10 Things You Didn’t Know About Death Wish V: The Face of Death
January 14, 1994 marked the simultaneous end of two eras… the release of Death Wish V: The Face of Death was the final theatrically released movie in the long career of Charles Bronson. It was also the final film in the original Death Wish franchise.
I recently sat down and watched Umbrella Entertainment’s Blu-ray release of Death Wish V: The Face of Death (it is paired with Death Wish 4: The Crackdown). Among the special features on this release was a commentary track by Charles Bronson enthusiast and film historian, Paul Talbot. Talbot has turned his Charles Bronson obsession into two fantastic books, Bronson’s Loose! The Making of the Death Wish Films and Bronson’s Loose Again! On the Set with Charles Bronson. These books are required reading for Charles Bronson devotees.
Talbot turns to his hours of research to write the books as he shares interesting behind the scenes facts about this monumental film in Bronson’s filmography, Now I’ll share some of what I learned from Talbot’s commentary as I present…
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Death Wish V: The Face of Death
1. The original script for Death Wish V was done byGail Morgan Hickman, who had previously penned Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and Murphy’s Law. Hickman’s idea was for Paul Kersey to battle terrorists that had taken control of Alcatraz. Menahem Golan felt that premise would be too costly to produce, so it was scrapped.
2. Menahem Golan originally planned to direct the film himself, but turned over the directorial reigns to Steve Carver, the director of Lone Wolf McQuade and River of Death. Carver was ultimately replaced by Allan A. Goldstein once it was decided that the production would move from a soundstage in Wilmington, North Carolina (where New York sets from Year of the Dragon would be repurposed) to Toronto, Canada in order to get some major tax breaks. In order to get those breaks however, Canadians had to be in key positions in the cast and crew. Goldstein had dual citizenship in both Canada and the United States so he got the nod.
3. The main antagonist in the film was originally supposed to be an Italian mobster, but once Michael Parks was cast, the character was changed to the Irish mobster known as Tommy O’Shea.
4. Speaking of Parks, Director Allan Goldstein gave Parks a lot of leeway and many of Tommy O’Shea’s lines were completely improved.
5. J.P. Romano served as both the stunt coordinator and as Charles Bronson’s stunt double in Death Wish V. Romano had previous Death Wish experience working as a stunt performer in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown… he also played one of the three masked men in the opening dream sequence of Death Wish 4.
6. One of the standard clauses in Charles Bronson’s contracts was that Bronson was able to keep the wardrobe he wore in his films. In fact, the black leather jacket that Bronson wears in Death Wish V, is the same black leather jacket he wore in the movie he shot just prior to Death Wish V, Donato & Daughter.
7. In an early draft of the Death Wish V script the District Attorney character (played by Saul Rubinek) was supposed to be the cop that found Kersey shot at the end of the original Death Wish.
8. Death Wish V: The Face of Death was produced by Menahem Golan’s 21st Century Films but was partially financed by Trimark, who in turn had theatrical and home video rights to the film in the United States. Death Wish V opened in 248 theaters across the United States and would go on to gross less than two million dollars during its theatrical run, the lowest of any Death Wish film.
9. This was the first Death Wish film to use sets built on a soundstage. Portions of the garment factory and the modeling runway were among the sets built for the movie.
10. The clerk working at the toy store, the toy store that Paul Kersey buys a remote controlled soccer ball at that he will use to kill Robert Joy’s character Freddie Flakes , was played Director Allan A. Goldstein.
