Death Wish II

Dir: Michael Winner

1982

**

Death Wish wasn’t quite the film it was originally intended as but it had something about it that resonated with its audience. However, Brian Garfield, author of the original Death Wish novel, was so unhappy with the film version that he wrote his own sequel, Death Sentence. "They'd made a hero out of him," he would later say, "I thought I'd shown that he'd become a very sick man." Violent crime was so high at the time that people enjoyed the spectacle of payback. Burt Lancaster, George C. Scott and Frank Sinatra, who were all offered the role of Paul Kersey in the original, all at one point or another, spoke about how relieved they were that they passed on the project. The idea to produce a sequel to Death Wish originated with producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, the infamous owners of Cannon Films. They reportedly announced their plans to do so prior to actually securing the rights to the franchise. Dino De Laurentiis co-producer of the original film, threatened them with a lawsuit unless they properly purchased the rights. He negotiated payments for himself, co-producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts, and original author Brian Garfield. The agreement included future payments for each prospective sequel. Cannon did not want to use Garfield's book, preferring an original story by David Engelbach, Golan and Hal Landers. "We think our story is a better film story," said Golan. "You cannot call a film exploitative just because it touches on disturbing issues," said Globus. "Both Death Wish films are a valid comment on American society... the theme of street violence getting out of control is sadly more of a fact of life than it was seven years ago."  The moral that Garfield had tried to touch upon in his original novel was now well and truly lost. Bronson was offered $1.5 million to reprise the role. Jill Ireland was cast in the film because Bronson, her husband, insisted on it. She serves as both the love interest to Kersey and the voice of opposition to the death penalty. Cannon initially tasked Golan with directing the film, but Bronson insisted Michael Winner, the director of the original, should return. Winner had suffered a downturn in his career since the mid-1970s, with no box office hit since Death Wish. He agreed to return to the franchise and also took the initiative in revising the script. Winner recalled that De Laurentiis was having second thoughts about letting someone else produce the sequel, and offered to hire him to do the film for his own production company. Winner refused and De Laurentiis did not renege on his deal with Cannon. The producer did, however, start work on a clone of the film. The final result was 1982’s ‘Fighting Back’. In this follow up film, Paul Kersey has managed to recover from his shattered life and moved on, and is now dating L.A. radio reporter Geri Nichols and has moved himself and his daughter to LA, his daughter residing in a local mental hospital. One afternoon Paul's wallet is stolen by a gang at a fairground. The gang split up when Paul chases them, he corners one of them in an alley, but lets him go when he finds that he doesn’t have his wallet. The gang find Paul's home address in his wallet and later breaks into his house, where they gang rape the housekeeper, Rosario. When Paul arrives home with his daughter, he is beaten unconscious. Rosario tries to call the police, but one of the gang kills her with his crowbar. They kidnap Carol, take her to their hideout, where one of the gang members rapes her. Carol attempts to flee by running through a plate glass window, and falls onto an iron fence and is impaled. When the police arrive, Lieutenant Mankewicz asks for help identifying the muggers, but Paul refuses. After Carol's funeral, he takes a handgun to a low-rent inner city hotel as a base of operations. The next evening, he observes and follows one of the gang into an abandoned building as a drug deal is about to be made. Paul kills one of the dealers, then orders the others out, before proceeding to shoot the gang member dead. The following night, he hears screams from a couple being assaulted by four muggers, which includes another gang member, in a parking garage. Paul kills two hoodlums and wounds his mark. He follows the gang member's blood trail to an abandoned warehouse and shoots him dead. The LAPD and NYPD hear about the murders. When Kersey falls under suspicion, NYPD Detective Frank Ochoa is called in to investigate the case. Ochoa fears that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that he was released without charge eight years ago instead of being prosecuted for killing ten muggers. Ochoa meets with Mankewicz, who suspects Ochoa is giving false information to him. Ochoa intrudes into Geri's apartment and tells her about Paul's previous vigilante killing spree back in New York City. After Paul returns to his house, Geri confronts her lover about Ochoa's revelation, but he denies it. Ochoa follows Kersey to a local square where Kersey is tailing the three remaining gang members. He follows them to an abandoned park, where a major arms and drug deal is underway. A sniper scouts Kersey and attempts to kill him, but Ochoa warns Paul and shoots the sniper dead. Ochoa is mortally wounded by a gang member, while Paul kills two more. The arms dealer tries to get away but Paul shoots him, causing the criminal to drive off a cliff, while the last gang member escapes. Ochoa tells Paul to avenge him before he dies. Paul escapes while another gang member dies from his injuries after giving information about the gang to the police. Paul learns from one of Geri's colleagues that the police are preparing a tactical unit to capture the gang leader. He obtains a police scanner, and by monitoring police radio traffic, finds out when and where the arrest is going to take place. He drives to the location to kill him, but under the influence of PCP, the gang leader slashes his arm and stabs a few officers while trying to escape. Tried and found criminally insane, he is sent to a mental institution. Geri and Paul visit him, requesting an interview, but are turned down by corrupt medics. While there, Paul steals a doctor's ID card. The next night, Paul uses it to enter the asylum and confronts him. Despite being stabbed repeatedly with a scalpel, Paul manages to kill him by electrocution. A sympathetic attendant gives Paul three minutes to escape before hitting the alarm. Geri goes to Paul's house, where she finds out how he made his fake ID. Upon hearing a news report of the gang leader’s death on the radio, she realizes that Paul really is the vigilante Ochoa claimed him to be. She takes off her engagement ring and leaves him, with Paul arriving moments later. A few months later, Paul is speaking about a new architectural design. He is invited by his employer to a party, and when Paul is asked if he is able to attend, he answers: "What else would I be doing?" His shadowy figure walks in the night, followed by three gunshots. It’s a watered down version of the original in many respects but it is also far more brutal and gratuitous. Winner said the film was "the same, but different," to the original. "That's what sequels are – Rocky II, Rocky III – you don't see Sylvester Stallone move to the Congo and become a nurse. Here the look of LA is what's different. Besides – rape doesn't date!" Screenwriter David Engelbach argued the film raised "serious issues – namely, the deteriorating state of our criminal justice system. The actions of the Bronson character are dictated by the inability of the police to prevent crime, the preoccupation of the courts with technical rather than real justice, and the cancerous climate of fear in which we find ourselves today. Paul Kersey is no hero. In his pursuit of vengeance he loses the only emotional relationship of his life and by story's end has become as much a victim of crime as the thugs he leaves dead in his wake." I personally think these are excuses in order to justify a rather blood-thirsty and sensationalist neo-conservative tea-party. “Rape doesn’t date” is a quote you don’t hear very often from a director/producer and it pretty much tells you all you need to know about the film and the people who made it. David Engelbach admitted that he was "somewhat appalled" by the final film and how it differed from his original script. He felt that the rape scenes were added so that Michael Winner could "get his rocks off". Nasty stuff. To think that Natalie Wood nearly became involved in the casting. I do like the music though. Isaac Hayes was recommended by the producers of the film to compose the score but Michael Winner chose former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page who was his next door neighbor at the time. Still, you can’t have Death Wish 3 without Death Wish 2 and from here on the series got terribly good.