Review of Death Wish (1974) by Brian D — 13 Sep 2010

Saw this movie last night. Great movie.

Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is a New York architect who gets a phone call from his son-in-law that his wife and his daughter were attacked and raped in his apartment, after coming home from the grocery store. He rushes to the hospital to find his daughter in a perpetual state of shock and his wife died in the emergency room.

After speaking with the cops about whether or not they'll ever find the people who committed the crime, Kersey decides to take a job in Tucson, Arizona. While there, he meets a rough-and-tumble cowboy type who takes Kersey to the shooting range. Thinking he's just a normal New Yorker, his friend is amazed to find Kersey is amazing with a gun. Apparently, Kersey's dad was a hunter who died in a hunting accident when he was a kid. Before his dad died, he learned how to shoot pretty well, but never touched a gun after his father's accident.

As he leaves Tucson, back for New York, his friend gives him a going away present, a .32 caliber revolver.

Back in New York, he runs across another mugger walking at night, who pulls a gun out on him. But before he can get Kersey's money, Kersey pulls out his gun and blows the guy away. From there, he's on a vigilante's quest to clean up the streets of New York.

Can I just say this movie is awesome? The shooting scenes are the best, as they're almost akin to old western movies. This movie is not about shock value or gore or anything like that, this is a movie about a guy who's sick and tired of people being mugged, raped, killed, shot and doesn't want to sick idly by while the police do nothing or let the politicians profit from the crime rate.

I think the end is probably the worst part of the movie. Although the last scene is awesome, I didn't want to see Kersey leave NY. I thought he should tell the cop to go screw himself and continue his path of cleaning up New York, one nasty mugger at a time.

All in all, though, this movie is just a classic. It really set the genre of vigilante drama. Great film, I think everybody should see it. Then you'll know what a true badass is like.