Death Wish
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- For other uses, see Death Wish (disambiguation)}}}.
Introduction
The original film, directed by Michael Winner and based on a novel by Brian Garfield, depicts Kersey as a sort of New Yorker "everyman" when his non-interventionist attitude toward crime turns into revenge-driven vigilantism. The protagonist's punk-killing crime spree is framed to elicit audience sympathies, but the film also dramatizes the conflict between Kersey and the city police, who disapprove of his actions, and treats the theme of vigilantism and law and order in the context of the crime-ridden urban centers of the United States in the latter 20th century. One commentator noted that the film "encapsulates an American era—the early 1970s, when many urban Americans started to feel they couldn't walk outside without fear of being attacked." [link]
Sequels
The popularity of Death Wish spawned a number of sequels.Death Wish II
The second movie Death Wish II (1982) is considered the weakest of the series by many as it disregards all the societal commentary and thematic elements the first movie featured in favour of exploitive and graphic violence, which garnered it an X-rating. Ironically, it had the highest box office draw of the five; accumulating $15 million, despite the fact critics panned it. Its plot is built around the reversion of Paul Kersey in Los Angeles (again played by Charles Bronson) to vigilantism as a response to the rape and murder of his maid and his daughter. Jill Ireland plays Kersey's fiancée, who leaves him when she discovers what he has done.Death Wish 3
Death Wish III (1985) is held by many to be the best entry of the series. In it, Paul Kersey (again played by Bronson) returns to New York City, where he finds a friend from the Korean War he was supposed to visit, brutally murdered. Soon afterwards, the police coerce him into attacking a criminal riot in a dangerous neighborhood as a way of exploiting his freedom from legal restraints. In the end of the film, Kersey mows down much of the criminals with a Browning machine gun, then obliterates the oppressive criminal leader with a mail-ordered rocket launcher. Death Wish 3 has the largest body-count of all the Death Wish films. Because of its over-the-top action, quotable dialogue and complete embrace of the absurd, Death Wish 3 has developed a cult following. This is also the sequel that made the .475 Wildey Magnum that is manufactured in Connecticut by Wildey Inc. world famous. It's founder Wildey Moore admits that every time this movie is shown on cable they get new orders for this specific gun. When Death Wish III came out in 1985 it actually saved the company from going bankrupt.Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
Death Wish IV: The Crackdown (1987) is set in Los Angeles and follows the activities of Paul Kersey (again played by actor Charles Bronson, who was 66 years old at the time the movie was made) are financed by a wealthy individual bent upon avenging a drug-related death. In a single week, Kersey succeeds in destroying the entire drug trade of the city. The weapon Kersey uses throughout is a silenced Ingram MAC-10.
Death Wish V: The Face of Death
Charles Bronson vowed that Death Wish 4 would be the final film in this series, but he went on to make Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994), in which Paul Kersey's new wife is killed. In response, he retaliates against the "fashion mafia," which also has a grip on his dead wife's daughter. Death Wish V also was Bronson's last theatrically released film. Kersey uses a Colt Cobra .38 Special revolver snubnose throughout.Paul Kersey
Paul Kersey is the central character in the Death Wish novels and movies, which follow Kersey's crime-fighting activities beginning in the early 1970's and continuing for the next twenty years.
Brian Garfield is the author of the original novel Death Wish, in which the character of Kersey is introduced as Paul Benjamin (later renamed Kersey for the film). In this book he is an accountant (later changed to architect in the movies) in his forties and a political liberal who turns to vigilantism to avenge the death of his wife at the hands of a gang of muggers. The sequel, Death Sentence, describes Kersey's attempts to deal with a copycat vigilante while at the same time continuing his war against petty criminals.
The movie series, beginning with the original Death Wish and continuing through four (increasingly absurd and unlikely) sequels, features a middle-aged (and later, elderly) Kersey, portrayed by Charles Bronson. The Kersey of the movies also starts out as a liberal and an architect, a man who disliked violence so much that he registered with the U.S. Army as a conscientious objector during the Korean War. In the movies, those close to Kersey are constantly being raped and/or killed, providing Kersey with ever-fresh reasons to resume vigilantism. In the later movies Kersey's architect work is seldom mentioned, and he seems to have taken up full-time work as a one-man mercenary squad. As the years pass Kersey's former abhorrence for violence and liberal views are never discussed, and his skill with firearms and other impromptu means of death-dealing has increased exponentially. During the final movie sequel, Kersey (now a senior citizen) dispatches large numbers of hardened criminals with cold-blooded ease.
Firearms
In the first Death Wish Paul Kersey carried around a Smith and Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum in which he used to killed eight people while living in New York City. In the second Death Wish Paul Kersey carried around a Browning Hi Power in 9mm Luger in which he used to killed nineteen people while living in Los Angeles. In the third Death Wish Paul Kersey carried around a snub nose revolver (most likely Smith & Wessson) later a .475 Wildey Magnum in .475 Wildey Magnum and M60 in 7.62 × 51 mm NATO and M16 in 5.56 x 45 mm NATO and .223 Remington.Trivia
- Death Wish was the favorite movie of John Ausonius, the Swedish racist serial killer who roamed the streets of Stockholm looking for “criminal immigrants” to kill.
- Jeff Goldblum had his screen debut in Death Wish, playing one of the young thugs who assault Kersey's wife.
- Christopher Guest, of Spinal Tap fame, played a Patrolman in the first film.
- Laurence Fishburne was seen in the second film as a ghetto thug wearing sunglasses.
- Marina Sirtis portrayed a rape victim in Death Wish 3— right before joining the Star Trek franchise. Subsequently, Tim Russ was seen as a hitman in Death Wish 4 long before .
- Alex Winter, from the popular Bill & Ted movies, made his film debut with Death Wish 3.
- Barbie Wilde, best known as the Female Cenobite from played the Female Punk in Death Wish 3''.
- Multiple-time 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 second film score, behind the 1966 movie Blow-Up.
- Isaac Hayes was recommended by the producers of the second film to compose the score; however, the original film director chose former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.
Death Wish in popular culture
- The Bernie Goetz case in 1984 led Charles Bronson to speak out against the values of the character he played in Death Wish, and to disavow vigilantism.
- The Death Wish series and Bronson himself were spoofed in issue 174 of MAD Magazine.
- Bronson has been parodied numerous times on The Simpsons, including the town of Bronson, Missouri and a fictional cameo on the set of The Andy Griffith Show.
- An episode of The Simpsons had a crossover with The Critic that featured a preview for the fictional sequel, Death Wish 9; featuring Charles Bronson lying in a hospital bed, saying "I wish I was dead, oy!"
- Death Wish 3 was made into a video game [link].
- In the pop song "Anaheim" by They Might Be Giants the line "I don't want to stay in tonight and watch Death Wish 3" is heard.
- Jim Carrey had a skit in the comedy show In Living Color, were in a sketch called "Make a Death Wish", he played Bronson giving a child with a terminal illness his wishes through unconventional means. [link]
- Popular radio duo "Opie and Anthony" often use the Jeff Goldblum soundbite "GOD DAMN RICH CUNT" during their XM Radio show.
External links
- [Death Wish Files] An extensive Death Wish fansite and message board
- [A fan-maintained Death Wish page]
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