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6.9After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be muggers after dark.
Cast
- Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey
- Hope Lange as Joanna Kersey
- Vincent Gardenia as Frank Ochoa
- Steven Keats as Jack Toby
- William Redfield as Sam Kreutzer
- Stuart Margolin as Aimes Jainchill
Themes
- new york city
- taxi
- police
- fight
- gangster
- anti hero
- architect
- revenge
- vigilante
- hospital
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Ratings
IMDb
6.9/10
45,235 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
66%
Metacritic
51/100
- Year
- 1974
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Michael Winner
- Screenplay by
- Wendell Mayes
- Based on
- Death Wish , by Brian Garfield
- Produced by
- Dino De Laurentiis Hal Landers Bobby Roberts Michael Winner
- Starring
- Charles Bronson Vincent Gardenia William Redfield Hope Lange
- Cinematography
- Arthur J. Ornitz
- Edited by
- Bernard Gribble
- Music by
- Herbie Hancock
- Production company
- Dino De Laurentiis Corporation
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- July 24, 1974 ( 1974-07-24 )
- Running time
- 94 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $3.7 million
- Box office
- $30 million (US/West Germany), $20.3 million (worldwide rentals)
via Wikipedia infobox
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Death Wish is a 1974 American vigilante action drama film directed by Michael Winner. The film, loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same title by Brian Garfield and the first installment in the Death Wish film series, stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, alongside Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield, Kathleen Tolan and Christopher Guest. In the film, Paul Kersey, an architect leading a peaceful life, resorts to vigilantism after his wife Joanna is murdered and daughter Carol Kersey Toby is raped during a home invasion.
At the time of release, Death Wish was criticized for its apparent support of vigilantism and advocating unlimited punishment of criminals. The novel allegedly denounced vigilantism, whereas the film embraced the notion. The film was a commercial success and resonated with the public in the United States, which was experiencing increasing crime rates during the 1970s.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Death Wish” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.