''Death Wish II'' is a 1982 American
vigilante
Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority.
A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed and co-edited by
Michael Winner. It is the
first of four sequels to the 1974 film ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
''. It is the second installment in the
''Death Wish'' film series. In the story, architect Paul Kersey (
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...
) moves to Los Angeles with his daughter (
Robin Sherwood
Robin Lyn Sherwood (born January 24, 1952) is an American actress, best known for her roles in ''Tourist Trap (film), Tourist Trap'' (1979), ''Blow Out'' (1981), and as the role of Carol Kersey in Charles Bronson's film ''Death Wish II'' (1982) ...
). After his daughter is murdered at the hands of several gang members, Kersey once again chooses to become a vigilante. Unlike the original, in which he hunts down every criminal he encounters, Kersey only pursues his family's attackers. The sequel makes a complete breakaway from the
Brian Garfield
Brian Francis Wynne Garfield (January 26, 1939 – December 29, 2018) was an Edgar Award-winning American novelist, historian and screenwriter. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, he wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen. Garfield went on ...
novels ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'' and ''
Death Sentence'', redefining the Paul Kersey character. It was succeeded by ''
Death Wish 3.''
The sequel was produced by
Cannon Films, which had purchased the rights to the ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'' concept from
Dino De Laurentiis. Cannon executive
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon sp ...
planned to direct the film, but Winner returned on Bronson's insistence. The
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
was composed by guitarist
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
. ''Death Wish II'' was released in the United States in February 1982 by
Filmways Pictures
Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. It is probably best remembered as the production ...
, but like the original,
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
handled the international release and
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, via
Trifecta Entertainment & Media
Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in exc ...
, handles the television rights. It earned $16.1 million during its domestic theatrical run.
Plot
Roughly five years since the events of
the first film
''The First Film'' is a 2015 British documentary film about cinema pioneer Louis Le Prince, made by David Nicholas Wilkinson. It argues the case that Le Prince, rather than the Lumière brothers, was the true inventor of moving pictures, making ...
, Paul Kersey has managed to recover from his shattered life and moved on, and is now dating a Los Angeles radio reporter, Geri Nichols. They go to pick up Paul's daughter, Carol, from the mental hospital. They spend the afternoon at a fairground, where Paul's wallet is stolen by a gang, consisting of Nirvana, Punkcut, Stomper, Cutter, and Jiver. The gang splits up when Paul chases them; he goes to pursue Jiver, whom he corners in an alley but lets the hood go after Jiver tells Paul that he does not have the wallet. The gang finds Paul's home address in his wallet and later breaks into his house. They gag and restrain Rosario, Paul's housekeeper, then they began taking turns raping her. When Paul arrives home with his daughter, he is beaten unconscious. Rosario tries to call the police, but Nirvana kills her with his crowbar. They kidnap Carol and take her to their hideout, where one of the gang members rapes her. Carol attempts to flee by running through a plate-glass window, falls onto an iron fence, and is fatally impaled. When the police arrive, Lieutenant Mankewicz asks for help identifying the muggers, but Paul refuses. After Carol's funeral, he takes his
Beretta Model 84 handgun to a low-rent inner-city hotel as a base of operations. The next evening, he observes and follows Stomper into an abandoned building as a drug deal is about to be made. Paul shoots one of the dealers and orders the others out before he shoots Stomper twice. The following night, he hears screams from a couple being assaulted in a parking garage by four muggers, which includes Jiver, in a parking garage. Paul kills two rapists and wounds Jiver. Then Paul follows Jiver's blood trail into an abandoned warehouse and kills him.
The
LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
suspect that the murders are the work of a vigilante and ask the
NYPD for guidance as they dealt with a vigilante spree years earlier. NYPD Detective Frank Ochoa suspects it may be Paul again and is sent to assist with the case. Ochoa fears that Paul, when caught, will reveal that he was released without being charged for killing the ten muggers in New York City. Ochoa meets with Mankewicz, who suspects that Ochoa is not telling him everything. Ochoa enters Geri's apartment and tells her about Paul's previous vigilante killing spree in New York City. After Paul returns to his house, Geri confronts him about Ochoa's revelation, but he denies it. Ochoa follows Paul to a local square, where Paul is tailing the three remaining gang members. He follows them to an abandoned park, where a major arms and drug deal is underway. A
sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
scouts Paul and attempts to kill him, but Ochoa warns Paul and fatally shoots the sniper. Ochoa is mortally wounded by Nirvana, and Paul shoots Cutter in the head and another dealer and wounds Punkcut. The arms dealer tries to get away, but Paul shoots him and causes his car to drive off a cliff and explodes, but Nirvana escapes. Ochoa tells Paul to avenge him before he dies. Paul escapes, and Punkcut dies from his injuries after giving information about Nirvana to the police.
Paul learns from one of Geri's colleagues that the police are preparing a tactical unit to capture Nirvana. He obtains a police scanner and, by monitoring police radio traffic, finds out when and where the arrest is going to take place. He drives to the location to kill him, but Nirvana, under the influence of
PCP, slashes his arm and stabs a few officers while he tries to escape. Tried and found
criminally insane, he is sent to a mental institution. Geri is writing a story about the case and capital punishment and takes Paul to the hospital to meet the doctor treating Nirvana. While there, Paul steals another doctor's white lab coat and identification card and uses it to enter the asylum and confront Nirvana. After repeatedly stabbing Paul with a
shiv
The word Shiv or shiv may refer to:
People with the name
* Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a West Indies cricketer nicknamed Shiv
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Shiv, a fictional location in Magic: The Gathering, see Dominaria
* Shiv, a villain in the ...
, Nirvana ends up plunging his arm into a high-voltage panel, which Paul turns on, fatally electrocuting him. Donald Kay, a sympathetic orderly at the hospital, recognizes Paul from the newspaper coverage of Carol's murder, and gives him three minutes to escape before he rings the alarm. Geri goes to Paul's house, where she finds out that he made a fake doctor's ID. Upon hearing a news report of Nirvana's death on the radio, she realizes that Paul really is the vigilante that Ochoa claimed him to be. She takes off her engagement ring and leaves him, with Paul arriving home moments later.
A few months later, Paul speaks about a new architectural design. He is invited by his employer to a party to celebrate the new design. When Paul is asked if he is able to attend, he answers, "What else would I be doing?" The final scene shows Paul returning to the streets of Los Angeles at night and continuing his vigilante killing spree as the film finishes.
Cast
*
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war ...
as Paul Kersey / Mr. Kimble
*
Jill Ireland
Jill Dorothy Ireland (24 April 1936 – 18 May 1990) was an English actress and singer. She appeared in 16 films with her second husband, Charles Bronson, and was additionally involved in two other of Bronson's films as a producer.
Life and ca ...
as Geri Nichols
*
Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia (born Vincenzo Scognamiglio; January 7, 1920 – December 9, 1992) was an Italian-American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for ''Bang the Drum Slow ...
as Lieutenant Frank Ochoa
*
J.D. Cannon
John Donovan Cannon (April 24, 1922 – May 20, 2005) was an American actor. An alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, he is best known for his co-starring role of Chief of Detectives Peter B. Clifford in the tele ...
as New York City District Attorney
*
Paul Lambert
Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town.
Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...
as New York City Police Commissioner
*
Anthony Franciosa as Los Angeles Police Commissioner Herman Baldwin
*
Drew Snyder
Drew Snyder (born September 25, 1946 in Buffalo, New York) is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his roles in films such as ''Commando, Firestarter,'' and ''Cruel Intentions'', a well as numerous guest and recurring r ...
as Los Angeles Deputy Commissioner Hawkins
*
Paul Comi as Senator McLean
*
Robin Sherwood
Robin Lyn Sherwood (born January 24, 1952) is an American actress, best known for her roles in ''Tourist Trap (film), Tourist Trap'' (1979), ''Blow Out'' (1981), and as the role of Carol Kersey in Charles Bronson's film ''Death Wish II'' (1982) ...
as Carol Kersey Toby
*
Charles Cyphers
Charles Cyphers (born July 28, 1939) is an American actor who is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 movie ''Halloween''. He reprised ...
as Donald Kay
*
Ben Frank
Ben Frank (1934–1990) was a veteran character actor. His wife was producer Bobbi Frank.
Biography
Frank was born in New York on September 2, 1934. As a child from the ages of 6 to 12 he sang on stage. In later years he was a professional bo ...
as Lieutenant Art Mankiewicz
* Michael Prince as Elliot Cass
*
Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas Francis Duffy (born November 9, 1955) is an American actor. He has appeared as the sadistic rapist Charles Wilson in ''Death Wish II'', the paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', and as the football-lovin ...
as Charlie "Nirvana" Wilson
*
Larry Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...
as "Cutter"
*
Kevyn Major Howard
Kevyn Major Howard is a Canadian actor best known for his role as "Rafterman" in Stanley Kubrick's '' Full Metal Jacket''.
Life and career
After acting in high school, Howard moved to Los Angeles and Hollywood in the late 1970s. His headshot ...
as "Stomper"
* Stuart K. Robinson as "Jiver"
* E. Lamont Johnson as "Punkcut"
*
Silvana Gallardo
Sandra Silvana Gallardo (January 13, 1953 – January 2, 2012) was an American film and television actress.
Born in New York City, Gallardo's television credits include episodes of '' Starsky & Hutch'', ''Lou Grant'', '' Quincy'', ''Hill Stree ...
as Rosario
*
Robert F. Lyons as Fred McKenzie
*
Frank Campanella
Frank Campanella (March 12, 1919 – December 30, 2006) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous television series, as well as a few films and Broadway productions.
Early life and career
Campanella was born in New York City, the son of Ph ...
as Judge Neil A. Lake
* Robert Snively as Dr. Gofeld
*
Steffen Zacharias
Steffen Zacharias (April 11, 1927 – June 6, 1989) was a German-born Greek American character actor known for his roles in films and television in America and Italy.
Biography
Born in Germany to Greek parents, Zacharias grew up in the United ...
as Dr. Clark
* David Daniels as Lang
*
Don Dubbins
Donald Gene Dubbins (June 28, 1928 – August 17, 1991) was an American film, stage and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Brooklyn, New York. Dubbins began his career in 1953, appeariing in the television series '' The Doctor''. He also ...
as Mike
*
Buck Young
John Otto "Buck" Young (April 12, 1920 – February 9, 2000) was an American actor who played the role as Sergeant Whipple on the ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' TV series, and Deputy Joe Watson on ''The Andy Griffith Show''.
In 1944, during World Wa ...
as Charles Pearce
* Jim Galante as Tim Shaw
* Peter Pan as Chinese Landlord
* Jim Begg as Tourist
* Melody Santangello as Mary, Tourist's Wife
* Karsen Lee as Nirvana's Girl #1
*
Leslie Graves
Leslie Marie Graves (September 29, 1959 – August 23, 1995) was an American actress.
Early years
Leslie Graves's father, Michael Graves, was a theatre actor and introduced her to the entertainment industry when she was about 10. She started ...
as Nirvana's Girl #2
*
Henny Youngman as Himself
*
William Bogert
William Bogert (January 24, 1936 – January 12, 2020) was an American character actor best known for his roles as Brandon Brindle on the TV series ''Small Wonder'' from 1985 to 1989, Kent Wallace, the host of ''Chappelle's Show''s '' Frontline' ...
as Fred Brown (uncredited)
* Terry Leonard as Sniper In Tree (uncredited)
Production
Development
Brian Garfield
Brian Francis Wynne Garfield (January 26, 1939 – December 29, 2018) was an Edgar Award-winning American novelist, historian and screenwriter. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, he wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen. Garfield went on ...
, author of the original ''Death Wish'' novel, was so unhappy with the film version that he wrote his own sequel, ''
Death Sentence''. "They'd made a hero out of him", said Garfield. "I thought I'd shown that he'd become a very sick man."
The idea to produce a sequel to ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'' (1974) originated with producers
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon sp ...
and
Yoram Globus, owners of
Cannon Films. They reportedly announced their plans to do so prior to actually securing the rights to the franchise. Dino De Laurentiis, co-producer of the original film, threatened them with a lawsuit unless they properly purchased the rights. He negotiated payments for himself, co-producers Hal Landers and
Bobby Roberts, and original author Brian Garfield. The agreement included future payments for each prospective sequel.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58]
In 1980, Cannon briefly hired Garfield to write an adaptation of his sequel to ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'', ''
Death Sentence,'' in 1980. However, Golam and Globus did not want to use Garfield's book, preferring an original story by David Engelbach, Golan, and Hal Landers. After they purchased the rights to the first film from De Laurentiis they also purchased the rights to the characters of the novels from Garfield, meaning they could make a sequel without adapting the original novels. "We think our story is a better film story", said Golan.
"You cannot call a film exploitative just because it touches on disturbing issues", said Globus. "Both ''Death Wish'' films are a valid comment on American society... the theme of street violence getting out of control is sadly more of a fact of life than it was seven years ago."
Garfield later approved a
separate adaptation without the character of
Paul Kersey directed by
James Wan in 2007.
David Engelbach was then asked to write the screenplay. After he saw the final product, he was "somewhat appalled" how the film differed from his original script. His script didn't include any rape scenes, but those were included by
Michael Winner to "get his rocks off". However, Engelbach argued that "serious issues - namely, the deteriorating state of our criminal justice system. The actions of the Bronson character are dictated by the inability of the police to prevent crime, the preoccupation of the courts with technical rather than real justice, and the cancerous climate of fear in which we find ourselves today. Paul Kersey is no hero. In his pursuit of vengeance he loses the only emotional relationship of his life and by story's end has become as much a victim of crime as the thugs he leaves dead in his wake".
Casting
Bronson was offered $1.5 million to reprise the role.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Jill Ireland
Jill Dorothy Ireland (24 April 1936 – 18 May 1990) was an English actress and singer. She appeared in 16 films with her second husband, Charles Bronson, and was additionally involved in two other of Bronson's films as a producer.
Life and ca ...
was cast in the film because Bronson, her husband, insisted on it. She serves as both the love interest to Paul and the voice of
opposition to the death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...
.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] She was already offered a role in the film's predecessor, ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'' (1974) but, Charles Bronson refused because he didn't want his wife humiliated and messed around with by the actors who played muggers. After she was hired for this film, Bronson wanted her character not to get raped or killed by the villains of the film. Cannon initially asked Golan to direct the film, but Bronson insisted on instead recruiting
Michael Winner, the director of the original. Winner had suffered a downturn in his career since the mid-1970s, with no box-office hit since ''Death Wish''. He agreed to return to the franchise and also took the initiative in revising Engelbach's script.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Winner recalled that De Laurentiis was having second thoughts about letting someone else produce the sequel and offered to hire him to do the film for his own production company. Winner refused, and De Laurentiis did not renege on his deal with Cannon. The producer, however, started work on a "
clone
Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to:
Places
* Clones, County Fermanagh
* Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland
Biology
* Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...
" of the film. The final result was ''
Fighting Back'' (1982).
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58]
Winner said the sequel was pertinent because "mugging is now a bigger issue in America. It's spread to towns where it was not a problem before. In Beverly Hills, instead of talking about other people's failed movies – thank God, something has stopped them at last – they talk about their muggings." The film introduced significant changes for the character of Paul. One involved his ''
modus operandi
A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...
'' as a vigilante. In the original film, Paul would shoot and kill every criminal in his vicinity. In the sequel, he is after five specific criminals who are responsible for the death of his daughter. His single-minded pursuit extends to ignoring other potential targets. He is seen to ignore most thieves, drug dealers, and one violent pimp.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Another change involves his abilities. In the first film, his activities as a vigilante rely only on his use of weapons. In the sequel, he is able to beat up men who are considerably younger than himself.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] While casting the actors for the roles of the villains, Winner gave the actors playing the thugs a lot of creative leeway. They bought their own costumes, designed their own makeup and tested them out on passers-by to see how intimidating they'd look.
Laurence Fishburne bought a pair of magician's gloves and waved his knife like a wand, while
Kevyn Major Howard
Kevyn Major Howard is a Canadian actor best known for his role as "Rafterman" in Stanley Kubrick's '' Full Metal Jacket''.
Life and career
After acting in high school, Howard moved to Los Angeles and Hollywood in the late 1970s. His headshot ...
waxed his eyebrows and shaved the front of his head to make himself look like a snake. He even developed mannerisms like his insane laugh, slapping his head and twirling a baton from seeing a live drummer in a punk band.
Filming
Among the final revisions of the script was a change in location. The original script set the action in San Francisco, but the revision moved the setting to Los Angeles.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Winner said the film was "the same, but different", from the original. "That's what sequels are – ''
Rocky II
''Rocky II'' is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky'' (1976) and is the second installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl We ...
'', ''
Rocky III
''Rocky III'' is a 1982 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky II'' (1979) and is the third installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. Along with Stallone reprising the title rol ...
'' – you don't see
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
move to the
Congo
Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa:
* Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...
and become a nurse. Here the look of LA is what's different. Besides – rape doesn't date!"
Engelbach argued the film raised "serious issues – namely, the deteriorating state of our criminal justice system. The actions of the Bronson character are dictated by the inability of the police to prevent crime, the preoccupation of the courts with technical rather than real justice, and the cancerous climate of fear in which we find ourselves today. Paul Kersey is no hero. In his pursuit of vengeance, he loses the only emotional relationship of his life and by story's end has become as much a victim of crime as the thugs he leaves dead in his wake."
Principal photography began on
May 4, 1981, in
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...
and concluded on July 1, 1981, in
San Pedro. Filming often lasted twelve hours a day in order to complete it before a
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
strike.
The film was shot on location and depicted actual "sleazy" areas of the city. Twenty off-duty men of the LAPD were hired to protect the film cast and crew from potential trouble.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] A scene involving the abandoned and crumpling Hollywood Hotel was shot in an actual abandoned hotel months before it was demolished.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Several of the extras of the film were various locals who were hired to play a bit part or happened to be passing by during a shooting. Among them were drug addicts, a
drag queen,
Hare Krishnas
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...
, and bikers. All were included by the director in an attempt to get an authentic feel of the streets of Los Angeles.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Winner tried to keep the mood on the set lighthearted. "Just because a film is terrifying, that doesn't mean the people making it have to be grim", he said.
All of the filming happened in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. Places like
San Pedro,
Ladera Heights
Ladera Heights is a community and unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 6,634 at the 2020 census. Culver City lies to its west, the Baldwin Hills neighborhood to its north, the View Park-Windsor Hills commu ...
and
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
were included.
Silvana Gallardo
Sandra Silvana Gallardo (January 13, 1953 – January 2, 2012) was an American film and television actress.
Born in New York City, Gallardo's television credits include episodes of '' Starsky & Hutch'', ''Lou Grant'', '' Quincy'', ''Hill Stree ...
said the rape scene was "grueling" and took about six days to film. To prepare for the role, she talked to an actual rape victim.
Music
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...
was recommended by the producers of the film to compose the score; however, Michael Winner chose former
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
guitarist
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...
(who was Winner's neighbor at the time). The opening credits bear Page's signature guitar tone, along with the heavy reverb-laden drum sound that he used with Led Zeppelin. The film's soundtrack was released in February 1982. Portions of the score were sampled by
Twiztid in the song "Spiderwebs" from their album ''
Heartbroken & Homicidal''.
Release
Theatrical
Cannon Films was able to sell distribution rights to several interested buyers. Theatrical rights in the United States and Canada were purchased by
Filmways
Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. It is probably best remembered as the production c ...
. The company had recently acquired
American International Pictures, known for its
exploitation films, and the film would fit right in with their library of genre films.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
purchased the international distribution rights.
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
purchased the television broadcast rights for the domestic market.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58] The film was originally intended for release around the Christmas of 1981. Filmways decided to postpone release until February 1982 to face a weaker competition for an audience. The film became the top-grossing film of its opening week.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58]
Home media
The film was first released on
VHS and then on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
. It was released for the first time on
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Blu- ...
in the U.S. on May 31, 2022 by Vinegar Syndrome.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed $16 million in United States theaters, a rare box-office hit for the ailing Filmways. The company still ended 1982 with losses of $52.7 million. It was subsequently purchased by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
.
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58]
It made a $2 million profit for Cannon Films
[Andrew Yule, ''Hollywood a Go-Go: The True Story of the Cannon Film Empire'', Sphere Books, 1987 p24] and made an extra $29 million worldwide.
It has since earned further money at home and abroad through release for the video market. A poll for
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
noted ''Death Wish II'' to be higher in demand by paying viewers than ''
Chariots of Fire'' (1981).
[Talbot (2006), p. 31-58]
Critical response
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said it was "even more foolish, more tacky, and more self-righteously inhumane than the 1974 melodrama off which it has been spun" and "so lethargic that it fails even to provoke outrage." He particularly criticized the way the film essentially repeats the plot of the original, the contrived incompetence of the police characters, and Jill Ireland's unconvincing performance.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave it zero stars, noting that he reserves this rating solely for those very few films that are both "artistically inept and morally repugnant." Citing the lethargic tone of the acting and directing, the lack of plot, the lifeless dialogue, and the weak action sequences, he concluded, "while the first film convinced me of Bronson's need for vengeance, this one is just a series of dumb killings." ''
Variety'' called it "every bit as revolting as... the original".
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 3.58/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
the film has a
weighted average score of 11 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "Overwhelming Dislike".
The movie was nominated for a
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture. The film was nominated for a
Razzie Awards
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
for Worst Musical Score.
See also
*
List of films featuring home invasions
There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Death Wish 2
1982 films
Death Wish (film series)
1982 action thriller films
1980s crime thriller films
1980s vigilante films
American action thriller films
Columbia Pictures films
Paramount Pictures films
1980s English-language films
Films directed by Michael Winner
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Golan-Globus films
American rape and revenge films
American sequel films
Filmways films
Films produced by Menahem Golan
Films produced by Yoram Globus
Films scored by Jimmy Page
1980s American films