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The Gratuitous B-Movie Column: Death Wish II
The Gratuitous B-Movie Column Issue #452: Death Wish II
The Death Wish Marathon: Week 2
Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the internets movie review column that often wonders that often wonders if Laurence Fishburne gets upset if people call him Larry, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column, and I am your host Bryan Kristopowitz. In this issue, issue number four hundred and fifty-two, the Death Wish Marathon continues with one of the sleaziest movies of the 1980’s, Death Wish II, which hit cinema screens in early 1982.
Death Wish II
Death Wish II, also known as Death Wish 2, and directed by Michael Winner, is the then long awaited sequel to the 1974 original. The movie has absolutely nothing to do with the novel sequel, Death Sentence, written by Brian Garfield, as the movie’s producers, Menahem Golan and Yorham Globus (the fine folks at Cannon Films) decided to make their own “film story” with the help of screenwriter David Engelbach. Unlike the first Death Wish, Death Wish II has an actual political axe to grind (it isn’t overwhelming but there is a political subtext at the heart of the story), and I’d imagine that this sequel is the movie that most Death Wish franchise despisers are actually thinking of when they decide to talk about Charles Bronson and the movie series he’s most known for. Death Wish II has absolutely no problem advocating, right out in the open, for the total extermination of criminal scumbags. At the same time, it also continues the idea that while Bronson’s character, the vigilante architect Paul Kersey, may be a righteous executioner, he isn’t someone that anyone would want to be.
So Death Wish II picks up a few years after the events of the first movie, with Bronson’s Kersey now living in Los Angeles. His daughter Carol (this time played by Robin Sherwood) is also out in LA, as presumably her husband Jack left her (or perhaps he’s out of town on business or he’s dead. The movie doesn’t say). Carol is still dealing with the trauma associated with her rape and assault from the first movie and seems to have the mind of a child (she’s also mute). Kersey works for a prestigious architectural firm out in Los Angeles and is in the midst of dating Geri Nichols (Bronson’s then real life wife Jill Ireland), a reporter at the radio station Kersey is currently remodeling. Kersey’s life is basically pretty stable, even kind of nice, so you know that, eventually, something bad is going to happen because that’s what always happens to Paul Kersey. And that’s exactly what happens.
Kersey, while out and about with Geri and Carol, gets his wallet lifted by a gang of hoodlums who hang out in public places and look for people to rob. The gang (Nirvana, Stomper, Jiver, Punkcut, and Cutter, as played by Thomas F. Duffy, Kevyn Major Howard, Stuart K. Robinson, E. Lamont Johnson, and the Larry Fishburne, billed as Laurence Fishburne III for some reason) figures that Kersey is an easy mark, but Kersey, despite coming off as mild mannered, is in no mood for bullshit and runs after the gang when he realizes what they’ve done. Kersey manages to corner one of the gang members and demands his wallet back. Unfortunately for Kersey, that particular gang member doesn’t have his wallet, so he lets the guy go and gets back to Geri and Carol. His girlfriend and daughter, at this moment, are more important. He’ll figure out what to do about the wallet later.
So Kersey takes Carol sailing, Geri goes back to work, and the gang goes to Kersey’s house after getting his address from his driver’s license. At first, the gang intends to just rob Kersey’s house, but when they break in and find Kersey’s housekeeper there (Rosario, as played by Silvana Gallardo) they decide to rape her instead. Rosario goes through absolute hell, with each gang member taking his turn assaulting her. When Kersey gets home, the gang is still there. The gang beats up Kersey, murders Rosario, and then kidnaps Carol.
Now, the gang kidnaps Carol because they think she can identify them if she goes to the cops. They have no idea that she has mental issues and probably won’t. They take her to an abandoned warehouse and try to come up with a plan to deal with their captive. Several of the gang members also sexually assault Carol, simply for kicks (presumably). This assault sends Carol over the deep end and she jumps out of a nearby window to her death, getting impaled on an iron fence outside. The gang members leave Carol’s dead body on the fence.
So then some stuff happens, Geri finds Kersey and Rosario on the floor in Kersey’s house, and the cops show up. Kersey tries to provide the cops with some information, but he can’t remember the details that the cops want to know. The whole thing happened so fast. Kersey then finds out about Carol.
Goddamit! What the hell?
Kersey tries to deal with things the best he can. He goes to Carol’s funeral, he takes some time for himself and goes out into the woods to cut wood and whatnot, and he tries to get past what’s happened to him and his loved ones. He really, really tries. But then he finds out that the cops have no idea who attacked and killed his daughter and housekeeper and decides right then and there that what he needs to do is what he did back in New York. Yep. Paul Kersey gets a gun and starts walking the mean streets of Los Angeles at night. However, unlike the random shootings he engaged in in the first movie, this time, Kersey intends to find the five scumbags that attacked him and his family and take them the fuck out.
And that’s exactly what he does. Decked out in dark pants, coat, and knit hat, Kersey walks the streets at night, looking for the gang members. He rents a dingy room in a piece of shit hotel motel to hide his vigilante gear and starts spending most of his free time looking for vengeance. He runs into the gang members at seemingly random times, blasting the bastards and any other bad guy that decides to get involved. Kersey shows no mercy.
So then some stuff happens, the media picks up on the Los Angeles vigilante killings, and suddenly the New York Police Department starts to get worried. The NYPD brass, along with the mayor, let Kersey go at the end of the first movie, hoping that he would just stop killing criminals at random. They know that the LA vigilante is Kersey and they’re scared that if he’s caught he’ll blab about their “arrangement.” The NYPD decides to send Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) to LA to “help” with the city’s investigation. They also hope that Ochoa might run into Kersey and get rid of him.
So Ochoa goes to Los Angeles and Kersey keeps looking for the remaining gang members. While all of that is going on, Kersey’s relationship with Geri starts to strain. He keeps avoiding her, missing dates, and she wants to know what the hell he’s doing. He won’t tell her. Kersey also gets annoyed with her ongoing investigation/story into whether or not the death penalty is a good idea/works. Geri is against the death penalty, while Kersey is for it. How can they reconcile their relationship?
Death Wish II is a grim movie. There’s no real sunshine or happiness to be had once Kersey runs into the rape gang, and when Kersey decides to go back into the vigilante business the tone of the movie gets even darker and nastier. The streets of Los Angeles are just as dangerous as New York City, and the criminals are all ruthless and terrible. The cops in LA are just as ineffective as the cops in New York. When bad stuff happens, there’s just no hope for anyone.
Now, watching Kersey focus on the five guys who killed his daughter and housekeeper is a much more satisfying revenge movie watching experience. We know who they are, Kersey knows who they are, and they clearly need to die. It’s much easier to root for a righteous assassin who knows who he has to kill as opposed to some distraught man killing random bad guys. Yes, on some level it’s revolting because it’s not what civilized people are supposed to be about. But then it’s not cool to have five criminals get away with their heinous crimes simply because the world and life is hopeless. This is a revenge movie, goddamit, and those bastards better pay. They didn’t pay in the first movie, and that needs to be corrected.
The scene towards the end of the movie, where one of the gang members is put on trial and sent to a mental hospital because it was determined that he was high on drugs and out of his mind when he committed his crimes is easily the most political and reactionary scene in the movie. It’s based on this idea that criminals are criminals and the justice system is rigged in their favor because “bleeding heart liberals” want it that way, an idea that you will still hear people talk about today as if it happens all of the time. I have no idea if it ever happened in real life with any frequency in any real way (it always sounded like bullshit, like the old “mass murderer getting off because the arresting officer didn’t read him his rights” thing), but it provides a good justification in the movie for Kersey to take out the rat bastard criminal who was just faking it.
I do think it’s interesting how Kersey, when walking the streets at night, doesn’t really interact with anyone and only does anything when he finds one of the gang members. Even in full on vigilante mode, Kersey is content with allowing the various street people to live their lives of “depravity.” So Kersey can’t be that much of reactionary, can he?
And who the hell wants to be Paul Kersey? Would you really want his life?
The violence on display is graphic and nasty. The bullet hits and hand-to-hand brawls will make you cringe. The rape scene involving Rosario is hard to watch. You feel dirty after experiencing it. And I’m just watching the R rated version of the movie. There’s an unrated version available via the fine folks at Shout! Factory that, as I understand it, is even more graphic in every way possible. Is it possible for this movie to be even sleazier? Apparently, yes, there is.
The soundtrack, by the great Jimmy Page, is nothing but blues guitar heaven. Director Winner reused most of it in part three, but, to my ear, it ends up providing a different feel in this movie. It actually helps amp up the movie’s sleaze factor.
Bronson is once again fantastic as Kersey. It’s interesting watching him go from a loving family man and a guy who is still trying to get his life back together to a ruthless, determined avenger once the gang members mess him. Despite being seven years older than the last time he played Kersey (and Bronson wasn’t exactly a spring chicken the first time) Bronson still looks credible fighting and shooting and chasing down the bad guys. And with the way the movie ends, it makes you wonder just how many bad guys he managed to take out before he decided to stop being a vigilante. A great performance.
Jill Ireland is sweet as Kersey’s girlfriend Geri. Since she’s Bronson’s wife in real life at the time, they have an easy to believe chemistry and you can tell that, deep down, Bronson adores her. And while Ireland isn’t the world’s greatest actress, she’s always watchable.
Vincent Gardenia is absolutely ridiculous this time around as Detective Frank Ochoa. I don’t really understand why he’s in the movie beyond adding some name value to the cast. Why wasn’t he saved for a potential Kersey return to New York? Wouldn’t that have made more sense? Gardenia does what he can with the part, but he’s put in a weird position and it doesn’t really work out for him.
Robin Sherwood isn’t in the movie all that long, either, but her performance as the mute Carol is heartbreaking. She’s still a destroyed person and it’s awful what happens to her. I’m getting depressed right now just thinking about her.
The gang members are all brilliant in their own way. Thomas Duffy, as Nirvana, and Fishburne as Cutter are the ones you’re likely to remember the most. They’re both really into being absolutely terrible people. You totally believe that Nirvana is a drugged out psycho who needs to get shot in the face (he ends up getting electrocuted) and Cutter gets shot in the face while trying to protect himself with a boom box. It’s a hilarious death in a grim as fuck scene.
Death Wish II is a nasty, sleazy as hell revenge movie. It’s the actual movie people are thinking of when they think of Chuck Bronson taking out the bad guys in righteous anger. It isn’t the best movie in the Death Wish franchise by far, but it is a worthwhile movie watching experience, if it is hard to watch sometimes.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: 15
Explosions: One. A big one. And it’s pretty spectacular.
Nudity?: Yes. Most of it is not appealing at all.
Doobage: A radio report about local crime in Los Angeles, a street fair, attempted ice cream buying, mugging the wrong guy, a quick street brawl, switchblade stealing and throwing, a hoodlum huddle, window breaking, gang rape, crowbar to the face, kidnapping, another gang rape, suicide via jumping out the window and getting impaled on an iron fence, a sad as fuck funeral, a wood chopping montage, a hidden gun, random street crime, clothes shopping, clothes changing in a public bathroom, multiple churches, naked art on the wall, walking the streets, drug dealing, stalking, multiple bullets to the chest, a nasty looking arcade, attempted carjacking, a wall of wooden boxes, forklift attack, a vicious head shot, uncooperative victims, talk of smog, milk drinking, sexual harassment, public transportation, faking sleep, defacing a fifty dollar bill, an illegal gun deal, people fucking around with guns, attempted sniper, exploding boom box, exploding face, police brutality, a SWAT team mission, PCP hooey, multiple naked women, attempted Taser attack, a nasty arm wound, court room bullshit, ID stealing, fake ID making, a mental hospital attack, table hooey, a nasty electrocution, and a sad ending.
Kim Richards?: None.
Gratuitous:Los Angeles, Charles Bronson, Charles Bronson in Los Angeles, Charles Bronson listening to the radio, Jill Ireland, a street mariachi band, a crystal horse, Larry Fishburne, someone trying to mug Charles Bronson, picture cleaning, Charles Bronson sailing, gang rape, an interview about the death penalty, a Pabst Blue Ribbon billboard, Charles Bronson explaining some of the plot of the first movie, Charles Bronson deciding to take the law into his own hands again, multiple street churches, an obese hooker, hare krishnas, Charles Bronson eating popcorn, a motorcycle gang, rats, young people having a party and wanting Charles Bronson to join in, Charles Bronson eating cereal for dinner, Any Which Way You Can theater marquee, Charles Bronson listening to a police band radio, Vincent Gardenia, a bust of Benjamin Franklin, Charles Bronson drinking milk, Charles Bronson with two guns, a topless hippie chick grooving to music for some reason, court room bullshit, Charles Bronson hanging out in a mental hospital with Jill Ireland, Charles Bronson taking Jill Ireland to a Japanese restaurant, Charles Cypher, Charles Bronson posing as a doctor, Charles Cypher eating dinner and watching a terrible stand-up comedian on television, 3600, and a sad ending.
Best lines: “Hey, baby, you look really good,” “A man has to have some vices,” “Watch out, asshole!,” “Where’s my wallet?,” “What happened, Paul?,” “This is the place,” “Super fine,” “We wanted to give Mr. Kersey his wallet back. Personally,” “We all look the same to whitey anyway,” “We do what we can,” “I can’t believe these prices!,” “Shall I join you?,” “Who were you expecting, Raquel Welch?,” “You and you, out. Not you,” “You believe in Jesus? Yes, I do. Well, you’re gonna meet him,” “Goodbye,” “You know what we got here? A goddamn vigilante!,” “It’s all right, Jill. I’m a policeman,” “Where do you think I’ve been? Killing muggers,” “Follow that bus! It isn’t moving. When it moves, follow it!,” “Watch out!,” “I’ll be damned. You,” “Get the motherfucker for me,” “Poor bastard. I knew he was holding out on me,” “How can an entrance door cost five hundred thousand dollars?,” “Hi, Fred, what’s happening?,” “How was the birthday party?,” “Do you really believe all this?,” “Look! They have me the cover!,” “Let’s get smashed! Then I want it in writing,” “He raped and killed my daughter,” and “Betty’s giving a new building party next Thursday. We’d like you to join us. I’ll be there. Are you sure you’re free? What else would I be doing?”
Rating: 8.0/10.0
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Check out my review of the new Death Wish starring Bruce Willis!
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Things to Watch Out For This Week
–Scorched Earth: The great Gina Carano stars in this low budget sci-fi post apocalypse action flick. Carano apparently plays a bounty hunter hired to track down criminals in this wasteland world. Beyond that I have no idea what the movie is about. It shouldn’t matter, though. The presence of Carano should be enough to at least rent this. The reviews I’ve seen for it (it did have a very small theatrical release not that long ago) have been good to okay, which, I think bodes well for it. I absolutely want to see this.
–Thor: Ragnarok: The third Thor flick is a bit goofy, with Thor off in mega deep space, fighting Bruce Banner/the Hulk in a gladiatorial battle because Jeff Goldblum’s diabolically ridiculous Grandmaster, while back in Asgard Cate Blanchett is killing people left and right as Hela. The movie could stand to lose about ten minutes, and some of the jokes and quips fall flat, but it’s still entertaining as hell. Easily the best Marvel movie of 2017. How does this connect with the upcoming Infinity War movie? That is Thanos at the end, right? The Thanos ship?
–Hacked: This low budget sci-fi flick, originally known as Ctrl Alt Delete, is apparently all about a group of people trapped in a data center and an artificial intelligence that’s hell bent on killing them and then taking over the world. I’m surprised we don’t have movie movies with this kind of plot. The development of AI is an ongoing controversy in the tech and government worlds, and it looks like we’re going to get it regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea/dangerous. I’m not too keen on either title, but I do think the movie looks decent enough. Rent it, just to see what it’s really all about. That’s what I hope to do.
–The Man Movie Encyclopedia: Only a Ninja Can Review a Ninja: My fellow 411 writer and action movie brother Caliber Winfield has a new book out in his Man Movie Encyclopedia series and it’s all about ninja movies. Caliber takes a look at the classics in the genre (four American Ninja movies, the immortal “Cannon Ninja Trilogy” featuring ninja god Sho Kosugi) and some of the more modern movies, like the two Ninja flicks starring Scott Adkins. And those are just some of the movies Caliber looks at. Be sure to go here to get your copy. You won’t regret it.
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Ash vs. Evil Dead is back!
Check out my reviews for the third season below!
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B-Movie News
–Michael Jai White trying to make a movie called The Outlaw Johnny Black: The great Michael Jai White is looking to make a new movie in the style of his classic Black Dynamite, something called The Outlaw Johnny Black. And according to this article, MJW is bringing back several of the people who helped him make Black Dynamite, he wants to do it completely independent of the studio system, and he intends to make it “family friendly.” A family friendly parody western starring Michael Jai White? Is that really going to work? I have no idea. But I’d like to see MJW and company give it a shot.
Check out the “proof of concept” trailer before, and then go check out the Indiegogo campaign that MJW and his production company Jaigantic Studios have put together. They’re looking to get $1 million through this campaign. That may or may not be doable.
What do you guys think? Do you think this will work? I think it looks hilarious.
–Jean-Claude Van Damme making a second Lionheart: The great JCVD is apparently set to make a sequel to his 1991 underground fighting movie Lionheart. In the midst of the hoopla surrounding the upcoming release of the first Lionheart as part of the MVD Rewind Collection (check out the list of special features on this Blu-ray/DVD combo release here), Van Damme revealed that Lionheart 2 is set to start shooting in late 2018, presumably with a release in 2019 (check out an article about the news here). And that’s on top of three other movies JCVD is in the middle of making (a The Quest sequel, a movie called The Bouncer, and something called We Die Young). JCVD is one busy guy.
Man, do you think he’d be doing all of this stuff if his Amazon show Jean-Claude Van Johnson hadn’t been cancelled?
Oh, and is Lionheart something you want to see this December, when JCVD takes over the column and it becomes Van Damme December?
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Who is the Douchebag of the Week? Go here and find out!
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Next Issue: The Death Wish Marathon continues with Death Wish 3!
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Interviews
david j. moore
Jino Kang
Vladimir Kulich
Paul Mormando
Michael Matteo Rossi
Tyrone Magnus
Hector Barron
Jeffrey Orgill
Michael Baumgarten
R. Marcos Taylor
Don “The Dragon” Wilson
Paul Kyriazi
Eric Jacobus
Juju Chan
Luke LaFontaine
Marco Siedlemann
Sam Firstenberg
Amariah Olson
Alexander Nevsky
Mathias Hues
Kristanna Loken
Steve Mitchell
Albert Pyun
Brad Thornton
Mathieu Ratthe
Damien Power
Kelsey Carlisle
Mike Dwyer
Nicholas Bushman
Brahim Achabbakhe
Etcetera
Richard LeMay
Andrew David Barker
Cynthia Rothrock
Leslie Simpson
C. Courtney Joyner
Eric Miller
Alexander Nevsky (2)
Christopher Lawrence Chapman
James Mark
Casper Van Dien
Chris Mark
James E. Wilson
Barry Hunt
Vincent J. Roth
Mathew Ziff
Brandon Tyler Russell
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Well, I think that’ll be about it for now. Don’t forget to sign up with disqus if you want to comment on this article and any other 411 article. You know you want to, so just go do it.
B-movies rule. Always remember that.
Death Wish II
Charles Bronson– Paul Kersey
Jill Ireland– Geri Nichols
Vincent Gardenia– Detective Frank Ochoa
Robin Sherwood– Carol Kersey
Anthony Franciosa– Herman Baldwin
Ben Frank– Inspector Lt. Mankiewicz
Silvana Gallardo– Rosario
Thomas Duffy– Nirvana
Kevyn Major Howard– Stomper
Stuart K. Robinson– Jiver
Larry Fishburne– Cutter (as Laurence Fishburne III)
E. Lamont Johnson– Punkcut
Charles Cyphers– Donald Kay
Directed by Michael Winner
Screenplay by David Engelbach, based on characters created by Brian Garfield
Distributed by Filmways Pictures, Good Times Home Video, MGM Home Entertainment, and Shout! Factory
Rated R for graphic violence, nudity, language, drug use, and rape.
Runtime– 88 minutes
