Death Wish and Paul Kersey went on to define one of Hollywood’s legendary actors, Charles Bronson. He has a film resume that most established actors could only dream of, but his role a vigilante, will always define who he was. After a group of muggers kill his wife and turn his daughter into a vegetable, this mild manner architect turns into one of New York City’s toughest killers. The movie, which is unique for the early 1970’s, really focuses on the development of man who wrestles with his conscience while learning to take out bad guys. I guess you could define the whole movie as a character development instead of character execution. There’s the grieving father angle and the cops trying to catch the bad guy angle. You begin to think they will never cross, but they do and it’s not as climatic as you would expect. Death Wish accomplishes a lot in just a short run time, which was standard for those days. This was never going to be a blockbuster, and I am willing to bet no one would have ever predicted a franchise. Death Wish has a following mainly because Bronson was one of the business’ best actors, and this whole concept could have bombed if it wasn’t for his efforts. 7/10
Ten Stars or Less 