Cheap Death Wish (DVD) (Charles Bronson, Hope Lange) (Michael Winner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Death Wish

Bronson's most famous movie role.
Although Charles Bronson has appeared in a fistful of genuine classic movies (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Once Upon A Time in the West, and The Dirty Dozen) it is this urban crime/revenge thriller that is most often associated with him. Paul Kersey is a New York based 'bleeding heart liberal' architect that has his life destroyed when a trio of thugs (one played by future star Jeff Goldblum) assault his wife and daughter. His wife dies and his daughter slowly sinks into a catatonic state. Kersey's rage grows and, after acquiring a pistol during a business trip to Arizona, he begins killing muggers while wading through the crime choked streets of New York. Director Michael Winner handles the material in as blunt a fashion as possible, presenting Kersey as a heroic Everyman doing what anyone would want to do under similar circumstances. Yet it is all salvaged by a wonderfully nuanced performance by Charles Bronson. At the time of its release, critics complained that the blue collar looking actor was terribly miscast as an upper class white collar victim turned victimizer. Yet the actor handles it well, by the film's end he has become the character and was thus permanantly type cast in the public's mind as the vigilante that cleaned up New York (although he would not play the actual role again until a series of lurid sequels made almost ten years later). While Death Wish is an essential for Charles Bronson fans (I cannot think of one who wouldn't want to have a copy), the actual subject matter was better handled in the Clint Eastwood thriller Dirty Harry (1971) and its 1973 vigilante themed sequel, Magnum Force.

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Liberal in a glass house
Don't listen to the leftist opinions of the "expert" movie critics! Their dissing the movie for it's message is the same mentality as that of liberal criminal cuddlers that created the demand for Paul Kersey and Dirty Harry! In Death Wish, Bronson's character is such a liberal. Never having been a victim to crime, war conciencious objector Paul Kersey has his glass house shattered when his wife and daughter are attacked by street thugs. With his wife dead and his daughter a vegetable, Kersey is introduced to conservative crime prevention while on a trip to the southwest. From this point, Kersey begins his conversion to vigilantism. Systematically eliminating criminals, the city's crime plumments. The "vigilante" gains support for his actions from the general public while at the same time, the legal system is feeling the pressure of lost business (Trial attorneys?), and assigns one of New York's best to quietly make the problem go away. Herbie Hancock's blend of music helps you to feel the adrenal rush that Kersey is buiding as he is on the hunt for society's scum. Anyone that has ever been a victim of crime will connect with this movie.

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Your Typical Evening On A Saturday!
GREAT ACTING BY CHARLES BROSNAN! ENJOYABLE TO WATCH. REALLY GREAT CINEMATIC PIECE!