Death Wish 4: The Crackdown

Ok, so we’re back in LA (again) and Paul Kersey (Charlie Bronson (The Great Escape)) has settled into his architect job.  He isn’t going out at night anymore to do his vigilante thang.  Tragedy strikes once more though when the teenage daughter of the woman he’s dating overdoses on coke which puts him on a path to find and kill the dealer.  After that we completely switch gears to a Yojimbo type plot with some mysterious rich dude hiring Kersey to take out the two largest drug gangs in town.  Of course he accepts to feed his passion for destroying human life.

The biggest issue with this chapter is it’s sloppy as fuck.  It ranges from small things like the coke having a tan color making you think it’s heroin to larger head scratchers like the finale strangely taking place in a roller rink and then they abandon that idea mid scene to finish the fight outside in front of a high-rise office building.

But what really gets to me is there’s an absurdly annoying amount of wasted time.  Like the first twenty minutes of the movie that deals with the loss of a loved one essentially has nothing to do with the playing-drug-gangs-against-each-other plot we eventually settle on.  But also Kersey goes around bugging the bad guys’ phones and it takes forever for him to get any useful info out of it.  Plus he ends up killing one fella immediately after placing the bug rendering half the scene immaterial.  And his reporter girlfriend starts to do research on a piece about drugs but there’s no payoff.  We never come back to it after two scenes.  And on and on.

Apparently there were daily rewrites of the script and it shows.  The whole thing is pretty incoherent and feels the least like a Death Wish entry.  With Kersey being recruited and bankrolled to destroy organized crime it’s basically a cop movie except these guys aren’t cops.

That isn’t to say they don’t cram in the staples of the series.  Corrupt cops make an appearance, there’s an attempted rape scene, Kersey blows a guy up with a grenade launcher (I’m hoping this one in particular carries over into Part 5) and Danny Trejo (Desperado) plays a bad guy in one of his first roles.  You know I gotta hand it to them, for being a bullshit installment they sure hit the main points.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the sweet Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 cardboard cutout we’re treated to when Kersey pays a bad guy a visit in a video store.  Cannon made that picture as well as the first three Death Wish sequels.  So nice to see that masterpiece getting some love mugging for the camera in the background.

Overall this is pretty forgettable.  If anything it starts to make you feel sorta bad for Paul Kersey because the man attracts misery at every turn.  Whoever comes in contact with him gets their existence shattered.  Does he think the events of his life are simply a long run of bad luck or is he screaming on the inside in agony?  How much goddamn calamity can one person take?

Definitely the worst sequel yet.

Death Wish 3

Paul Kersey (Charlie Bronson (The Mechanic)) returns home to NYC to visit a friend but arrives just as he’s dying.  A gang of punks beat him for kicks and left him for dead.  When the cops show up they think Kersey is the culprit and arrest him.  The police chief (Ed Lautner (Cujo)) recognizes him though from eleven years prior (or whatever number they use, I haven’t mentioned this yet but there’s zero consistency with any character’s recollection of how long ago Kersey’s original crime spree was).  He makes a deal with Kersey that he’ll let him go if he cleans up the streets.

Once again the fucking cops look the other way because they basically agree with Kersey’s measures.  I don’t know what it is with this universe and corrupt police.  A key difference this time is they’re onto him from the start making the concept go down easier.  It’s better than magically waving your hand at the end and saying “ok we’re gonna let you walk on who knows how many homicides we haven’t really firmed up the final tally yet but listen pal, you better not do that again”.

The whole movie’s more fun than the previous two.  From the ridiculous Escape from New York type premise to the mostly omitted rape scene, it’s lighter all around.  Kersey acts as protector of the neighborhood and given permission to do so which makes his actions feel more legit.  The filmmakers do a good job of acquainting you with some of the people who live in the area and how horribly they’re treated by the thugs who have the run of the place giving you a reason to side with Kersey and the police chief.

And the city truly is a shithole.  There’s rubble where buildings and sidewalks should be, trash and graffiti everywhere, attacks on citizens occurring constantly, things are far worse than they were in ’74.  Now NYC was actually like a really dangerous place in the 70’s and 80’s but the crime here still seems on a cartoonish level.  Again, this exaggeration works in the film’s favor though giving you a reason to get in Kersey’s corner.

They take a lot of leeway with the action too adding more variety than ever before.  Instead of Kersey only using a handgun he sets booby traps like rigging a wooden board to spring up and smack someone in the face if they crawl through the window.  He also throws a guy off a roof, fires a giant WWII era machine gun and uses a rocket launcher!  They definitely rack up the highest body count yet.

Part 3 continues the tradition of casting a future star as a gang member and in this film it’s Alex Winter (Bill from the Bill & Teds) in his first role.  He’s not quite as vicious as Jeff Goldblum or Laurence Fishburne were but he still participates in killing an innocent man and jumps on the hood of some poor lady’s car terrorizing her.

Jimmy Page’s score is back and a lot of it sounds recycled from Part II.  For whatever reason the roaring guitar (or synth?) slides work better here.  I think it’s the way they edited it plus the new music they added is nicer too.

If you think about it Paul Kersey has some of the worst luck in the world.  He keeps finding himself the victim of heinous crimes involving rape and murder.  He’s still an asshole though because he makes insane decisions like stalking the streets at night blowing away anyone he thinks deserves to die.

At least this one isn’t totally the same picture as the original like the previous sequel is.  It goes off the rails for sure but in a good way.  It’s embellished to the point where we can have fun with the concept of a vigilante taking bad dudes out.  I mean Kersey’s being blackmailed so you can justify all this shit in your mind if you want to.  But hey, for all we know he would’ve taken the loss of his friend really well and not rediscover his taste for blood.  Maybe.  Nah, he definitely would’ve killed a whole bunch of people anyway.

Death Wish II

*There’s gonna be some spoilers for Death Wish I

In the immortal words of A-number-one badass John McClane: how can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?  After getting away scot-free on committing multiple homicides Paul Kersey (Charlie Bronson (Mr. Majestyk)) moves out to LA and is still working as an architect.  He transferred his daughter (Robin Sherwood (Blow Out)) too so they can be together.  She’s never gotten over the incident in NYC and remains silent and detached from the world.  But goddammit, some muggers randomly pick Kersey out of the clear blue to fuck with.  What are the odds?

If you can believe it the assault on Kersey’s housekeeper (Silvana Gallardo (Days of Our Lives)) and daughter is actually worse than what Jeff Goldblum and crew did in the original.  Not only do the home invaders gang rape and beat the housekeeper but they end up killing her too.  Then they kidnap the daughter, rape her and she ends up throwing herself out of a window and getting impaled by the metal fence below.  Jesus.

Where this picture departs from its predecessor is instead of taking his fury out on random criminals Kersey decides to track down the specific people who destroyed his family.  He leads a double life at night by renting a shitty room in a sleazy part of town and dressing down to blend in with his surroundings.  He doesn’t have any info to go on besides his memory of their faces but manages to find his targets in a matter of days simply by walking the streets.  However, there’s some collateral damage as he kills a bunch of dudes not on his list because they stand in the way of completing his mission.

Amazingly there’s some fallout from the cops letting Kersey go in NYC.  When the New York police get wind of vigilante activity that sounds similar to what they experienced they send the detective who was on the case out to check in on Kersey.  It’s only through tons of incredible luck (sorta too complicated to explain here) that the impending shitstorm doesn’t come crashing down on Kersey’s head.  Still, I’ll give credit for following through on this lose end.

Another callback from the first picture to let you know it’s the same universe is the amount of unexpected help Kersey gets.  The everyday folks that happen to cross paths with the sonuvabitch when he’s working think of him as a hero.  Witnesses to his crimes refuse to cooperate with the cops because they want him to continue.  Again, it’s ridiculous luck that so many people are willing to look the other way for this guy.

And with the inclusion of the east coast police we can tick off corrupt cops on the Death Wish essentials checklist.  That’s not to say the LA boys are entirely off the hook.  They’re total dicks to any victim who gets shot, innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire and genuine criminals.  They lean on them hard for info while they’re bleeding and in pain and refuse them medical care.  I get that they’re passionate and pissed off but that’s not cool.

Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) picks up the series trend of showcasing a young actor in an early role as a gang member.  When he plays a bad guy he hams it up and looks like he’s having a good time.  In this and King of New York he has this undeniable swagger of “I’m the baddest, I’m the smoothest, what the fuck you gonna do about it?”

Ultimately this film is more satisfying than the original.  It follows a more typical revenge story outline with the protagonist taking down the particular people who smashed his life to bits.  There’s a clear arc and a better build up and release.  Plus the deaths hit pretty hard too with an amped up gunshot sound and violent convulsing of the victims.  These are absolutely horrible people that you want to see get annihilated.

With that said it’s also a dumber movie.  I mean Kersey goes to get ice cream and out of nowhere winds up in an alley knife fight with some guy.  What the fuck is happening?  How did we get here?  And in another scene he impersonates a doctor to break into a hospital so he can attack one of the rapists.  He’s using disguises now?  He made a fake ID badge and everything?  Wow.

Comparable to how the ending of the original kind of almost definitely ruins the movie they pull some shit here as well.  Now that Kersey has started killing again he can’t stop.  These five assholes who raped and slaughtered his housekeeper and daughter were just the beginning.  He needs to feed his bloodlust by continuing to roam the streets at night and murdering others he deems not worthy to live anymore.  Are you fucking kidding me Paul Kersey?  STOP DOING THAT!

Oh and the Jimmy Page score of bellowing, wallowing, effects heavy guitar and clicking glass bottles is terrible.

Death Wish

Death Wish is a conflicting movie for me.  I sorta like it overall but I have serious issues with Paul Kersey, how vigilantism is portrayed and the very tidy ending.

First things first though, that title is one of the best ever in cinema history.  It evokes so much mystery.  Who has a death wish?  Why?  What happened to get to this point?  However, I contend Kersey doesn’t really have a death wish.  He’s bereft but not to the point where he doesn’t care if he lives or dies.  If that’s not the case the filmmakers should’ve been more overtly explicit.  Maybe he was more depressed and on the edge in the book this was based on.

With that out of the way let’s dive into the man himself.  Kersey suffers tremendous hardship when his wife and daughter are beaten and raped.  His wife eventually dies from her injuries while his daughter breaks from reality remaining in a catatonic state.  The cops have virtually nothing to go on so finding the perps is next to impossible.  Kersey’s conclusion is if the cops won’t do their job he’ll do it for them.  So with immense pain in his back pocket Kersey turns rogue and dishes out his own brand of justice to any mugger he comes across.  He’s confused, blinded by rage and naturally thinks he’s doing the right thing.  The world isn’t safe so he’ll make it safe one dead body at a time.  A co-worker in the beginning of the film calls him a bleeding heart liberal and we find out he was a conscientious objector during the Korean War which is setup to make his turn towards violence seem all the more disturbing.  The agonizing evolution this character goes through is fascinating and terrifying.

If this series wasn’t inextricably linked to Charlie Bronson (Hard Times) you might think it would be hard for him to pull off being such a mild mannered person who gets pushed into berserker mode because he was known for playing tough as nails characters.  He definitely has that strong stoic presence here but he exudes a softness that I don’t think I’ve seen from him in some of his other films.  He’s believable as someone who initially wouldn’t hurt a fly but then a switch is flipped in him to where he views human life as something less than precious.

You could say Bronson is emotionless for most of the run except for a couple of scenes and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree.  I like his performance though because it reminds me of Steven Segal’s cool under pressure poker face.  He has little dialogue but he makes it count when he has to.  Underplaying the character like this makes him more enigmatic in a good way in my opinion.  We don’t really know what he’s thinking so you can interpret his actions for yourself leading to endless debate.

It’s a marvel how efficient the storytelling and editing is.  The longest scene probably only lasts about two minutes.  For a movie with such a simple plot, but complicated protagonist, it’s smart filmmaking.  I appreciate that they keep shit rolling and tell as much as they can through the visuals.  Like when Kersey paints his apartment a new color to establish he’s started a new part of his life or when he looks through his recent vacation pictures that show his dead wife smiling on the beach it’s the tipping point when his emotions boil over.

Paul Kersey is sort of what a real life superhero would be like.  No ridiculous costume, no fancy gadgets, no network of helpers, just a guy with a gun weeding out crime on his beat.  He’s like Batman if you stripped away all the trappings.  They’re both wealthy white dudes who appear amiable and gentle during the day but at night they say “fuck the law” and write their own justice.  Of course the key difference is Batman either turns the criminals over to the cops or intimidates the shit out of them so they’ll think twice before committing any nefarious activity.  Kersey straight up massacres them.

Besides being an iconic role for Charlie Bronson this movie is also famous for featuring a young Jeff Goldblum (Nine Months) in his first feature (that’ll be a recurring theme with the sequels).  He plays one of the home invaders who calls Mrs. Kersey the c-word and rapes her daughter.  Interesting debut.  Additionally, Christopher Guest (Best in Show) has one brief scene towards the end as a rookie cop who actually has a pivotal role in the wrap up.

Before we get to more serious matters I want to mention Herbie Hancock’s really cool score.  It’s a great mix of jazz and classical that stirs up the energy in some scenes and remains beautifully subdued in others.  It’s definitely one of the strongest elements of the picture.

Ok, things get dicey when you start to dig into the racial and class aspects of the movie.  Kersey is a rich white guy going around killing people because his wife and daughter were beaten and raped and he feels it’s his duty to rid the world of the type of low level scum that violated his family.  Nothing gives him the right to do this but his actions are condoned when (spoilers) the cops let him fucking walk.  That’s right, they let this asshole go! 

Bronson said he doesn’t think the film promotes taking the law into your own hands but that seems kinda crazy to me considering Kersey was successful in his mission of slaying as many thieves as possible and the cops decide to look the other way.  It’s sorta clear the movie’s saying vigilantism works or at least isn’t that bad.  And even if you’re caught the most you’ll get is a slap on the wrist.  I don’t think the police would’ve been so gracious towards someone else with darker skin.  Being rich and white gives you a lot of leeway.

It’s also fucked up that aside from one cop black folks are exclusively portrayed as crooks.  For instance, while Kersey usually uses himself as bait to lure out attackers there’s one time that he flashes a wallet full of cash in front of two black dudes in a restaurant.  He knows they won’t be able to resist.  Would these guys have committed a crime if Kersey hadn’t come along?  We’ll never know.

This is a tough one.  I mean on a technical level it’s a pretty well made movie.  But I certainly feel like I shouldn’t like it because in terms of the story and the character of Paul Kersey it’s problematic as fuck.  A rich white guy gunning down muggers in the street and essentially getting endorsed by the police in the end is a pretty big middle finger to, well, everyone but especially anyone who isn’t rich and white.

Now, Kersey does wait for someone to actually attempt to rob him before he pulls the trigger.  We never see him preemptively blow someone away.  That still doesn’t give him the right to end people’s lives though.  He seeks out trouble by setting traps which doesn’t feel fair.  I wish the film was a bit more nuanced and there were consequences to Kersey’s actions.  It makes you think about how vigilantism is done in movies and why we’re ok with it when it’s a superhero but it’s messed up when Kersey’s on the prowl.  I think it’s safe to say this is how NOT to do vigilantism.

It’s the fact that the cops let him go that I have the biggest issue with.  This decision robs the film of being a more legitimately challenging picture.

I love the way this poster looks.  The awkward firing over the shoulder pose,
the leaf-less stark trees, the eerie cold feel of the rust, white and black coloring. 
It's more like something out of a horror movie.  Just magnificent.