Death Wish (1974) on Netflix
Manhattan architect Paul Kersey's wife is killed and his daughter assaulted when three muggers break into the apartment. A client's revolver sends him onto the streets at night.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.9/1048,754 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes66%
Trailer
Plot summary
Paul Kersey works as an architect in Manhattan and lives there with his wife, Joanna. Their adult daughter, Carol Toby, and her husband, Jack Toby, live nearby. Three muggers follow Joanna and Carol home from a grocery store and push their way into the apartment. The women have only a few dollars, and the intruders beat Joanna and assault Carol. Joanna dies at the hospital from her injuries. A client in Tucson later leaves Paul a revolver as a gift.
Cast
- Chris Gampelas Ives
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Death Wish (1974)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Brian Garfield came to write the 1972 novel after two petty crimes against him: his wife's purse was stolen and, on another occasion, his car was vandalised. His first thought each time, he said, was that he could kill the man responsible.
- The film was first set up with Sidney Lumet directing Jack Lemmon as Paul and Henry Fonda as Ochoa. Lumet left to make Serpico instead, and among the directors then considered was Peter Medak, who wanted Fonda promoted to the lead.
- Studios turned the project down over its subject matter and the difficulty of casting a vigilante, and the actors considered for the role ran from Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Burt Lancaster, George C. Scott and Frank Sinatra to Lee Marvin and even Elvis Presley.
- Charles Bronson thought he was wrong for the part and said so at the time, suggesting the meek character would have suited Dustin Hoffman better. His agent Paul Kohner also warned him the film carried a dangerous message.
- Michael Winner wanted Bronson's real wife Jill Ireland to play Joanna Kersey, but Bronson refused to have her humiliated by the actors playing muggers and said they needed someone who looked like Hope Lange. Winner's answer was that the person who looks most like Hope Lange is Hope Lange, and he hired her.
- To fit Bronson, screenwriter Gerald Wilson rebuilt the hero: the novel's meek accountant Paul Benjamin became the architect Paul Kersey, and his war record changed from a World War II veteran to a Korean War one.
- Dino De Laurentiis wanted the film scored by what he called a cheap English band. Winner's then-girlfriend Sonia Manzano gave him a copy of Head Hunters, and he offered the job to Herbie Hancock, who played much of the synthesiser score himself.
- Jeff Goldblum made his screen debut in Death Wish, as one of the "freaks" who attack Kersey's family in the opening scenes.
