Death Wish 3
Added 9/25/2009
This is good if you want to see how tough Bronson can be. I must say, the language is very explicit. This finished out my Death Wish series.
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A Comedy of Murders: Kersey versus The Not Equal To's
Added 7/19/2009
Right from the beginning the intention of the director is to create a farce about violence in America. New York in particular. This theme is carried to extremes regarding the attitude of Police, the way people behave inside Jail cells, the hypocracy of gun control, neighborhoods gone bad and a large statement is made here about liberals and their attitude to crime.
As everyone knows this film resembles an arcade game where people pop out of windows, doors and from behind buildings and you get "points" for shooting them as targets. The end of this picture makes a strong suggestion in that way.
The Church of course, rightly condemmed this picture. It has no redeeming quality save for you get to see everyone in society that you would like to see destroyed get blasted away from the face of the earth, beginning with a few car thieves stealing a radio then graduating to killing a purse snatcher (the Giggler) , we also get to see equal rapes of a Latino, A Black and A white girl in separate incidents and escalating to the point where even the average citizen begins to gun down dirty biker gangs and basically everyone in sight.
If there is a plot and I doubt it, it is Paul Kersey versus the "Not Equal to's" gang, who have an algebra symbol of an equal sign with a slash through it painted on their heads. I seriously doubt that this is a pack of mathletes and their leader is I think, supposed to represent the personification of evil. In this role, the actor should have received an academy award as best supporting actor, with lines like "watch the news tonight, I'm going to kill an old lady just for you.".
You will not see any real estate gurus telling you "now is the time to buy real estate" here in the Belmont area of New York (street gang filming entirely in a created set in the UK!) as their values are definitely declining. Also it is the only place on earth that I have seen White, Black, Latina and Jewish people working together in the pursuit of mayhem.
It is a violent fantasy, with the accent on both. In fact the violence is non-stop and continues to escalate bigger and bigger to the point that you cannot help but break out laughing and I think this was all intentional on behalf of the director.
The film has achieved a cult status with the younger set. I don't believe anyone takes this work seriously. The situation is simply impossible, especially old Jews refusing to leave the ultra-violent neighborhood. This may have been the biggest blooper in the film. The second perhaps is the idea that the Police "can't do anything" about the criminals but punish the decent people. An 80s idea perhaps.
One of the worst elements in this film is the romantic interest for a tired and old Paul Kersey. A youngish defense attorney goes out of her way to date this "nice guy". Of course we are shown a short relationship, followed by sex before death and then she is sent to valhalla by the leader and another member of the "not equal to" gang.
In the end, we have our ultimate warrior shooting gallery game with Kersey and the Police Inspector running down the street shooting everyone off rooftops and expert long range shooting against a gang of "sharpshooters?" who miss our two heroes over and over again. It all ends in a grand style as the leader is blown away by a Missle. Wonderful stuff.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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BRONS THE MAN
Added 4/27/2009
I quite remember,when the film premiered,everybody shouted about violence or sadism.No we have a shining example how straigth storyline,second class acting and over the top violence can create a classic.The DEATH WISH SERIES sucks for my opininon except the Original and this flick.Bronson delivers the coolest performance of his career and the shootout at the end has to be seen .But its a shame that MGM delivers the film in FULL PICTURE(!!!!!).Burn in hell!!!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Bronson Takes on The Rainbow Coalition of Crime
Added 2/20/2008
I love this movie. I did not know whether to give it one star because it is so utterly terrible, or five stars because it is so wonderfully and unintentionally ludicrous. Hey: maybe Michael Winner had his tongue tucked firmly in his cheek and decided to kick out the credibility jams on this one, and deliberately make a stupifyingly ridiculous movie. I don't think Cannon's producers Globus and Golan are American or native English-speakers; they might not have even been astute enough to figure out what the sly Winner was up to, or care!
It certainly appears Bronson may not have either, as his performance as the world's most elusive and successful vigilante is as sober and serious as ever. In this film masterpiece, druggies, thugs, rapists, vicious gang members, sadistic bikers, pimps, prostitutes, and just plain mean people, irregardless of race, color or creed, are unified under the aegis of Ubernasty Mandy Fraker, played deliciously by the reptilian Gavin O'Herlihy (the same actor whose character exhibited similar traits as the bloodthirsty cowpoke in "Lonesome Dove", who hated "sodbusters", and would shoot them, hang them and set the bodies on fire; maybe that was Mandy's great grandfather?).
Jesse Jackson would be proud. Fraker's gang is truly a diverse group, a veritable "rainbow coalition" of violence and crime. Hey, it could happen, couldn't it? You know, African Americans, Latinos, WASPS, Italians, Serbs, Jews, Arabs, Lutherans, gays, bi's, straights, come one, come all, joining forces to form one cohesive Gang of Terror, intent on robbing, looting, raping, pillaging, murdering, and taking lunch money. Just think of all the gangs in NYC which have this much diversity!
The cops have pretty much given up doing any policework--hey, is this supposed to be the south Bronx??--so they're desperate to employ any means necessary to (1) reduce crime, and (2) kill bad guys. The also-reptilian Ed Lauter, playing the beleagered police chief, both clutching at straws and recognizing a good thing when he sees it, finally swallows his pride and actually gives Bronson a big "thumbs up", to wreak havoc on the city's scum. He basically says--I paraphrase here--"kill as many of the SOB's as you can, just check in with me every now and then".
That's plausible, right? No, you say?
Well, get over it! That's the premise of this movie.
Licking his mustachioed chops, Chuck eagerly gets down to business, and assiduously and determinedly mows 'em down with everything he can muster: machine guns, handguns, knives, machetes, axes, grenade launchers, rolling pins, surface-to-air missiles, thermonuclear weapons, etc., and the great thing is that he's doing it all legally. Bronson's Paul Kersey, the genteel and sophisticated architect (!), resolutely despatches hundreds if not thousands of low lifes, emerging from the epic urban battle with nary a scratch.
One of the powerful things about the first Death Wish movie was that you really wanted to see Kersey exact revenge for the monstrous things done to his wife and daughter. But by the time this edition rolled out, you were rooting for the bad guys (the same thing happened with Jaws 3 and 4, etc., where you were unquestionably rooting for the shark).
At movie's end, Chuck has probably wiped out most of the population of the lower east side. There are no more bad people at all; he's even killed most of the grumpy and/or rude ones. He's turned the neighborhood into an East Coast version of Sun City, AZ. The streets are safe, the churches, restaurants and shops are full, families are outside having fun, happy old couples are square-dancing and playing shuffleboar--well, I guess I'm exaggerating a bit there!
I would really like to know what the all-time "kill" tally would be by the lead character in a single, non-war, modern-day urban crime movie. Has anyone done a serious study of this? You'd have to review all the Eastwood Dirty Harry's, the Stallone films like Cobra, the John Woo's with Chow Yun Fat, and the Death Wishes.
Oh, and while we're at it, can we get a total body count for Bronson/Kersey in all FIVE of the Death Wishes?
Geez...did they really make FIVE of these??!!?
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Very Hokey and Unrealistic Outing
Added 2/18/2008
I loved Charles Bronson in most of his 70's films. "The Mechanic", "Mr.Majestyk" and the original "Death Wish" are all fine films that mix good shoot-em-up with scripts that are dramatically well written.
"Death Wish 3" is a dud. It features so much of the same worn ground travelled in the original "Death Wish" and it's sequel. Either Charles Bronson/Paul Kersey is the most unfortunate man on Earth or the writers just can't write. After suffering again another attack by out of control street thugs, Bronson is forced on the offensive to save a besieged neighborhood.
The wave after wave of weapon wielding thugs that comes after Bronson would not be out of place in a video game, but here it's fantastic and hard to believe.There is no motivation for the meaningless attack after attack, and like lemmings marching to their deaths, Bronsons adversaries are as quickly replaced by similarly motivated look alikes soon after each one is uncerimoniously shot dead.
DW3 is worth a look for late night laughs, but if you are searching a continuation of the first 2 installments, stay far away. Soundtrack by Jimmy Page also disappoints.
2 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Death Wish 3
Added 9/25/2009
This is good if you want to see how tough Bronson can be. I must say, the language is very explicit. This finished out my Death Wish series.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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A Comedy of Murders: Kersey versus The Not Equal To's
Added 7/19/2009
Right from the beginning the intention of the director is to create a farce about violence in America. New York in particular. This theme is carried to extremes regarding the attitude of Police, the way people behave inside Jail cells, the hypocracy of gun control, neighborhoods gone bad and a large statement is made here about liberals and their attitude to crime.
As everyone knows this film resembles an arcade game where people pop out of windows, doors and from behind buildings and you get "points" for shooting them as targets. The end of this picture makes a strong suggestion in that way.
The Church of course, rightly condemmed this picture. It has no redeeming quality save for you get to see everyone in society that you would like to see destroyed get blasted away from the face of the earth, beginning with a few car thieves stealing a radio then graduating to killing a purse snatcher (the Giggler) , we also get to see equal rapes of a Latino, A Black and A white girl in separate incidents and escalating to the point where even the average citizen begins to gun down dirty biker gangs and basically everyone in sight.
If there is a plot and I doubt it, it is Paul Kersey versus the "Not Equal to's" gang, who have an algebra symbol of an equal sign with a slash through it painted on their heads. I seriously doubt that this is a pack of mathletes and their leader is I think, supposed to represent the personification of evil. In this role, the actor should have received an academy award as best supporting actor, with lines like "watch the news tonight, I'm going to kill an old lady just for you.".
You will not see any real estate gurus telling you "now is the time to buy real estate" here in the Belmont area of New York (street gang filming entirely in a created set in the UK!) as their values are definitely declining. Also it is the only place on earth that I have seen White, Black, Latina and Jewish people working together in the pursuit of mayhem.
It is a violent fantasy, with the accent on both. In fact the violence is non-stop and continues to escalate bigger and bigger to the point that you cannot help but break out laughing and I think this was all intentional on behalf of the director.
The film has achieved a cult status with the younger set. I don't believe anyone takes this work seriously. The situation is simply impossible, especially old Jews refusing to leave the ultra-violent neighborhood. This may have been the biggest blooper in the film. The second perhaps is the idea that the Police "can't do anything" about the criminals but punish the decent people. An 80s idea perhaps.
One of the worst elements in this film is the romantic interest for a tired and old Paul Kersey. A youngish defense attorney goes out of her way to date this "nice guy". Of course we are shown a short relationship, followed by sex before death and then she is sent to valhalla by the leader and another member of the "not equal to" gang.
In the end, we have our ultimate warrior shooting gallery game with Kersey and the Police Inspector running down the street shooting everyone off rooftops and expert long range shooting against a gang of "sharpshooters?" who miss our two heroes over and over again. It all ends in a grand style as the leader is blown away by a Missle. Wonderful stuff.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
BRONS THE MAN
Added 4/27/2009
I quite remember,when the film premiered,everybody shouted about violence or sadism.No we have a shining example how straigth storyline,second class acting and over the top violence can create a classic.The DEATH WISH SERIES sucks for my opininon except the Original and this flick.Bronson delivers the coolest performance of his career and the shootout at the end has to be seen .But its a shame that MGM delivers the film in FULL PICTURE(!!!!!).Burn in hell!!!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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