Presents

Death Wish

Back in the 70s, there wasn't a tougher guy than Charles Bronson.  Oh, you can argue for the John Wayne's or the Clint Eastwood's, but, when you were looking for a guy that you believed wasn't an actor, and was really a hard ass, you had to go with Bronson!  I really became a fan of Bronson's with the original Death Wish, and, since Death Sentence is trying to make Kevin Bacon a tough guy (come on, isn't he that dancing guy from Footloose, who's gonna believe him beating guys up?), I thought it might be nice to take a look at the orignal classic, Death Wish.

  The story here is pretty basic, Paul Kersey (Bronson) is a pretty normal guy, he was even a consciencous objecter in the Korean War, and for those youngsters out there, that meant that he didn't believe in violence, now, he and his happy family are living in New York City, and in the 70s...before what is called the 'Disney-ization' of the city, New York had the reputation of being a cess-pool of crime and sleaze.  Well, when his wife and daughter are attacked, raped and killed, Paul snaps and goes on a one man rampage against crime.  He takes to the streets at night and hunts down criminals!

The trouble with the movie is that Bronson never really crosses paths with the gang who actually perpetrated the crime, so the movie is really an indictment of taking justice into your own hands, it never really comes across that way, because the people that Bronson hunts down are really sleazy criminals that the world is better without anyway, there's no redeeming qualities at all instilled into them, but, let's face it, we're not here to be taught a lesson, we're here to watch Bronson kick some bad guy butt!!  And, if that's what you're looking for, the entire Death Wish series is for you, but this, the original, is probably the best of the bunch.  I'm giving Death Wish four out of four cigars, because, besides being a great movie, it still holds up after all these years, it's just that good!  So, until next time, when I'll be pouring quarters into a sock and heading out to fight a little crime myself, remember that the best movies are bad movies.