Kicks ass and takes no prisoners, that best sums Death Wish..., indeed there were a few sequels that followed the original in later years, but none of them were as raw and shocking as this first one.
Charles Bronson was never the greatest actor, rather stoic in his approach he came across as unloving and didn't possess much emotion, hence why he was the perfect fit for the character of Paul Kersey, otherwise known as the vigilante killer!
The idea behind Death Wish was sound, who doesn't want to watch scumbags and general low-lives get their comeuppance? And that is basically what Death Wish is, a guy who's wife is senselessly murdered by a trio of thugs ends up heartbroken and mentally damaged by his loss, this leads to the guy going out on a killing spree, looking for the right kind of scumbag in the right kind of place and leading them to their death.
What struck me as odd was how lax the police were in finding the killer, it felt like I was watching a superhero film where the hero always seems to evade the law and everyone else, how Charles Bronson's Paul lasted so long without being caught was just a tad fantastical, in reality the police would've done better and Paul would've slipped up at some point.
Death Wish was also a shining example of the changing times, seedy and dreary, and a tad erotic too..., e.g. a woman at one stage shows her bear breasts for all to see, it goes into disgusting detail when the two ladies are being assaulted by the thugs, and I believe one of them may have been raped; the murders also were overly detailed and shown in all their vile glory...
...Alas the film Death Wish was released in 1974, only ten years prior though this kind of film would've been outlawed by the strict rules imposed on Hollywood at the time, how times change indeed, Death Wish was released well after the New Hollywood era has emerged and explicitly demonstrated how much freedom there now was in Hollywood.
Not an overly amazing film but definitely a landmark film of sorts, a perfect example of what a certain era in cinema history was like, in this case the 1970's and the New Hollywood era.
Charles Bronson was never the greatest actor, rather stoic in his approach he came across as unloving and didn't possess much emotion, hence why he was the perfect fit for the character of Paul Kersey, otherwise known as the vigilante killer!
The idea behind Death Wish was sound, who doesn't want to watch scumbags and general low-lives get their comeuppance? And that is basically what Death Wish is, a guy who's wife is senselessly murdered by a trio of thugs ends up heartbroken and mentally damaged by his loss, this leads to the guy going out on a killing spree, looking for the right kind of scumbag in the right kind of place and leading them to their death.
What struck me as odd was how lax the police were in finding the killer, it felt like I was watching a superhero film where the hero always seems to evade the law and everyone else, how Charles Bronson's Paul lasted so long without being caught was just a tad fantastical, in reality the police would've done better and Paul would've slipped up at some point.
Death Wish was also a shining example of the changing times, seedy and dreary, and a tad erotic too..., e.g. a woman at one stage shows her bear breasts for all to see, it goes into disgusting detail when the two ladies are being assaulted by the thugs, and I believe one of them may have been raped; the murders also were overly detailed and shown in all their vile glory...
...Alas the film Death Wish was released in 1974, only ten years prior though this kind of film would've been outlawed by the strict rules imposed on Hollywood at the time, how times change indeed, Death Wish was released well after the New Hollywood era has emerged and explicitly demonstrated how much freedom there now was in Hollywood.
Not an overly amazing film but definitely a landmark film of sorts, a perfect example of what a certain era in cinema history was like, in this case the 1970's and the New Hollywood era.