Death Wish

Sunday, January 20, 2008

A few years back I watched Death Wish 3 on American Movie Classics with Patrick. We weren't so sure that it was truly a classic American movie, but we sure did laugh a lot when Charles Bronson shot a man point blank with a rocket-launcher.

For such a silly, excessive action movie, I found it intriguing that it came from a somewhat well-regarded 70's exploitation drama. So I had been wanting to see the first Death Wish for many years.

Well, I'm glad I saw it, because it turns out to be a well-made, well acted exercise in audience manipulation.

It does get some shit for maybe being a pro-violence/vigilantism movie, but I actually think the movie was a little more complex than that. Yeah, the scumminess of New York may be over-exaggerated, and it does at times suggest that the protagonist's action have some sort of positive effect on the community. But it shows the other side of things too. Like when Bronson comes home after beating a man, he comes home and needs a drink. Later, after killing a man, he vomits. His vigilantism/revenge is shown to overpower him, attract him and I suppose even excite him. And I don't think all these are meant to be positive associations.

Most significantly, I think, is that he never gets the guys who murdered his wife. The movie builds empathy by showing the initial attack in graphic detail, so that we are more sympathetic to Bronson's reaction. However, a truly pro-violence movie would show him finding those responsible, and killing them. Instead, all the people he kills are strangers.

I can see how it could be read the other way, though. I can even imagine sympathetic audience members being excited by the final scene, where Bronson points his finger at a couple of hoods and mock-shoots them. Suggesting that his revenge will continue. But I thought it was chilling, not exciting.

Certainly it's a more ambiguous payoff than shooting a man with a rocket-launcher.