying the killer while facing the reality that his superiors and many New Yorkers are not all that upset at the city unconventionally being relieved of its criminals.Death Wish was extremely popular during a dreary period in the city's history when crime was rampant and presents the obvious ambiguity of vigilantism in a civilized society. The assault on Kersey's wife and daughter are brutally depicted, even by today's standards of viewing. It allows us to justify Kersey's actions towards a variety of unsavory characters. Disturbing to some, however, is the controversial way Kersey sets himself up as a target to draw out the criminals, a sense of entrapment if you will, in going from hunted to hunter.Not surprisingly, the financial success of Death Wish spawned several sequels, none of which were memorable. But the original packs a punch and tests our own beliefs about street justice. A very good film from the 70s which still holds relevance today. Highly recommended movie.

A New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks in which he randomly goes out and kills would-be muggers on the mean streets after dark. Death Wish is the kind of action movie that started this whole "Action" thing long before Stallone and Schwarzenegger showed up with a really good performance by Charles Bronson and a lot of gun shooting Death Wish is a really good action thriller and let's hope that the remake won't suck. I still haven't seen the sequels tho but i think that so far this is the most serious one and the best one in the franchise there's a lot of action and i loved the character of Bronson and the way he killed all those men.