Death Wish (film)



Death Wish is a 1974 American vigilante action film loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same name 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 during a home invasion. It was the first of a franchise, the Death Wish film series.

At the time of release, the film was attacked by many film critics due to its support of vigilantism and advocating unlimited punishment of criminals. The novel denounced vigilantism, whereas the film embraced the notion. Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success and resonated with the public in the United States, which was facing increasing crime rates during the 1970s.

Plot
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is an architect living in Manhattan with his wife Joanna (Hope Lange) and grown daughter Carol. The film begins with scenes of a recent vacation Paul and Joanna had taken to Hawaii. One day, Joanna and Carol are followed home from D'Agostino's by three thugs who invade the apartment by posing as deliverymen. They fatally injure Joanna and sexually assault Carol.

After his wife's funeral in Connecticut during a snowstorm and shortly following his return to work, Paul has his first personal encounter with a mugger on a darkened street, foreshadowing his actions later on; a frightened Paul -- having armed himself with a makeshift blackjack consisting of two rolls of quarters in a sock -- manages to turn the tables on the surprised mugger, smashing the robber in the face with his improvised weapon and sending him fleeing, while he himself is both shaken and energized by the encounter.

Paul's boss sends him on an extended "business vacation," and he flies to Tucson, Arizona to meet a client, Ames Jainchill (Stuart Margolin). While in Tucson to work on Jainchill's residential development project, Ames takes Paul to see a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town used as a movie set; in the end, justice prevails as the "desperadoes" all end up shot dead. A few days later while he is working late at Ames' office, Paul is invited to dinner by Ames at his gun club. At the gun club, Ames is impressed when Paul shoots with near perfect accuracy at the targets. Paul reveals that he was a conscientious objector during the Korean War who served as a combat medic. Paul had been taught to handle firearms at a young age by his father, who was a hunter, but after his father was killed in a hunting accident Paul decided to swear never to use guns again. After Paul makes improvements to Ames' plans for the development, a thoroughly pleased Ames drives Paul back to the Tucson airport, and presents Paul with a gift, which he places into Paul's checked luggage.

Back in Manhattan, Paul learns from his son-in-law Jack (Steven Keats) that his daughter is severely depressed from the trauma of the assault. Paul visits his daughter, who is now catatonic, at the hospital. Heartbroken, Paul and his son-in-law have his daughter committed to a mental hospital on Long Island for intensive treatment. Later upon his return to Manhattan, he opens his suitcase and discovers that Ames' gift was a nickel-plated .32 Colt Police Positive revolver. He loads the revolver, places it into his overcoat, and takes a late night 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 then shoots Marston with the revolver Ames had given him.

Shocked that he just killed a human being, Paul runs home and throws up. But motivated by his desire for revenge, he continues to walk the city streets at night looking for violent criminals. The following night, Paul again deliberately walks through the city in order to invite an attack. He guns down three muggers who are robbing a defenseless old man in an 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 his revolver.

On another night, Paul sits as bait 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 runs away but he is mortally shot, later dying at a hospital.

NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa investigates the vigilante killings. His department narrows it down to a list to men who have had a family member recently killed by muggers and who are war veterans. 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 intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead. The D.A. and the Police Commissioner do not want the fact to get out that street crime in New York City has dropped dramatically since Paul became a vigilante. And they fear that if he isn't stopped the whole city will explode into anarchy. Ochoa doesn't like the idea, but relents. Ochoa says that he will try to "scare him off."

Paul shoots two muggers on the stairs before being wounded by a third mugger with a M1911A1 pistol at a warehouse. His gun is discovered by a young patrolman, Jackson Reilly, who hands it to Ochoa, who tells him to forget that he ever saw it and additionally tells the press that the wounded Paul is just another mugging victim. Hospitalized, Paul is ordered by Ochoa to leave New York, permanently. Ochoa tells Paul to have his company transfer him to another city and, in exchange, Ochoa will dispose of Paul's revolver. As Ochoa walks out of Paul's hospital room, Paul replies, "By sundown?".

Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train. Being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlums harassing a young woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman. The hoodlums make obscene gestures, but Paul points his right hand like a gun and smiles, suggesting that his vigilantism will continue.

Cast

 * Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey
 * Hope Lange as Joanna Kersey
 * Vincent Gardenia as NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa
 * William Redfield as Samuel "Sam" Kreutzer
 * Steven Keats as Jack Toby
 * Stuart Margolin as Ames Jainchill
 * Stephen Elliott as Police Commissioner
 * Kathleen Tolan as Carol Toby
 * Jack Wallace as Hank
 * Christopher Guest as Jackson Reilly
 * Jeff Goldblum as Freak #1
 * Olympia Dukakis as Cop at precinct
 * Robert Kya-Hill as Joe Charles


 * Uncredited
 * Paul Dooley as Cop at hospital
 * Eric Laneuville as Subway mugger
 * Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Park mugger
 * Sonia Manzano as Grocery clerk
 * Tom Hayden as E.R. doctor
 * Ciro "Jerry" Palazzo as Moving man

Character actor Robert Miano had 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 one of the Central Park muggers near the end of the film. It has been rumored that Denzel Washington made his screen debut as an uncredited alley mugger, but according to Washington himself, that is not true and that a thug (in a long shot) does appear to resemble him. 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 supermarket checkout clerk. Christopher Guest makes one of his earliest film appearances as a young police officer who finds Kersey's gun. The film also marked Jeff Goldblum's screen debut, playing one of the "freaks" who assault Kersey's family early in the film, turning Kersey into a vigilante.

Production
The film was based on Brian Garfield's 1972 novel of the same name, who was inspired to use the theme of vigilantism following incidents in his personal life. In one incident, the purse of his wife was stolen; in another, his car was vandalized. His initial thought each time was that he could kill "the son of a bitch" responsible. He later considered that these were primitive thoughts, contemplated in an unguarded moment. He then considered the idea of writing a novel about a man who entered this way of thinking in a moment of rage and then never emerged from it. The original novel received favorable reviews but was not a best seller. Garfield sold screen rights to both Death Wish and Relentless to the only film producers who approached him on the subject, Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts. He was offered the chance to write a screenplay adapting one of the two novels, and chose Relentless. He simply considered it the easier of the two to turn into a film.

Wendell Mayes was then hired to write the screenplay for Death Wish. He preserved the basic structure of the novel and much of the philosophical dialogue. It was his idea to turn police detective Frank Ochoa into a major character of the film. His early drafts for the screenplay had different endings than the final one. In one, he followed an idea from Garfield. The vigilante confronts the three thugs who attacked his family and ends up dead at their hands. Ochoa discovers the dead man's weapon and considers following in his footsteps. In another, the vigilante is wounded and rushed to a hospital. His fate is left ambiguous. Meanwhile, Ochoa has found the weapon and struggles with the decision to use it. His decision left unclear.

Originally, Sidney Lumet was to have directed Jack Lemmon as Paul and Henry Fonda as Ochoa. Lumet bowed out of the film project to direct Serpico (1973), requiring a search for another director. Several were considered. United Artists eventually chose Michael Winner, due to his recent track record of gritty, violent action films. The examples of his work considered included The Mechanic (1972), Scorpio (1973), and The Stone Killer (1973).

The film was rejected by other studios because of its controversial subject matter, and the perceived difficulty of casting someone in the vigilante role. Winner attempted to recruit Bronson, but there were two problems for the actor. First, his agent Paul Kohner considered that the film carried a dangerous message. Second, at this point the screenplay followed the original novel in describing the vigilante as a meek accountant—hardly a suitable role for Bronson.

The film project was dropped by United Artists after budget constraints forced producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts to liquidate their rights. The original producers were replaced by Italian film mogul Dino De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis convinced Charles Bluhdorn to bring the project to Paramount Pictures. Paramount purchased the distribution rights of the film in the United States market, while Columbia Pictures licensed the distribution rights for international markets. De Laurentiis raised the $3 million budget of the film by pre-selling the distribution rights.

With funding secured, screenwriter Gerald Wilson was hired to revise the script. His first task was changing the identity of the vigilante to make the role more suitable for Bronson. "Paul Benjamin" was renamed to "Paul Kersey". His job was changed from accountant to architect. His background changed from a World War II veteran to a Korean War veteran. The reason for him not seeing combat duty changed from serving as an army accountant to being a conscientious objector. Several vignettes from Mayes' script were deemed unnecessary and were therefore deleted.

Winner himself asked for several revisions in the script. Both the novel and the original script had no scenes showing the vigilante interacting with his wife. Winner decided to include a prologue depicting a happy relationship, so the prologue of the film depicts the couple vacationing in Hawaii. The early draft of the script had the vigilante being inspired by seeing a fight scene in the Western film High Noon. Winner decided on a more elaborate scene, involving a fight scene in a recreation of the Wild West, taking place in Tucson, Arizona. The final script had the vigilante making the occasional reference to Westerns. While confronting an armed mugger, he challenges him to draw (Kersey tells him to "fill your hand" -- the same challenge issued by Western movie icon John Wayne to his main opponent in the climactic shoot-out in True Grit). When Ochoa tells him to get out of town, he asks if he has until sundown to do so. The killing in the subway station was supposed to remain off-screen in Mayes' script, but Winner himself decided to turn this into an actual, brutal scene.

A minor argument occurred when it came to a shooting location for the film. Bronson asked for a California-based location so he could visit his family in Bel Air, Los Angeles. Winner insisted on New York City and De Laurentiis agreed. Ultimately, Bronson backed down. Death Wish was shot on location in New York City, during the winter of 1973-1974. Death Wish was first released to American audiences in July 1974. The world premiere took place on July 24 in the Loews Theater of New York City.

Soundtrack
Multiple Grammy award-winning jazz musician Herbie Hancock produced and composed the original score for the soundtrack to the movie. This was 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."

Hancock's theme for the film was quoted in "Judge, Jury and Executioner," a 2013 single by Atoms for Peace.

Reception
Death Wish received mixed to extremely negative reviews upon its release, due to its support of vigilantism, but it affected 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 exploitative, but realistic in the context 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 of the New York Times was one of the most outspoken writers, condemning Death Wish in two extensive articles. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, while not agreeing with the film's philosophy.

Garfield was also unhappy with the final product, calling the film "incendiary", and even stated that 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 a follow-up titled Death Sentence, which was published a year after the film's release. In later years, the film would be liked for its disturbing, serious view of one man's violent war on crime. Bronson defended the film: he felt it was intended to be a commentary on violence and was meant to attack violence, not romanticize it. Many critics rate the original film higher than the sequels, which were more exploitative and contrived.

The film holds a 67% rating based on 24 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10 on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated
 * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
 * Paul Kersey – Nominated Hero

Impact and influence
Death Wish was a watershed for Bronson, who was 53 years old at the time and who was better known in Europe and Asia at the time mostly due to his role in The Great Escape. Bronson became an American film icon who experienced great popularity over the next twenty years.
 * In the series' later years, the Death Wish franchise became a subject of parody for its high level of 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 various television stations within the US and in Europe.
 * In an episode of American Dad!, "The One That Got Away", Roger dresses similar to the leading protagonist when he plans revenge on an alternate personality of himself. He tells an alternate character that Death Wish was a movie, when his reference via outfit is misconstrued.
 * Bronson is mentioned in the 1997 The Notorious B.I.G. classic "Kick in the Door". In the song, Biggie proclaims: "Sold more powder than Johnson and Johnson/Tote steel like Bronson, vigilante/You wanna get on son, you need to ask me."
 * In the 1990 Spider-Man comic arc "The Death of Jean DeWolff", Bronson makes a small appearance in one panel, holding a newspaper with the headline "vigilante".
 * A clip from the film of Jeff Goldblum's hoodlum-rapist character yelling "Goddamn rich cunt!" was often played on The Opie and Anthony Show.
 * In the 2003 release Champion Sound by hiphop duo Jaylib, on the track "The Official" J Dilla says: "I keeps it bouncing when the P.I's wanna wish for death, Im C. Bronson".
 * In 2011 Taki's Magazine profiled a white nationalist author and blogger who adopted the pseudonym "Paul Kersey" after the Bronson character.
 * In Michael Chabon's 2012 novel Telegraph Avenue, Death Wish is Luther Stalling's favorite film.
 * Curtis Sliwa described Bernhard Goetz as "Charles Bronson in Death Wish."
 * In the 2015 videogame Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, a level is called Death Wish.

Home media
The film was first released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1980. It was later released on DVD in 2001 and 2006. Currently, the VHS, laserdisc, and DVDs are out of print. A 40th Anniversary Edition was released on Blu-ray in 2014.

Remake
In 2006, Sylvester Stallone announced that he would be directing and starring in a remake of Death Wish. Stallone stated, "Instead of the Charles Bronson character being an architect, my version would have him as a very good cop who had incredible success without ever using his gun. So when the attack on his family happens, he’s really thrown into a moral dilemma in proceeding to carry out his revenge." On December 20, 2006, however, Stallone officially announced that he will not be doing the Death Wish remake.

In late January 2012, The Hollywood Reporter stated that a remake was confirmed and would be written and directed by Joe Carnahan. Carnahan left the film in 2013 and director Gerardo Naranjo was then attached to the project. This version also never came into fruition.

In March 2016, Paramount and MGM announced that Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado will direct the remake, with Bruce Willis starring. In May, Keshales and Papushado quit the project after the studio failed to allow their script rewrites. In June, Eli Roth signed on to direct.