20 Reasons Why You Rock: Death Wish 3

When it comes to my all-time favorite films, 1985’s Death Wish 3 is at the tippy top of the list.

It is a movie I remember exactly when and where I was the first time I saw it and that is a big reason why I decided to write this post. It is almost 18 years to the day that I first watched Death Wish 3 (on AMC of all places). The next day I remember waking up and buying the Death Wish 3 DVD (from Circuit City of all places) and immediately came home and watched it for the first time in unedited form. In the 18 years since, I have watched the movie an obscene number of times (triple digits is a strong possibility). For me Death Wish 3 is a magical movie, one that can instantly turn a bad mood good and one that I will never tire of. Death Wish 3 is also a movie that absolutely rocks…

#1. For me the Cannon logo is the symbol of excellence in action entertainment and any action movie that has the Cannon logo precede it, already has a leg up on the competition.

#2. Death Wish 3‘s opening theme is some of the never before heard music that is featured in the movie. The song accompanies the opening credits and shots of Paul Kersey returning to New York City for the first time since 1974. It is a high energy ditty that perfectly sets the table for the 90 minutes that is about to follow.

#3. The bulk of the music featured in Death Wish 3 is Jimmy Page’s recycled Death Wish II soundtrack and we get our first taste of it when Paul Kersey exits the bus that has brought him back to New York (where he’ll soon bring justice to the streets). As awesome as Jimmy Page’s work was on the Death Wish II soundtrack, I don’t blame them for bringing it back for the third chapter.

#4. After Paul Kersey has his less than happy homecoming, Kersey finds himself arrested for the murder of his friend Charley. At the police precinct, we meet a major player in the movie, Lt. Shriker, played expertly by Ed Lauter. Lauter’s Shriker is a real ball buster to the rank and file, but also proves to be an “outside the box” thinker when he has the bright idea to harness Kersey’s vigilante powers to help him rid the streets of gang violence. And Shriker also proves he is not afraid to get his hands dirty when he shows up to provide Kersey with a much needed assist when all hell breaks loose in the third act.

#5. Before Shriker makes Kersey an offer he can’t refuse, Kersey is thrown in a holding cell with some of New York’s worst… including a big, bald guy who thought it would be a good idea to tear out the toilet in the cell. This visibly annoys Kersey and when baldie makes a move, Kersey ends up driving his head between the bars on the cell much to the delight of all the other inhabitants of the holding cells. If you listen closely in the midst of the hullabaloo you can hear someone say “Talk about getting shit faced.”

#6. It is in the holding cell where Kersey has his first confrontation with Death Wish 3‘s chief creep, Fraker (Gavan O’Herlihy, Superman 3). Two things are immediately clear… Fraker is an alpha male and he has one of the worst haircuts of any Charles Bronson villain ever. Manny Fraker proves to be even more dangerous on the outside. Fraker’s lawyer manages to get him out of jail which allows Fraker to resume his nefarious lifestyle of killing little old ladies and serving as the leader of the gang that has been running roughshod over Charley’s neighborhood. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about Fraker, which makes him a great villain.

#7. It’s at the police precinct that we are also introduced to Kathryn Davis, the public defender who has been assigned to Kersey’s case (or Kimble as she knows him) and looks like she stepped right out of an ad for Sears Optical. Davis is either a really desperate woman or Kersey just got her juices flowing, because she shoots her shot and scores, becoming Kersey’s love interest later in the film…. which starts off well enough but ends in what has to be the greatest slow speed explosion death ever.

#8. I’ve mentioned the leader of the gang, now I want to call out a standout member of the gang, the man known as The Giggler. The Giggler is called The Giggler because he laughs when he runs and when he runs he really moves… however he is not faster than a speeding bullet. In fact, it is in death that we learn just how nasty an individual The Giggler must have been. After Kersey takes out The Giggler, nearby residents can not contain their joy… I often wonder if this was an homage to the big city movie goers who were cheering in the theaters while watching Paul Kersey’s vigilante debut in the original Death Wish.

#9. Hermosa (Alex Winter) may be the weakest member of Fraker’s gang, but we have him to thank for one of the most memorable (and worst) pick up lines ever,”Yo bitch, come here! I want to eat you!’ Not only does this line not work on Maria (Marina Sirtis), Hermosa also gets a tire iron to the face courtesy of the new vigilante in town… Paul Kersey!

#10. The next day when Maria and her husband Rodriguez visit Paul Kersey to thank him for intervening on Maria’s behalf the night before, Kersey is beaming with pride. The look on his face is priceless and one you can’t miss thanks to the extreme close up.

#11. I skipped over another major character that was introduced after Kersey helped Maria in the parking garage… Bennett (Martin Balsam, The Delta Force). Bennett was a friend and neighbor of Charley’s and ends up becoming a valuable friend to Paul Kersey, even hooking up Kersey with a machine gun at one point. Bennett’s greatest contribution to the movie has to be his reaction when his taxi meter repair shop is blown up.

#12. The build up for Kersey’s “friend” Wildey is exceptional. There’s an air of mystery surrounding “this friend” for a chunk of the movie and the inevitable reveal does not disappoint. The “friend” that Kersey was talking about is the Wildey Magnum firearm… a shorter version of an African big game rifle and boy does it get the job done! As an aside, the inclusion of the Wildey Magnum became one of the most unique product placement stories in movie history. Wildey Moore, the founder of the company that manufactured the Wildey Magnum, credits Death Wish 3 for saving his company from going out of business, when orders for the Wildey Magnum went through the roof after fans saw Bronson use the gun that put Dirty Harry to shame.

#13. I want to shout out Erica Kaprov as my personal favorite among Kersey’s neighbors. Not only can the woman make a mean stuffed cabbage, she can also spin some side splitting yarns and like most wives, she manages to keep her husband Eli out of trouble.

#14. The “It’s my car” scene is not only one of the more memorable in the entire movie, it starts the ball rolling on Kersey’s highest kill count in a single movie with Paul Kersey taking out an astonishing 54 thugs!

#15. I am going to give Paul Kersey’s booby traps the credit that Home Alone should have… these simple but effective traps prove to be great deterrents, keeping the Kaprovs and Kersey himself safe from uninvited guests.

#16. One of the things I did not mention about the Kathryn Davis character earlier was her lack of culinary skills. Death Wish 3 turns that weakness into a strength after Kathryn makes the only dish she knows how to make, that being chicken. This set up a piece of dialogue that to me ranks right up there with anything William Shakespeare ever wrote and delivered like only Charles Bronson can… “Chicken’s good. I like chicken.”

#17. When Manny Fraker decides he needs to put more heat in his area, he calls what I can only presume is a Thug Temporary Agency and gets an entire army of motorcycle riding, grenade throwing, chain swinging baddies to join his crew.

#18. Kersey doesn’t have a hotline to call, but his actions prove to be inspiring much like they were nearly a decade earlier when New York City caught Vigilante Fever. The people of the neighborhood are starting to fight back (and hard!) including the Pant Suit Family and we can’t forget Rodriguez and his zip gun!

#19. After Kersey manages to slip out of protective custody so he can finish his Fraker story, total chaos ensues on the streets and it turns this New York neighborhood into a war zone. To me this was Cannon at its finest with Director Michael Winner conducting a symphony of violence.

#20. After the over the top action that was seen through out the film, the movie needed an even more over the top finale and Death Wish 3 delivers with Fraker’s last stand. An overconfident Fraker is beaming with pride when his bulletproof vest saves him from a barrage of bullets from Kersey and Shriker… but that confidence turns to horror when Paul Kersey pulls out a LAWS rocket launcher. Bulletproof, sure. Rocker proof, no way!