Death Wish

Dir: Michael Winner

1974

****

Much like Rambo: First Blood, Death Wish is a classic that has now become somewhat overshadowed by its disappointing sequels. Actually, they’re not that disappointing, they’re brilliantly nuts, but the original is a bonafide classic. I think I appreciate it more than I love it however, I admire its guts and its provocative nature. I just don’t like the subject matter. It’s a neo-conservative sensationalist exploitation film in many respects, vigilante films were nothing new but there had never been one quite like this before. Usually with vigilante films the protagonist is either a bad guy, deranged or has snapped. Here, our vigilante is a successful middle age architect, he wears a suit and is respectable, yet he kills in the same cold manner as the killers who murdered his wife did. I’m not sure it intended to raise all of the questions it does but it raises them all the same. It’s only loosely based on Brian Garfield’s novel released two years before but Garfield helped unofficially with development of the script. Garfield was inspired to use the theme of vigilantism following incidents in his personal life. In one incident, his wife's purse was stolen; in another, his car was vandalised. His initial thought each time was that he could kill "the son of a bitch" responsible. He later considered that these were primitive thoughts, contemplated in an unguarded moment. He then thought of writing a novel about a man who entered this way of thinking in a moment of rage and then never emerged from it. Garfield sold screen rights to both Death Wish and another novel called Relentless to the only film producers who approached him, Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts. He was offered the chance to write a screenplay adapting one of the two novels, and chose Relentless. He simply considered it the easier of the two to turn into a film. The film follows Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson), an architect living in Manhattan with his wife Joanna and grown daughter Carol. One day, Joanna and Carol are followed home by three thugs who invade their apartment, posing as deliverymen. Upon finding that Carol and Joanna only have $7 on them, the thugs proceed to rape Carol and brutally beat Joanna before fleeing. Upon arriving at the hospital, Paul is devastated to learn that Joanna has died from her injuries. After his wife's funeral, Paul has an encounter with a mugger in a darkened street. Paul fights back with a sock stuffed with rolls of coins in it, causing the mugger to run away. Paul is shaken but energised by the encounter. A few days later Paul is invited to dinner by a friend at his gun club. His friend is impressed with Paul's accuracy at the target range. Paul reveals that he was a conscientious objector during the Korean War when he served as a combat medic. He had been taught to handle firearms by his father, a hunter, but after he was killed in a hunting accident Paul's mother made him swear never to use guns again. Meanwhile his daughter is severely depressed from the trauma of the assault and is now catatonic, and is eventually committed to a mental hospital. Paul’s friend gifts him a revolver. Paul decides to take it with him on a late night walk where he is mugged at gunpoint. Paul shoots the mugger, and in a state of shock, he runs home and vomits. The next night Paul walks through the city looking for violent criminals. Over the next few weeks, Paul kills several people, some of whom he provokes into attacking him, and others when he sees them attacking others. NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) is put in charge of investigating the vigilante killings. His department narrows it down to a list of men who have had a family member recently killed by muggers and who are war veterans. Ochoa soon suspects Paul and is about to make an arrest when the District Attorney intervenes and tells Ochoa to "let him loose" in another city instead. The D.A. and the Police Commissioner do not want the fact to get out that street crime in New York City has dropped dramatically since Paul became a vigilante, and they fear that if he is not stopped, the whole city will descend into chaos. But they don't want him to be arrested, because they don't want a martyr. Ochoa does not like the idea, but relents. One night, Paul shoots two more muggers before being wounded in the leg by a third mugger with a pistol, whom he pursues to a warehouse. When Paul corners him, he challenges him to a fast draw, only to faint, with the mugger escaping. His gun is discovered by a young patrolman who hands it to Ochoa and is told to forget he ever saw it. The press are informed that Paul is just another mugging victim. Hospitalized, Paul is told by Ochoa to have his company transfer him to another city and, in exchange, Ochoa will dispose of Paul's revolver. In addition, Paul is ordered by Ochoa to leave New York permanently. Paul arrives in Chicago Union Station by train. Being greeted by a company representative, he notices a group of hoodlums harassing a young woman. He excuses himself and helps the woman. The hoodlums continue to make obscene gestures and Paul makes a finger gun at them and smiles. It’s a great ending. Wendell Mayes was hired to write the screenplay. He preserved the basic structure of the novel and much of the philosophical dialogue. It was his idea to turn police detective Frank Ochoa into a major character of the film. His early drafts for the screenplay had different endings than the final one. In one, he followed an idea from Garfield that the vigilante confronts the three thugs who attacked his family and ends up dead at their hands. Ochoa discovers the dead man's weapon and considers following in his footsteps. In another, the vigilante is wounded and rushed to a hospital. His fate is left ambiguous. Meanwhile, Ochoa has found the weapon and struggles with the decision to use it. His decision is left unclear. I liked each idea but I love the cold mystery they ended up going with. The film was originally rejected by studios because of its controversial subject matter, and the perceived difficulty of casting someone in the vigilante role. Michael Winner attempted to recruit Bronson but had difficulty getting it past his agent, not ony because of the controversial subject matter but also due to the original screenplay having the vigilante as a meek accountant - hardly a suitable role for Bronson. Bronson admitted later that he felt he was miscast, "It was more a theme that would have been better for Dustin Hoffman or somebody who could play a weaker kind of man. I told them that at the time." However, it is now impossible to see anyone else in the role. That said, I can’t help but think what the original would have looked like, had the original plan of having Sidney Lumet direct, with Jack Lemmon as Paul and Henry Fonda as Ochoa. Thankfully Lumet bowed out of the project to direct Serpico. Several directors were considered, including Peter Medak, but United Artists eventually chose Michael Winner, due to his track record of gritty, violent action films. The film project was dropped by United Artists after budget constraints forced producers Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts to liquidate their rights. The original producers were replaced by Italian film mogul Dino De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis convinced Charles Bluhdorn to bring the project to Paramount Pictures. Paramount purchased the distribution rights of the film in the United States market, while Columbia Pictures licensed the distribution rights for international markets. With funding secured, screenwriter Gerald Wilson was hired to revise the script. His first task was changing the identity of the vigilante to make the role more suitable for Bronson. "Paul Benjamin" was renamed to "Paul Kersey". His job was changed from accountant to architect. His background changed from a World War II veteran to a Korean War veteran. The reason for him not seeing combat duty changed from serving as an army accountant to being a conscientious objector. I’m not sure Death Wish is the classic it could have been but I still think it’s pretty great. I like it as a stand-alone piece and I also like it for beginning one of the most awful but enjoyable series’ to being.