Storyline
After 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.
Directors
Cast
Trailer
Reviews
75
In Death Wish we get just about the definitive Bronson; rarely has a leading role contained fewer words or more violence.
60
Village Voice
If it were even remotely realistic, it would be intolerable, but the first half of its premise, Bronson as a bleeding-heart liberal who turns, because of a personal tragedy into a gun-toting vigilante, is so patently unconvincing as to make the payoff an irresistibly entertaining exercise in backlash titillation. [29 Aug 1974, p.65]
60
Village Voice
An enjoyable bad movie instead of a purely offensive one. [01 Aug 1974, p.67]
50
The sense of location is strong, emphasising a hostile, nightmarish terrain; but Winner's recourse to caricature when dealing with police and thugs, and his virtually overt sympathies with the confused, violent Bronson, make for uncritical, simplistic viewing.
40
Death Wish is so cannily fabricated that it sometimes succeeds in arousing the most primitive kind of anger. Yet it's a despicable movie, one that raises complex questions in order to offer bigoted, frivolous, oversimplified answers.
