Charles Bronson was a leading man in the 1970s who became the unequivocal tough-guy in cinema. Before he made his brutish way into the limelight, he played henchmen and thugs. He worked his way up to villainy in Machine-Gun Kelly, his first major role as gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly. His brawn matched his brains, too, as his films continued to challenge his bold demeanor. The Lithuanian-American actor found the most popularity in European theaters with French and Italian pictures.
From westerns and war epics to mysteries and thrillers, Bronson reached international acclaim. He made a resounding return to America with a film series that would define his career: Death Wish. Based on a loose adaptation of the self-titled crime-drama novel by Brian Garfield, Bronson plays well-to-do architect, Paul Kersey, who becomes a vigilante after a home invasion kills his wife. Seeking justice, he kills any hoodlum and criminal that makes the mistake of crossing his path. The book was against vigilantism, but the film celebrates it with a neo-western antihero. Crime rates were at an all-time high in 1970s New York and Bronson was the man of action, ready to clean up the city streets.
6 Death Wish (2018)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Bruce Willis takes on the mantle of the Paul Kersey character in this remake. The Die Hard star should feel like a dead ringer in the vigilante role, but the film rings hollow. Compared to the original’s home invasion, the new rendition is blunt but ordinary: a quick shooting to dispatch Kersey’s loved ones. The performances are wooden and carved haphazardly; no one expects to see Tom and Jerry or Rube Goldberg-machine kills in a Death Wish movie. Clumsy scenes like this distract rather than escalate the drive for revenge.
5 Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)
Trimark Pictures
Bronson does his best to keep rogue justice alive. In the fifth and final installment of the Death Wish series, Paul Kersey is after mobsters who threaten his girlfriend, Olivia Regent (Lesley Anne-Down) and her fashion business. The Face of Death falls somewhere between a fashion disaster and a wardrobe malfunction. Much of the action stunts look stunted; even more so in slow motion. The old-fashioned machismo presence of Bronson is there, but the silver fox was no match for the fashion-forward plot.
4 Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
Cannon Film Distributors
Los Angeles drug busts and drug lords hit close to home when Kersey’s girlfriend’s daughter dies from an overdose from crack cocaine. He is met by tabloid publisher, Nathan White, who discovers Kersey is the vigilante. Instead of revealing his identity to the police, White works with Kersey to take down the drug trade. The war on crime and the sensationalism of violence is understood, the latter being the most ironic. The only way to stop drug violence, it seems, is with more violence and a bottle of wine. The idea of Kersey working between the lines of justice and vengeance is clever, even though it downplays and jeopardizes the mystery of the vigilante.
3 Death Wish 3 (1985)
Rising gangs face off in a turf war after killing Kersey’s Korean War buddy, Charley. The police mistakenly frame and take him into custody, where he meets the gang leader responsible for his friend’s death, Manny Fraker. After Fraker is released, the police decide to use Kersey to infiltrate and exterminate the punks from within. The police get credit for the busts and make the headlines while Kersey stays a free man out of the public eye. One scene has Kersey enjoying ice cream until a gang member called The Giggler (don’t waste your breath, Joker) decides to ruin his dessert. With a name like that, you can imagine who got the last laugh. Death Wish 3 comes off as a crude extension of The Warriors except with more gunplay.
2 Death Wish II (1982)
Filmways Pictures
Another family affair leaves Kersey with no choice but stone-cold revenge. The film shifts gears with the mustached vigilante in pursuit of his family’s killers, rather than the rest of the criminal underworld. Gang members rape, steal, and kill until Kersey disguises himself as a drifter to right their wrongs. A worthy sequel that holds true to the dark tones and grit of the first film, Kersey leaves the bad guys wishing for death and praying to a higher power.
1 Death Wish (1974)
Paramount Pictures
Charles Bronson is Bruce Wayne with a gun. The Purple Heart recipient and World War II veteran has no trouble playing a pacifist-turned-vigilante to deal with scumbags and thieves. When the world has a problem that no one else can solve, drastic measures and intervention states its name: Paul Kersey. Some might say Death Wish the glorifies gratuitous killing of criminals. Others see it as a need for a strict, black-and-white Code of Hammurabi. Kersey stands with moral ambiguity, making decisions when none are being made. When people wish for change, Kersey makes a death wish.
