7/10
A year shy of its 50th anniversary, the original DEATH WISH (93 mins., 1974, R) became a box-office smash back in the summer of ‘74 and generated one of the most popular roles for its 50-year-old star Charles Bronson, who exclusively shot movies only for Cannon (including a handful of “Death Wish” sequels) late in his career.
After his wife and daughter are brutally stalked and attacked returning to their New York City apartment, architect – and conscientious objector – Paul Kersey dashes to a local hospital, only to find out his wife is dead and his daughter psychologically scarred from the trauma. The police don’t have any leads, and Kersey stands by idly one night after the attack watching a gang trash a car in his upper Manhattan neighborhood. No longer wanting to stand pat, Kersey is compelled to take up firearms after flying out to Arizona for a new job, and comes to embrace a lifestyle of vigilantism – removing the societal trash from the streets of a New York City at the height of ‘70s urban decay.
The original “Death Wish” – a Dino DeLaurentiis production – is quite a bit removed from the entertaining, if decidedly more outlandish, Cannon sequels that belatedly followed in the ‘80s. Director Michael Winner, shooting one of his many pictures with Bronson, knows he’s making an exploitation piece but the film has a measured script by Wendell Mayes, who adapted Brian Garfield’s novel after director Sidney Lumet bowed out (Lumet was supposed to direct the picture with Jack Lemmon starring as Kersey – what a different movie that would’ve been!). Bronson’s effective, cool performance anchors the film as Kersey believably makes the transition from urban liberal to gun-trotting purveyor of justice, though there’s no question which side of the fence the movie comes down on in terms of justifying Kersey’s actions. It’s also interesting to see the film’s debate over the use of guns, which is just as timely today, as is the issue of self-defense – and self-preservation – given the rise in crime in major cities like New York over the last couple of years.
Authentically shot on location, the movie makes a perfect companion piece with “The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3″ in terms of showing the Big Apple at the height of the city’s grimy, violent ‘70s trappings. Authentic atmosphere permeates the picture, while familiar faces abound in supporting roles: Jeff Goldblum is one of the thugs who violently attacks Kersey’s family, and the supermarket clerk he quickly bats his eyes at is Sonya Manzano, best known as Maria on “Sesame Street.” An almost unrecognizable Denzel Washington and Laurence Hilton-Jacobs (“Welcome Back, Kotter”) briefly appear as thugs, while Christopher Guest and Olympia Dukakis have early roles as a pair of cops working with detective Vincent Gardenia, who’s terrific in the movie’s second half.
Ultimately, the original “Death Wish” doesn’t have the gleeful, almost comic-book like fun of the later Cannon sequels (the ridiculous “Death Wish 3″ is a personal guilty pleasure that only seems to get better with age), but it’s nevertheless an effective, nasty little picture that captures a time and place – and its corresponding cultural mood – memorably.
Available January 24th, Kino Lorber’s new 4K restoration of “Death Wish” (1.85) debuts here on 4K UHD with Dolby Vision HDR as well as an accompanying Blu-Ray. Both offer a fresher presentation than Paramount’s own Blu-Ray from 2014, with the original mono sound here joined by an “all channel” 5.1 DTS MA mix (I preferred the mono myself). An interview with actor John Herzfeld debuts here along with a welcome commentary from Paul Talbot, the Charles Bronson authority who recorded commentaries for other films in the franchise previously.