Skip to main content

Paul Kersey's Hobby

    On rare occasions a younger person will ask me, "What movies were considered cool, back in the day?"
    That would be a long list, but one I often mention is a Charles Bronson thriller called Death Wish. Sometimes a movie transcends entertainment and lays bare a social mindset that has gripped society. When this happens, art is born. I can hear the laughter now. "A Bronson movie is art?"
    This movie came out in 1974. It told a riveting story, but more than that it gave lie to the mentality that good people should expect to be victims. That self-defense is somehow ugly or evil or common or vulgar. Or let's just say, who doesn't like a good revenge tale?
    Paul Kersey is a New Yorker, an architect. He is highly paid, respected and comfortable. He had been a conscientious objector during the Korean War and served in the Army as a medic. His Dad had been killed in a hunting accident when Kersey was a youth and this accounts for his antipathy for guns.
    Paul's wife and daughter are savagely beaten and robbed. The wife dies. The daughter is in an asylum.
 When Paul goes to Arizona, a friend gives him a gun for a gift and Paul returns to New York with a new lease on life. He now has an exciting hobby. He becomes a vigilante. He walks the dark streets of New York to purposely draw the attack of muggers and killers. Soon his alter-ego is the toast of the town and mugging is down 50 per cent, which accounts for several hundred on an average day.
    The movie inspired sequel after sequel. I believe there were a total of 5 of them. I enjoyed all of them but each succeeding one was a bit less entertaining. They are raw, violent, with bad language and nudity. As for the first Death Wish I rate it as 4 stars out of 4. It's Bronson at his best.
    Vincente Gardener stars as Detective Frank Ochoa, who is stalking Kersey. Ames Jainchill is played wonderfully by Stuart Margolin. He gives Paul the gun that starts Paul Kersey's hobby. A hobby that was destructive or constructive, depending on your point of view.
    I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...

Cake Is Better Than Swords

Hey, everyone. On Thanksgiving, we had a get-together here at The Author's Green Retreat. One lady brought a cake which I wanted to show you. It had the look of a Roman Coliseum about it. Inside it was just as decadent...and fun, as ancient Rome. When I cut it open, homemade marshmallow cream began to ooze out in several spots, running over the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing. It is best served warm so the cream is fluid. Very tasty. The same lady, and her children, are people who have played a lot of Skyrim. They gave me some pointers on the game because I am having problems with it. They taught me how to fast travel, and a ton of other things, but the main thing was the armor and clothing problem. This is a little embarrassing, but let me explain. Okay. For several weeks when I played, I would enter towns and everyone I met would comment on my nakedness. I would select a tunic and shoes, whatever, go back around people and they would say something about it. I guess I w...

Batman Lives In Washington, DC

    Hey, everyone. I just read an interesting article on Washington Post.Com by Mike Rosenwald. It was titled Who Is the Route 29 Batman? This is a true story about a guy that the cops pulled over. The guy was driving a black Lamborghini with Batman plates. There were yellow Batman symbols on the doors. They had a video from the police car that showed him being pulled over. He was wearing a Bat-suit which he said cost him $5000. His gig is that he visits sick children in area hospitals and hands out Bat-Toys and Bat-books to cheer the kids up.     His name is Lenny B. Robinson and he says that the 'B' stands for Batman. He is perfectly sane and is just a good dude trying to make a difference. He is a self-made millionaire and is currently having a duplicate of the Batmobile custom-made at a cost of $250,000.    It was a hoot, watching the cops having their pictures made with the Bat Guy. Someone asked him where Robin was and he said that the boy won...