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Death Wish (film)
Encyclopedia
Death Wish is a 1974 crime thriller film loosely based on the novel Death Wish
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 mugger
s.
The film was a commercial success, and generated a movie franchise
lasting four sequels over a twenty-year period. The film was disliked by many critics due to it advocating vigilantism and unlimited punishment to criminals. The novel denounced vigilantism, whereas the film embraced the notion. Yet, it was seen as echoing a growing mood in the United States
as crime rose during the 1970s.
) and his wife Joanna (Hope Lange
) vacation in Hawaii
. They return to New York City
, where Paul works as an architect
.
Joanna and their daughter Carol Anne (Kathleen Tolan) shop for groceries at D'Agostino's Market. Three hooligans (one played by Jeff Goldblum
) are wreaking havoc in the supermarket. They catch Joanna's address after she asks that her groceries be delivered. They follow her to the apartment, burst in and trash the apartment. They search for money but find only $7. The hooligans then rape
Carol and savagely beat Joanna, escaping scot-free.
Paul's son-in-law Jack Toby (Steven Keats
) calls to tell him only that Joanna and Carol are in the hospital. After waiting impatiently, Paul is told by a doctor that his daughter is OK and that she was sedated and put to bed, but Paul is also informed that his wife has died. Devastated, he is told by police that the likelihood of catching the criminals is small.
The next day, 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. Paul witnesses a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town used as a movie set. At a gun club, Ames is impressed when Paul shoots near bulls-eye accuracy. He reveals that he was a "CO" (commanding officer
) during the Korean War
who served his country as a combat medic
. Ames drops him at the airport, slipping a little going-away present, a handgun, into Paul's bag.
Back in Manhattan
, New York City
, his daughter is catatonic. Paul opens his suitcase to find a nickel-plated .32 Colt Police Positive
revolver. He pockets the gun and takes a stroll. Paul encounters a mugger, an ex-convict named Thomas Leroy Marston who attempts to rob him at gunpoint with a .38 Smith & Wesson Model 36
revolver. Paul shoots him with the revolver, killing him.
Shocked that he just killed a human being, Paul runs home and throws up. But his vigilantism
continues the following night, when he guns down three more men who are robbing a defenseless old man in a vacant alley.
A few nights later, two muggers see Paul on a subway. They attempt to rob him at knife-point but Paul shoots them both with the revolver.
The next scene has Paul then sitting in a sleazy Times Square
coffee shop surrounded by prostitutes and assorted street people. He pays his bill to the cashier purposely revealing a wallet full of cash. He leaves followed by two thugs who have taken the bait. Yet again a robbery attempt is made. Paul shoots one but the other manages to stab him in his shoulder. As a wounded Paul stumbles off, the one who stabbed him gets away mortally wounded, dying at a hospital.
NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia
) investigates the vigilante killings. His department narrows a list to men who have had a family member recently killed by muggers and who are war veteran
s. The public, meanwhile, is happy that somebody is doing something about crime.
Ochoa soon suspects Paul. He is about to make an arrest when the District Attorney
(Fred J. Scollay
) intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead. Ochoa doesn't like the idea, but relents.
Paul shoots two more muggers before being wounded by a third mugger with a M1911A1 pistol at a warehouse. Hospitalized, he is ordered by Ochoa to leave New York, permanently. Paul replies, "By sundown?".
Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train. Being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlum
s harassing a young woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman. The hoodlums make obscene gestures, but Kersey points his right hand like a gun and smiles, suggesting that his vigilantism will continue.
Jeff Goldblum had his screen debut in Death Wish, playing one of the three criminals who attack Kersey's wife and daughter, especially forcing the daughter to perform fellatio
on him. Character actor Robert Miano
also has a minor role as a mugger in the film. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, who would later co-star on the highly successful TV show Welcome Back, Kotter
, had an uncredited role as another mugger near the end of the film. Denzel Washington
makes his screen debut as an uncredited alley mugger. 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 who finds Kersey's gun. A young Saul Rubinek
plays one of the robbers on the subway. He later appears as a NYPD officer in Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
was to have directed Jack Lemmon
as Paul until the original producer was replaced by Italian
film mogul Dino De Laurentiis
and marketed by Paramount Pictures
.
Death Wish was first released to American audiences in July 1974. The film was rejected by other studios because of its controversial subject matter and was dropped by United Artists
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 De Laurentiis, oversaw its filming and would later direct the first two sequels. Of the five Death Wish films, the original most adheres to Garfield's novel.
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."
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. 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 which are the exact opposite. The result of this film, led him to write up a follow-up titled, Death Sentence
and was published a year after the film's release.
The film holds a score of 67% "Fresh" with an average rating of 5.9/10 on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
.
. Bronson became an American film icon who experienced great popularity over the next twenty years.
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
named A Star Is Burns
showed a fictional advertisement 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 network television.
In an episode of American Dad, 'The One That Got Away' Roger dresses up similar to the leading protagonist when he plans revenge on an alternate personality of himself. He tells an alternate character that Deathwish was a movie, when his reference via outfit is misconstuted.
The film was considered for two of the American Film Institute
's 100 series
lists. The character of Paul Kersey was considered a possible candidate for AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains list. The film itself was also a candidate for AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies.
Death Wish
Death Wish is a 1972 novel by Brian Garfield.-Plot:Paul Benjamin is a CPA in New York and lifelong liberal. However, his staid life is overturned when his daughter, Carol, and spouse, Esther, are attacked by muggers. His wife does not survive the attack, and his traumatized daughter is left in a...
by Brian Garfield
Brian Garfield
Brian Francis Wynne Garfield is an American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen and wrote several novels under such pen names as "Frank Wynne" and "'Brian Wynne" before gaining prominence when his book Hopscotch won the 1976 Edgar Award for Best Novel...
. The film was directed by Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
and stars Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
as Paul Kersey, a man who becomes a vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by mugger
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
s.
The film was a commercial success, and generated a movie franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
lasting four sequels over a twenty-year period. The film was disliked by many critics due to it advocating vigilantism and unlimited punishment to criminals. The novel denounced vigilantism, whereas the film embraced the notion. Yet, it was seen as echoing a growing mood in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as crime rose during the 1970s.
Plot
Paul Kersey (Charles BronsonCharles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
) and his wife Joanna (Hope Lange
Hope Lange
Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American stage, film, and television actress.- Early life :Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut...
) vacation in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. They return to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where Paul works as an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
Joanna and their daughter Carol Anne (Kathleen Tolan) shop for groceries at D'Agostino's Market. Three hooligans (one played by Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
) are wreaking havoc in the supermarket. They catch Joanna's address after she asks that her groceries be delivered. They follow her to the apartment, burst in and trash the apartment. They search for money but find only $7. The hooligans then rape
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
Carol and savagely beat Joanna, escaping scot-free.
Paul's son-in-law Jack Toby (Steven Keats
Steven Keats
Steven Keats was an American actor who appeared in such films as Silent Rage, Death Wish, Black Sunday, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and the TV-movie version of the Norman Mailer book The Executioner's Song starring Tommy Lee Jones.-Biography:The son of Jewish emigrants from Denmark, Keats was a...
) calls to tell him only that Joanna and Carol are in the hospital. After waiting impatiently, Paul is told by a doctor that his daughter is OK and that she was sedated and put to bed, but Paul is also informed that his wife has died. Devastated, he is told by police that the likelihood of catching the criminals is small.
The next day, Paul's boss gives him an extended business vacation to Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
to meet a client, Ames Jainchill (Stuart Margolin
Stuart Margolin
Stuart Margolin is an American film and television actor and director.-Television:Margolin is best known for his role on the television show The Rockford Files, playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin, the shifty friend and former cellmate of Jim Rockford...
), who shows him the ropes. Paul witnesses a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town used as a movie set. At a gun club, Ames is impressed when Paul shoots near bulls-eye accuracy. He reveals that he was a "CO" (commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
) during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
who served his country as a combat medic
Combat medic
Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...
. Ames drops him at the airport, slipping a little going-away present, a handgun, into Paul's bag.
Back in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, his daughter is catatonic. Paul opens his suitcase to find a nickel-plated .32 Colt Police Positive
Colt Police Positive
The Colt Police Positive is a small frame double-action revolver featuring a six-round cylinder, chambered for either .32 or .38 caliber cartridges...
revolver. He pockets the gun and takes a stroll. Paul encounters a mugger, an ex-convict named Thomas Leroy Marston who attempts to rob him at gunpoint with a .38 Smith & Wesson Model 36
Smith & Wesson Model 36
The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is a revolver chambered for .38 Special. Like nearly all other "J-frame" Smith & Wesson revolvers, it has a 5-round capacity in a swing-out cylinder, and features an exposed hammer. It features a nickel-plated or blued finish and either wood or rubber grips...
revolver. Paul shoots him with the revolver, killing him.
Shocked that he just killed a human being, Paul runs home and throws up. But his vigilantism
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
continues the following night, when he guns down three more men who are robbing a defenseless old man in a vacant alley.
A few nights later, two muggers see Paul on a subway. They attempt to rob him at knife-point but Paul shoots them both with the revolver.
The next scene has Paul then sitting in a sleazy Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
coffee shop surrounded by prostitutes and assorted street people. He pays his bill to the cashier purposely revealing a wallet full of cash. He leaves followed by two thugs who have taken the bait. Yet again a robbery attempt is made. Paul shoots one but the other manages to stab him in his shoulder. As a wounded Paul stumbles off, the one who stabbed him gets away mortally wounded, dying at a hospital.
NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
) investigates the vigilante killings. His department narrows a list to men who have had a family member recently killed by muggers and who are war veteran
War Veteran
War Veteran is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in If magazine in March 1955.-Plot summary:The plot concerns an old man who claims to have travelled back in time from a future in which Earth has lost a devastating war to its own Martian and Venusian colonies...
s. The public, meanwhile, is happy that somebody is doing something about crime.
Ochoa soon suspects Paul. He is about to make an arrest when the District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
(Fred J. Scollay
Fred J. Scollay
Fred J. Scollay is an American character actor with dozens of credits in daytime and primetime television....
) intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead. Ochoa doesn't like the idea, but relents.
Paul shoots two more muggers before being wounded by a third mugger with a M1911A1 pistol at a warehouse. Hospitalized, he is ordered by Ochoa to leave New York, permanently. Paul replies, "By sundown?".
Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train. Being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlum
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
s harassing a young woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman. The hoodlums make obscene gestures, but Kersey points his right hand like a gun and smiles, suggesting that his vigilantism will continue.
Cast
- Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
as Paul Kersey - Hope LangeHope LangeHope Elise Ross Lange was an American stage, film, and television actress.- Early life :Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut...
as Joanna Kersey - Vincent GardeniaVincent GardeniaVincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
as NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa - Kathleen Tolan as Carol Toby
- Steven KeatsSteven KeatsSteven Keats was an American actor who appeared in such films as Silent Rage, Death Wish, Black Sunday, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and the TV-movie version of the Norman Mailer book The Executioner's Song starring Tommy Lee Jones.-Biography:The son of Jewish emigrants from Denmark, Keats was a...
as Jack Toby - William RedfieldWilliam Redfield (actor)William Redfield was an American actor and author who appeared in numerous theatrical, film, radio, and television roles.-Acting career:...
as Sam Kreutzer - Stuart MargolinStuart MargolinStuart Margolin is an American film and television actor and director.-Television:Margolin is best known for his role on the television show The Rockford Files, playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin, the shifty friend and former cellmate of Jim Rockford...
as Ames Jainchill - Jeff GoldblumJeff GoldblumJeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
as Freak #1 - Christopher GuestChristopher GuestChristopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
as Jackson Reilly - Olympia DukakisOlympia DukakisOlympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
as NYPD 21st Precinct Cop - Lawrence Hilton-JacobsLawrence Hilton-JacobsLawrence Hilton-Jacobs is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in a number of films and television programs, including Claudine , Cooley High , Roots , Welcome Back, Kotter , Bangers and Mash , and The Jacksons: An American Dream .Lawrence's name, at least as shown in the credits of Welcome...
(uncredited) as mugger - Ciro "Jerry" Palazzo (uncredited) as mover
- Christopher Logan as Freak #2
- Gregory Rozakis : as Spraycan Freak
Jeff Goldblum had his screen debut in Death Wish, playing one of the three criminals who attack Kersey's wife and daughter, especially forcing the daughter to perform fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
on him. Character actor Robert Miano
Robert Miano
-Early life:Robert Miano was born in New York City and raised in the Southeast Bronx area.At the age of 15, he started a fledgling singing career when a talent agent heard him singing with a doo-wop group on a Bronx street corner...
also has a minor role as a mugger in the film. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, who would later co-star on the highly successful TV show Welcome Back, Kotter
Welcome Back, Kotter
Welcome Back, Kotter was an American television sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan and featuring a young John Travolta.It originally aired on the ABC network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979.-Premise:...
, had an uncredited role as another mugger near the end of the film. Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
makes his screen debut as an uncredited alley mugger. Actress Helen Martin
Helen Martin
Helen Dorothy Martin was an American actress of stage and television who is perhaps most well known for her role in the sitcom 227 as Marla Gibbs' neighbor Pearl.-Early life and education:...
, who had a minor role, subsequently appeared in the television sitcoms Good Times
Good Times
Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...
and 227
227 (TV series)
227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
. Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano is an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street since 1971. She also licenses her image to promote items of baby clothes and plates in Hispanic America....
, 'Maria' from Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
has an uncredited role as a grocery clerk. Christopher Guest makes one of his earliest film appearances as a young police officer who finds Kersey's gun. A young Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.-Early life:...
plays one of the robbers on the subway. He later appears as a NYPD officer in Death Wish V: The Face of Death.
Production
Originally Sidney LumetSidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
was to have directed Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
as Paul until the original producer was replaced by Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
film mogul Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
and marketed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
Death Wish was first released to American audiences in July 1974. The film was rejected by other studios because of its controversial subject matter and was dropped by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
after budget constraints forced producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts
Bobby Roberts (film producer)
- Works :Roberts was producer or executive producer of at least eight major film productions.* Death Wish II : executive producer* Damnation Alley : executive producer* Joyride : executive producer* Bank Shot : producer...
to liquidate their rights.
The original film was written by Wendell Mayes
Wendell Mayes
Wendell Mayes was a Hollywood screenwriter. His father Von Mayes was a lawyer and his mother Irene was a teacher.Mayes began as an actor...
, also known for such thrillers as Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
(1959) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
, a favorite director of De Laurentiis, oversaw its filming and would later direct the first two sequels. Of the five Death Wish films, the original most adheres to Garfield's novel.
Soundtrack
Multiple Grammy award winning Jazz musician Herbie HancockHerbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
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
Blowup
Blowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
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
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, a Puerto Rican actress (Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano
Sonia Manzano is an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street since 1971. She also licenses her image to promote items of baby clothes and plates in Hispanic America....
), 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."
Home Video Release
The film was first released on VHS in 1980. It was re-released on DVD in 2001. Currently, the VHS and DVD versions are both now out of print.Critical reception
Death Wish received mixed to extremely negative reviews upon its release, due to its support of vigilantism, but it had an 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.Many critics were displeased with the film, considering it an "immoral threat to society" and an encouragement of antisocial behavior. Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times was one of the most outspoken writers, condemning Death Wish in two extensive articles. 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 which are the exact opposite. The result of this film, led him to write up a follow-up titled, Death Sentence
Death Sentence (novel)
For the film, see Death Sentence .Death Sentence is the 1975 sequel novel to Death Wish by Brian Garfield.-Plot introduction:...
and was published a year after the film's release.
The film holds a score of 67% "Fresh" with an average rating of 5.9/10 on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Impact and influence
Death Wish was a watershed for Charles Bronson, who was better known in Europe and Asia at the time mostly due to his role in The Great EscapeThe Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
. Bronson became an American film icon who experienced great popularity over the next twenty years.
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
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
named A Star Is Burns
A Star is Burns
"A Star Is Burns" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 5, 1995. In the episode, Springfield decides to hold a film festival, and famed critic Jay Sherman is invited to be a judge...
showed a fictional advertisement 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 network television.
In an episode of American Dad, 'The One That Got Away' Roger dresses up similar to the leading protagonist when he plans revenge on an alternate personality of himself. He tells an alternate character that Deathwish was a movie, when his reference via outfit is misconstuted.
The film was considered for two of the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's 100 series
AFI 100 Years... series
The AFI's 100 Years… series is a series of CBS television specials featuring the American Film Institute celebrating 100 years of the greatest films in America.The specials are:* 1998: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies* 1999: AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars...
lists. The character of Paul Kersey was considered a possible candidate for AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains list. The film itself was also a candidate for AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies.