DEATH WISH (1974) Review

Directed by: Michael Winner

Starring: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia

When it comes to vigilante revenge thrillers you can’t get much more iconic than the original DEATH WISH and its protagonist Paul Kersey. Becoming a veritable one man army he tasks himself with the mission of cleaning the scum from the mean streets of New York City after a home invasion leaves his wife dead and his daughter bruised both physically and mentally. And although this is far from the first movie to feature a single man waging a personal war against criminals it is easily one of the best examples out there.

Mild mannered Paul Kersey (Bronson) is an architect. He’s happily married with a lovely daughter and appears to be pretty comfortable both financially and in his personal life. But all of that changes when his wife and daughter become victim to a violent home invasion. Three thugs follow them home from the grocery store and pose as delivery boys to gain access to their apartment. Once inside they rough the women up as they search for money and then after displaying their disappointment at just how little cash is lying around they beat the shit out of Joanna (Lange) and tear off Carol's clothes before abusing her. A swift kick to Joanna’s head and they run off.
Joanna dies in the hospital but Paul’s daughter Carol is fine (physically at least) so Paul heads on down to the police station to see how the investigation is going. After getting a fairly blunt and disappointing reply Paul heads off on a work ‘vacation’ to Arizona to deal with a land development. Upon returning he is gifted with a shiny new .32 revolver which he will be using quite a lot in the coming days.
A chance run in with a mugger ends with the mugger dead and Paul holding the smoking gun. What follows is a one man mission to cleanse the streets of the city as Paul heads out at night looking for trouble with his .32. But as the bodies start piling up the police begin putting the pieces together and soon they are hot on Paul’s heels. Will they catch the vigilante killer?

I was always a little disappointed that Paul never gets revenge on the thugs responsible for his wife’s death but then I always took that to be a comment on the staggeringly high crime rate in the city at the time. This is confirmed when Paul talks to the detective heading the investigation and is told pretty much straight up that there’s not much hope of finding the offenders.

Without any real leads to follow up on Paul starts shooting up any criminals he comes across but his first victim is somewhat of an accident. I always liked the fact that he doesn't go from mild mannered, middle aged man straight to stone cold killer. The first time he shoots someone it visibly affects him and shakes him to his core. But once he realizes what he’s capable of he purposely goes out at night looking for trouble and dealing out his own brand of justice.

But simply labelling DEATH WISH as an avenger style film with an impressive body count would be to deny it its true power which comes in the form of the moral and ethical questions it raised. Can vigilantism be a good thing? To what lengths should a person go to defend themselves. The film makes an argument in favor of vigilantism by explaining the crime rate dropping after Paul’s attacks, but to its merit it also brings to light the other side of the coin. What effect will this vigilantism have in the long run? Will it whip the citizens into a frenzy where eventually they'll be attacking anybody who looks suspicious?

And although events start off pretty clean cut (Paul’s first victim is clearly attempting to mug him) they eventually wander into more ambiguous territory as Paul not only goes out seeking out muggers but even begins to shoot them while they are fleeing. This is when the notion of self-defense goes right out the window and you start questioning whether or not Paul really is doing the right thing.
Charles Bronson has never really been known as a particularly great actor but he does an outstanding job here as do just about everybody else. Even the very young Jeff Goldblum in his role as one of the thugs who invades Kersey’s apartment puts on a fittingly aggressive display.

DEATH WISH stands as el numero uno on my list of vigilante flicks but it is also much more than just that. It’s actually quite an intelligent film and is a product of its time and it does a good job of not glorifying vigilantism but instead offering arguments both for and against. On one hand you can just sit back and enjoy the ride as Paul Kersey doles out high velocity justice with his .32 revolver or you can go a bit deeper and ponder the moral questions the movie raises, really it’s up to you.
It’s not your usual Charles Bronson action fest and whether or not you'll enjoy it may depend upon your thoughts about crime and justice. I still highly recommend it to everybody though and I personally give it 9 dead muggers out of 10.

THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE (1974) Review

Directed by: Bo Arne Vibenius

Starring: Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf, Despina Tomazani

THRILLER is one of those movies I've heard a lot of things about and have been meaning to see for quite some time but never got around to it until now. I'd mainly heard about it in reference to it's influential and controversial aspects, but did it live up to my expectations? Well I'm glad to say that it actually exceeded them.

THRILLER is one of the many films which deals with rape, abuse and revenge like the more well known LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, although it isn't quite your conventional rape & revenge thriller. The film starts of with a young girl who is raped by an old bearded creep. We are then introduced to the girl Frigga (Lindberg) all grown up and living with her parents in a quaint farming community. We also learn that because of her traumatic experience as a child she is completely mute. After missing the bus Frigga is offered a ride by a seemingly nice guy named Tony (Hopf) who takes her out to dinner and then back to his place for a couple of drinks. After drugging the girl and shooting her up with heroin he gets her hooked on the drug in order to work for him as a prostitute. After attacking her very first client Tony slices up her eye with a scalpel to keep her in order and for the remainder of the movie she wears a patch over one eye. But Tony isn't a complete monster because he gives her Mondays off work and she decides to use these days to her advantage. By putting away money she organizes classes to teach her how to shoot, fight and drive as she prepares a plan for revenge.

This is far from the most disturbing and extreme rape & revenge films and in fact there is not really a whole lot of gore at all, although there is the close-up scene of an eyeball being popped with a scalpel which might make some people a little uncomfortable especially since it is a real scalpel and a real eyeball. But the way the story is told is really creative and it must have been interesting to get around the fact that the main character cannot talk. The close-up shots of sweaty, grunting clients and the hardcore penetration scenes add a real gritty and dirty angle to the film and seeing the way Frigga is treated by both Tony and her clients really helps you hope that she gets the revenge she seeks. A lot of the shots used in the movie are very different and artsy and some of them work while others don't. The super slow motion death scenes were kind of neat at first but by the end they began to lose their charm.

One thing I can really give the director (and his actors) credit for is how far he has gone to add some realism to the film. Apparently the producers had to take a hefty insurance policy out of Christina Lindberg because live ammunition was used in the action scenes and for the heroin injection scenes her veins were actually injected with a saline solution. Non simulated sexual penetration was also used (I'm pretty sure they were spliced in later on) and a real cadaver was used for the eyeball scene. Some people might find using a real body for the purposes of disfigurement on film to be in bad taste but there's no arguing that it does give the movie an extra bit of realism. Also I'm sure a lot of people will be put off by the hardcore scenes but I personally thought that they were an important addition because they help portray the level of abuse that Frigga is put through.

As for its influence on other movies it is pretty obvious where Quentin Tarantino got his inspiration for the KILL BILL character Elle Driver, and I'm pretty sure the final death scene played some part in inspiring HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN as well. Also when I saw Christina Lindberg wielding a shotgun and driving a cop car around while dressed in black I couldn't help but think of MAD MAX. And I'm not quite sure but the whole rape & revenge scenario coupled with the victim being mute has to have influenced Abel Ferarra's MS .45 in some way.

There really isn't much I didn't like about THRILLER apart from perhaps a few drawn out and overused scenes but that's basically nothing. Christina Lindberg is super attractive and a great choice for a sexy and strong female lead and her transformation from innocent farm girl to brutal avenger is really well done. The cinematography is artistic and some of the shots a brilliant, and the soundtrack is quite bizarre but I loved it. If you feel you might be put off by some of the sex or even the eye scene then I suggest you hunt around for one of the other releases. The movie was released under a few different titles including THEY CALL HER ONE EYE and HOOKER'S REVENGE which have different running times although I'm not sure which parts exactly have been removed. If you want to see the movie with all of the sex and violence intact however I suggest you look for the 107 minute long THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE. Very highly recommended.