Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

A discussion of Charles Bronson that fails to mention the "Death Wish" series isn't really a discussion at all. The first entry in this seminal series arrived on the scene in 1974 during a period in American history when all types of crimes skyrocketed. We can thank the moral laxity inflicted on the rest of us by the Counterculture for the increased numbers of murders, arsons, burglaries, robberies, rapes, and countless other forms of physical and mental assaults that soon became common occurrences on every street in the country. A large percentage of the population, referred to by Nixon as "The Silent Majority," ached to find a way to fight back against the vermin committing these atrocities. Since our embrace of vigilante justice faded away due to the abuses of lynching in the South, and our legal system began letting the scum back out on the streets, only Hollywood seemed to offer refuge to the growing number of victims. Enter the revenge and vigilante genre, the most notable entries of which consisted of the Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" pictures. In these films, a cop or outraged citizen would hunt down criminals outside the law, meting out a savage brand of justice we could all cheer about.

"Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" is yet another chapter in the saga of the Angel of Death, aka Paul Kersey, the mild mannered architect turned vigilante turned one man army. Everyone he comes into contact with and cares about in any way perishes horribly at the hands of society's vermin. By the late 1980s concern about drugs and drug pushers moved to center stage in the media, so Kersey emerges from his hibernation to battle a couple of ruthless mafia style families responsible for most of the cocaine traffic on the West Coast. Of course, the death of his soon to be stepdaughter Erica Sheldon (Dana Barron) from an overdose provides more than enough impetus for action, as does the grief of the girl's mother Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz). Kersey bumps off the low level pusher who sold the drugs to Erica, but the real fireworks start when a wealthy third party, Nathan White (John P. Ryan), hires Paul to wage all out war on the mafia hoods moving the dope. Loaded for bear, Kersey begins investigating Ed Zacharias (Perry Lopez) and Jack Romero (Mike Moroff), the two men named as prime suspects by White. The idea is stage a series of raids so each family thinks the other is trying to start a war.

Kersey takes out his targets by donning a variety of "disguises." He dresses up as a waiter at a party thrown by the Zacharias family, a party where Paul inadvertently witnesses a murder and barely escapes with his own life. Another incident, probably the film's best scene, finds Kersey posing as a wine salesman in order to kill a few goons with a bomb in a bottle. Everywhere these guys hide, our hero shows up to deal out death. He throws one of the family's lieutenants out of his posh high rise apartment, shoots up a drug distribution warehouse, and kills several goons in a video store that serves as a front for drug operations. Predictably, Zacharias and Romero set up a meet outside the city to hash out their problems. Even more predictably, Kersey mows them all down with a sniper rifle the size of a conference table. Thank goodness the bad guys are all gone. But wait! "Death Wish 4" throws in a plot twist we saw coming from a mile away, and the game continues. Now Kersey must confront someone who has, among other things, kidnapped Karen Sheldon, and he'll do it the only way he knows how--with an assault rifle/grenade launcher the size of which would make Scarface weep with envy.

It should go without saying that Paul Kersey is the only person still living at the end of the film. It should also go without saying that "Death Wish 4" is a cheap, poorly acted piece of drivel that massively entertains largely due to its over the top violence. Say what you will about Bronson making these low budget potboilers, and you could say plenty of unkind things, but he always manages to pull it off. Not only do we want to see him eradicating the scum, we enjoy watching him do it. So entertaining is it to watch him pummel a man twice his size and thirty years his junior into submission that we hardly care about the impossibility of such a scene at all. Nor do we ask more than once how a guy his age could land a babe like Kay Lenz's character. All that matters is the action, and "Death Wish 4" has as much of that as it does plot holes. I loved the scene where the bad guy tries to drive away from Kersey only to receive a high explosive round as a reward. Note to self: when escaping from a nut armed with a grenade launcher, drive faster than five miles an hour. It's also interesting to note the effects a high explosive round has on a human body when fired into it from five feet away. Heck, the violence here is so much fun you barely notice the inexplicable disappearance of Lenz's character for most of the film.

It's a shame MGM released this in fullscreen with only a trailer as an extra. Amazingly, Bronson made one more "Death Wish" film in 1994 before calling it quits. While we'll never see another Charles Bronson film--the actor passed away in 2003--we can still revisit his numerous low budget Cannon clunkers of two decades ago. Rest in peace, Charles Bronson, and hopefully you somehow know that you forever left an indelible impression on the minds of lovers of low budget action thrillers.

i can't understand why the reviewers of Bronson films think it necessary to trash the people who actually like to watch Bronson. you know, i love his movies because they say a lot of things i wish i could do in real life. everyone wants to get rid of people they hate and since killing is illegal and i have a rational mind, i can watch Bronson films and get out my anger at somebody through his mass killings of street scum and corrupt public officials. i don't see the harm in the genre of films Charles chose to link himself with. Death Wish and all it's sequels are designed strictly for that kind of audience that gets thrilled and excited watching someone do things that can't be done in real life without suffering the consequences. Charles' character never goes to prison or is never seriosuly pursued by the police...BECAUSE Bronson is doing what the POLICE wish they could do to crooks and the PUBLIC loves what Bronson's character is doing. that's the message that his mid '70s to mid '80s movies set. i say, what's the harm in an actor giving HIS public what they want and all you have to do is look at the box-office, not the critics. 90% of his so-called "bad" movies, the ones that critics scathe and tear apart, were huge money makers and that's the bottom line. to say Charles Bronson's career wasn't popular and appealing is a lie...he's the "common man"'s hero but my no means does that make his fans vigilantes...we just get excited watching bad guys get what they deserve and Charles vents our frustrations for us in his movies. it's as simple as that. Death Wish 4 is based on a murder and the fact that red tape and procedures get in the way of solving cases. vigilante films, like the wonderful Death Wish series, are limited in originality due to the very fact that it's a vigilante film. you can't get too original with that premise, can you? so that's why we don't mind that the series is all the same sort of plot, we get a kick out of the many ways Bronson shoots the bad guy and the different sort of guns he might use.

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Right off the bat I just want to say that this is a unrealistic action movie and should be viewed as such. On the unrealistic action movie scale I give it a 4 if only because I thought some of the other Death Wish movies were a slightly more fun, but this is classic. When a would be rapists asks Kersey who he is we get the classic line: "Death"! Paul Kersey is just too cool!If you have never seen the Death Wish movies you are in for a treat. These movies are in a league of their own and this time around, Kersey is gunning for high powered drug dealers and he now has an arsenal stored behind his refrigerator! Leave your rational mind out of it and have fun with Death Wish 4.

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Paul Kersey A.K.A The Unluckiest Man In The World moves back to L.A.(he'd be better off disappearing into a small town in Wyoming, but then we wouldn't have a Death Wish movie, would we?)and gets a new girlfriend who's daughter dies(naturally) from a cocaine overdose. Well, then he's back in Bronson mode, and manages to bring down the L.A cocaine empire in a few days. Cool. Not as wild and out of control as Part 3, but good violent fun nonetheless. Michael Winner decided to hang up the directing duties after 3, and now J. Lee Thompson(who made about 8 million 80s action flicks with Bronson) takes over. This is just like any other crude Thompson/Bronson actioner from the 80s-and that's either good or terribly bad depending on your taste. My big problem is with MGM's halfassed treatment of these dvds. Death Wish 2, 3, and 4 all came out on the same day and all three are terrible disappointments. Sure, the picture's the best it can be, but MGM has gotten extremely lazy and not released them in widescreen format. The same goes for most of the MGM released Chuck Norris films. Look, these films aren't art, and didn't have oscar winning cinematography, but they do have a fan base and those fans have been waiting for these dvds for a long time so they could ditch their old VHS copies for a nice widescreen transfer. Well, the fans will be saving themselves alot coz they might as well, and probably will just keep their VHS copies. A "making of" documentary was filmed at the same time as Death Wish 3-why isn't that on the dvd? MGM better get the lead out fast.

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When his girlfriend's teenaged daughter dies from a cocaine overdose, Paul Kersey again picks up a gun and starts wasting drug dealers. Although the story's twists and turns border on being silly, nonetheless star Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson give this unnecessary entry in the Death Wish series a little something extra. The opening minutes of the film are particularly impressive, sending a subtle signal that they were trying to make a real movie instead of just another bargain basement formula action thriller. So well done it's almost good in its own right instead of being just another b-grade guilty pleasure.

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