Death Wish 3 (1985)
MGM / Fullscreen (4:3) / 91 minutes

So after a lengthy and unexcused absence from writing reviews for Shameful Cinema I’m back with a few comments on DEATH WISH 3, a flick that’s been laying unopened in its Netflix envelope for weeks - much to the chagrin of my thrifty wife (Just watch the damn thing and send it back, we’re wasting money!)

Ten years after the assault and murder of his wife and daughter, Paul Kersey (Bronson) is back in the Big Apple to visit a friend in the projects. But as fate would have it the old man is murdered by the local gang of creeps just before Kersey arrives. Kersey is held up by police who think he committed the crime and ends up in the can for a while. In one particularly smooth move he shows one goon who’s boss by running his bald cranium through the bars of the cell. He squeals in pain as others pry his head out, ears bleeding and torn.

This isn’t your typical LAW & ORDER precinct. While being interrogated ‘ala fist and foot about the old man’s murder, Kersey eventually makes a deal with Detective Shriker (Ed Lauter) who recognizes him as the NYC vigilante of years past. He agrees to let Kersey go as long as Det. Shriker can supervise his under-the-radar killings and reap the glory in the press.

Now out of jail, Kersey can get down to business. He sets up shop in the projects and begins doling out justice bullet by bullet. In one instance Kersey buys a car and parks it conspicuously as bait. When the creeps start tearing it apart, Kersey merely gets up from his nice dinner with the neighbors, walks outside, shoots the criminals dead and walks back in to continue the evening with his friends, “I sent them a message.” He also invents a few booby traps which include a nail studded board set under an open window as well as a beam rigged to a spring. The latter rigging results in a rather corny moment of discovery – two front teeth wedged into the thick piece of wood.

Of course this sort of thing doesn’t go unnoticed by the gang’s boss Manny Fraker (Gavan O’Herlihy, SUPERMAN III 1983) winner of the “Stupidest Gang Haircut and Make-up in the World” award. He runs his crew like a corporate enterprise even calling some sort of home office elsewhere in the city to get “more support in his area.”

The gang itself is comprised of the usual suspects of dirty hoodlums and faces of actors just starting out in their career. Most notable is Hermosa played by Bill S. Preston Esq himself, Alex Winter of 1989’s BILL AND TED fame. He terrorizes lots of bystanders throughout the film but none as effortlessly sultry and exotic as a young Marina Sirtis (STAR TREK: TNG 1987-94) portraying local, Maria. She doesn’t do much in this movie but she does get naked, albeit forcibly. Oddly she is written out of play via a blood clot and not the broken arm and rape wounds from her assault.

The only other lovely lady in DEATH WISH 3 is the beautiful Debra Raffin (THE SENTINEL 1977), playing public defender Kathyrn Davis. Wouldn’t you know that when Kersey spends an intimate evening with her, her minutes of screen time are numbered? While stepping into a post office to pick-up his latest packages of mail-order weaponry Fraker shows up knocks Davis out and sends the car careening down a hilly street, exploding on contact with another vehicle. The expression on Kersey’s face is pricelessly empty. Talk about the Paul Kersey kiss of death.

It’s about the hour and ten minute mark that things start to go crazy and stay that way for a full 15 minutes. Essentially war breaks out all over the slummy neighborhood. And I’m not talking the calculated war between feuding mafia families. I’m talking Europe circa 1944. Buildings blow up. People are set on fire. And almost everybody gets shot. Things become almost comical near the end as Shriker and Kersey parade down a street together shooting villains at every corner as if they were in Dodge City or characters in House of the Dead. But I have to admit there are a couple of references to WWII during conversations Kersey has with neighbor Bennett (Martin Balsam, TORA! TORA! TORA! 1977) and the ensuing battles definitely mirror the guerrilla violence seen in other war films. Whatever borough of New York the film was shot in was incredibly shitty. I don’t know if they made it look that way but the set design is pretty authentic looking.

Although bulky and awkward looking, Bronson sports a .475 Wildey Magnum which “makes a real mess.” And I just don’t remember the time in America when it was illegal to possess a firearm in New York City limits but you could order rocket launchers through the mail just fine. No matter. It’s fun to see old man Bronson dispatch all of the idiot gang members as quickly as he does. When he shoots the quick and speedy Giggler (Kirk Taylor, FULL METAL JACKET 1987) douche bag Fraker states simply during a local staff – er, I mean gang meeting, “They had no business doing that. None.” Just silly.

It’s business as usual for Bronson and director Michael Winner in DEATH WISH 3. But with each passing sequel in the DEATH WISH franchise I’m growing a soft spot for the architect Paul Kersey and his half-ass one-liners and stoic persona. No matter how bad the acting you can’t help but get mad at the random acts of violence Kersey goes up against. In even the farthest corners of the world you could find that sort of hatred alive and well… so I don’t think the movie exaggerates much. I hope that in the remaining two DEATH WISH films, Kersey achieves some sort of reconciliation and closure for all the violence and death around him. It’s what I think the series’ needs in order for me to reconcile the hours I’ve spent viewing the damn movies!

The DVD contains your run of the mill chapter menu and trailer for the film. I give DEATH WISH 3 three stars with a at least a half of a star going for the appearance of Counselor Troi alone. Gorgeous lady – Choice!