Death Wish

Death Wish (1974) - in which the justice system fails a man who lost his family, and he goes off the rails in finding personal justice. I mean vengeance. Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a husband and father and architect, who has a nice NYC life. One day, near the beginning of the movie, Paul's wife is murdered and his daughter is raped into a catatonic state, from which she will not likely recover. Sexist. Anyways, Paul is destroyed, so his boss sends him out to New Mexico, or another lawless state, for a 3 month long project. Paul does some recovering while he is out there, and is befriended by his big money client, with a big hat and big guns. Upon arriving back in NYC, Paul is disheartened to find his daughter in terrible condition, and his son-in-law coping poorly. There have also been no arrests in his wife's murder, as the police are very busy with a crime spree related to gang violence. Paul is a really sympathetic guy, and his pain is visible, and very real. So, while he's unpacking from his trip, he finds a present from big money hat guy, and its a gun! Naturally, Paul almost immediately begins to seek out the men who killed his wife, with the intent to kill them. Because the police have also been searching for these murderers, when their bodies start appearing, the police put together that a vigilante is doing it. Paul is horrified that he's committing these murders, but he's still in pain, and scared, and gets sort of addicted to the rush, so he starts looking like a mark on purpose, and kills the guys who try to rob him. The police start getting closer to him, and this is the main tension of the movie. There is one detective, whose hunches are leading him straight to Paul, but there's no evidence, because it is the 70's, and because it is a movie. The climax of the film has Paul chasing down a criminal he shot but did not kill, and the detective chasing down the both of them. I think Paul gets caught, but the detective just tells him to leave town and never come back, because he understands, but maybe doesn't appreciate the help. Paul leaves town, and his daughter is still catatonic, and will never recover. Bummer. There was recently a remake that looked racist and lazy, so I did not watch it. This was really good, though.