Death Wish 3

Tag lines: He's back in New York bringing justice to the streets...
If he can't find justice... he'll make his own!
He's judge, jury and executioner!

Directed and co-produced by Micheal Winner who also directed the previous two Death Wish movies. Holds the distinction of being turned down by Chuck Norris for "Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection" because Chuck thought the script was crap. What did Micheal think of the Death Wish 3? "There's no moralistic side to Death Wish; it's a pleasant romp."... Pleasant indeed...

The players: Charles Bronson, who was in six films by Micheal Winner, he also starred in the Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, both of which I recommend over any other offering by this actor. He plays Paul Kersey, Architect/Asskicker.
Gavan O’Herlihy plays the main thug, his reverse mohawk comes complete with swanky 80's tribal colors, truly a hairstyle for the ages.

Charles Bronson is Paul Kersey, a man with a personal vendetta against all criminals. He travels to New York to visit a friend, when he enters the apartment he finds his buddy beaten to a pulp, this sets off a chain reaction of dirty cops, who want Paul to kill as many criminals as possible, and dirtier criminals, who want Kersey dead. Paul buys a rare and ridiculous gun called the .475 Wildey Magnum, loads it with exploding big-game cartridges and proceeds to blow away the scum of New York. This is pretty much as violent and realistic as 80's action gets. No race, gender, or age group is spared. You want senior citizens beaten and set on fire, you got it! Want to see Counselor Troi from Star Trek TNG getting raped, no problem! Bill S Preston, Esq as a murdering thug, oh yeah! Fun for all ages. Charles Bronson is dead, but his corpse could still kick your ass.

Charles ability to show Paul's pain and anger is as fresh and relevant as it was in 1985. Even though Charles was a raging alcoholic his is able to function ( thankfully) well enough that you cannot tell that he was drunk the entire time this movie was filmed. Christian Bale would do well to use this movie as a guideline to replace his rather mediocre portrayal of vigilante justice in The Dark Knight.

Best scene: a detective is looking over the body of Charles Bronson's first victim and THE BODY IS PERFECTLY INTACT, and says" Well, there ain't much left" and walks away. Also Paul can make a trap out of anything. as long as it is a green 2x6 board, and some string.

What I learned: if you are as weathered and drunk as Charles Bronson you can hold the barrel of a .30 cal. machine gun while shooting it from the from the hip and you will not burn your hands while you hit everything you are aiming at.

As a tasty tidbit: the musical score by Jimmy Page, lead singer of a now forgotten seventies rock band, brings to us a sacrifice, a labor of love that gives each scene a depth and nuance that was maybe approximated by John Williams rather commercial but still in some ways enjoyable compositions for E.T.