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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.

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