Deathwish

In the wake of a chilling attack, an ordinary man decides to take revenge When his wife and daughter are attacked in their home, Paul Benjamin is enjoying a three-martini lunch. A professional man, soft around the middle, Paul lives happily isolated from the rougher side of New York City. As he nurses his gin headache, a call comes from his son-in-law asking him to come to the hospital. In a few hours, his world will collapse around him. As Paul slurped down his lunchtime gin, drug addicts broke into his cozy Upper West Side apartment. For a handful of money, they savagely beat Paul’s wife and daughter, leaving his wife dead and his daughter comatose. After his shock wears off, and Paul realizes the police department is helpless, his thoughts turn to revenge—not just for him, but for every decent family broken by the dark forces of society.

Deep Focus is a series of film books with a fresh approach. Take the smartest, liveliest writers in contemporary letters and let them loose on the most vital and popular corners of cinema history: midnight movies, the New Hollywood of the sixties and seventies, film noir, screwball comedies, international cult classics, and more. Passionate and idiosyncratic, each volume of Deep Focus is long-form criticism that’s relentlessly provocative and entertaining. Christopher Sorrentino’s examination of Death Wish is the second entry in the series. The fourth collaboration between director Michael Winner and actor Charles Bronson, Death Wish was the apotheosis of a succession of films hitting screens during the seventies—including Bullitt, Dirty Harry, and Walking Tall—that tacked against a prevailing liberal wind in Hollywood cinema. Exploiting audience fears of a bestial “other” infesting American cities, and explicitly linking law and order with a pastoral ideal of the Old West (and exurban subdivisions), its glib endorsement of vigilantism infuriated liberal critics even as it filled theaters with cheering audiences. Sorrentino examines Death Wish in its various contexts—as movie, as provocation, as social commentary, as political tautology, and as depiction of urban life—and considers its lasting influence on cinema.

In the summer of 1974 the movie Death Wish stunned audiences with its powerful story of an enraged businessman who hits the streets with a handgun to avenge the brutal violation of his wife and daughter. The film packed theaters with cheering moviegoers, became one of the highest-grossing and most controversial movies of the year, and turned star Charles Bronson into the hottest screen icon in the world. Over the next twenty years, four increasingly-violent sequels delivered thrills to a growing legion of fans and solidified the legend of Charles Bronson. Now, for the first time, Death Wish fanatics, Bronson cultists, and action movie lovers will discover fascinating information about the series. In exclusive comments, director Michael Winner, actor Kevyn Major Howard, novelist Brian Garfield, and many others reveal what it was like to work on the Death Wish movies with one of the most charismatic and elusive stars of all time. Covering every aspect of all five movies (including unused casting suggestions, deleted scenes and alternate cuts) and loaded with rare advertising artwork, Bronson's Loose!: The Making of the "Death Wish" Films tells the compelling, untold story behind the most explosive action series in film history.

EVIL KENEVIL MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA IN THIS ORIGINAL FAST AND THE FURIOUS! THE GREATEST DAREDEVIL OF THEM ALL - BECAUSE HE DOESN'T CARE IF HE LIVES OR DIES! Blake Edmonds had it all - fame, money, looks... and then the world-famous F1 driver suffered a terrible accident which left him hideously disfigured. Fashioning a mask to hide his terrible visage, Edmonds has taken on a new career as a stuntman, flirting with death on a regular basis.

In the sequel to Death Wish, Paul Benjamin continues his vigilante killing spree Paul Benjamin was an ordinary New Yorker until a gang of drug addicts killed his wife and raped his daughter. When the police proved helpless, Benjamin bought a gun and found his own vengeance, methodically tracking the addicts and killing them one by one. Now he is in Chicago, and the cycle of violence is about to begin anew. On his first night in the city, he stumbles out of a bar in a bad part of town, pretending to be drunk. When two thugs set upon him, they find their quarry sober and armed. He kills them both, escaping before the police arrive. They will not be the last of Chicago’s criminal class to suffer his wrath. Written by Garfield as “penance” for the success of the grisly film adaptation of Death Wish, this sequel shows that when a decent man relies on violence to settle scores, murder becomes addictive.

Part two of the three-part “Hunt for Deathwish”: Hardware is caught in the middle of a war between two psychotic vigilantes: Deathwish and Dakota’s most bizarre menace yet, Cyber-Bwana. This comic contains language of a racially offensive nature and may not be suitable for all age groups. Its inclusion is an intentional creative choice intended to highlight the fact that language of this type was frequently deployed in past decades and remains in use today, even as contexts evolve. Readers for whom such language is triggering or hurtful should be advised.

Deep Focus is a series of film books with a fresh approach. Take the smartest, liveliest writers in contemporary letters and let them loose on the most vital and popular corners of cinema history: midnight movies, the New Hollywood of the sixties and seventies, film noir, screwball comedies, international cult classics, and more. Passionate and idiosyncratic, each volume of Deep Focus is long-form criticism that’s relentlessly provocative and entertaining. Christopher Sorrentino’s examination of Death Wish is the second entry in the series. The fourth collaboration between director Michael Winner and actor Charles Bronson, Death Wish was the apotheosis of a succession of films hitting screens during the seventies—including Bullitt, Dirty Harry, and Walking Tall—that tacked against a prevailing liberal wind in Hollywood cinema. Exploiting audience fears of a bestial “other” infesting American cities, and explicitly linking law and order with a pastoral ideal of the Old West (and exurban subdivisions), its glib endorsement of vigilantism infuriated liberal critics even as it filled theaters with cheering audiences. Sorrentino examines Death Wish in its various contexts—as movie, as provocation, as social commentary, as political tautology, and as depiction of urban life—and considers its lasting influence on cinema.