Death Wish II
Encyclopedia
Death Wish II is a 1982 sequel to the 1974 film. It stars Charles Bronson
, was written by David Engelbach and directed by Michael Winner
.
The soundtrack
, also titled Death Wish II
, was composed by Jimmy Page
. The film was made on a $2 million budget; it profited $16 million domestically.
Death Wish II was released in the United States in February 1982. It was produced by Cannon Films, which had purchased rights to the Death Wish concept from Dino De Laurentiis
. First planned for Cannon executive Menahem Golan
to direct, Winner returned on Bronson's insistence.
The sequel makes a complete break from Death Wish
and Death Sentence
, Brian Garfield
's novel series, and redefines the Paul Kersey character. Unlike the original, in which he hunts down every criminal he encounters, Kersey only pursues his family's attackers this time. His weapon of choice is a Beretta Model 85 .380 ACP.
. At his new home, Paul Kersey's maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo
), is preparing dinner. He seems to have picked up the pieces of his New York life and moved on, now dating KABC news/radio reporter Geri Nichols (played by Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland
).
They go to pick up Kersey's daughter Carol from the hospital. Her doctor says that despite traumatic catatonia, Carol has begun to speak again. (Her husband, Jack Toby, not seen or mentioned, has presumably left Carol.)
Paul, Geri, and Carol spend the afternoon at a carnival. While waiting in line for ice cream, Paul gets mugged by five gang members. He catches up with one who denies taking Paul's wallet.
Geri heads to do an interview with a senator while Carol and Paul go on a boat ride. The same five muggers come to his house, where they rape Rosario. Paul arrives home and is beaten unconscious. Rosario tries to call police, but the thugs kill her.
They take Carol with them and one rapes her. She jumps from a window, becoming impaled on a railing. Paul regains consciousness as Geri and the police arrive. Lt. Mankewicz (Ben Frank) asks for help identifying the muggers. Paul learns about the death of his daughter. He views mug-shot photos at the station, but says, "There really isn't any use."
After the funeral, Paul takes a handgun kept hidden in his closet. He uses a low-rent inner city apartment as a base of operations. The next night, he spots one of the muggers, Stomper, and follows him into an abandoned building as a drug deal is about to be made. Kersey kills one of the men, then orders the others out and kills Stomper.
Next night, patrolling the streets, he hears a scream from a man and a woman being assaulted. One of the muggers is Jiver, the one Kersey chased the day of his daughter’s death. He kills two. Jiver is wounded, but he and a fourth mugger get away.
Paul follows a trail of blood and kills Jiver at a warehouse. The L.A. police hear about these murders, as does New York's. Kersey falls under suspicion and Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia
) is called by the LAPD to help.
Fearing that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that the cops let him go instead of prosecuting, the NYPD sends Ochoa to make sure that does not happen. Ochoa meets with Lt. Mankewicz, who suspects Frank is hiding something.
Ochoa breaks into Geri’s apartment. He tells her about Paul's past and present vigilante sprees. Geri confronts Paul but he denies it, ascribing the tale to Ochoa's imagination.
Paul drives Geri to work. Ochoa follows Kersey to a local square where Kersey spots the three remaining gang members who attacked him: Cutter (Laurence Fishburne
), Punkcut (E. Lamont Johnson), and Nirvana (Thomas F. Duffy
).
Kersey follows the trio on a bus to an abandoned park, where a major drug deal goes down. Ochoa follows and decides to help Paul when the criminals are about to spot him. Ochoa is shot by a hail of gunfire. Paul manages to kill Cutter (who vainly tries to shield his head with a boom box). Punkcut is also wounded. Paul kills the getaway driver and seller of the firearms, who plummets off a cliff to a fiery doom below. The final mugger, Nirvana, gets away. Paul goes to Ochoa and asks why he saved his life. Ochoa felt it better to side with Paul than these criminals. He tells Paul to kill one for him, then Ochoa dies as the police arrive.
Paul flees. The police get the name of Ochoa’s killer from a badly injured Punkcut before he dies.
Paul later learns, from one of Geri's colleagues at KABC
, that the police are preparing to a tactical unit to take down Nirvana. Paul also obtains a police scanner and begins monitoring the police radio traffic, and shortly finds out when and where the arrest of Nirvana is taking place. He goes to the same location to exact his own justice on Nirvana before the police can arrest him but he is not successful.
Nirvana (real name Charles Wilson) runs when he sees the police approaching. He gets TASER
ed, but with no effect due to the influence of PCP
. He is finally arrested after stabbing several officers and slashing Paul on the arm during a chase.
Tried and found criminally insane, Wilson is sent to McLarren State Hospital. Geri and Paul visit, requesting an interview with Wilson, but are turned down. The visit allows Paul to steal a doctor's ID card.
Paul proposes to Geri the next day and she accepts. That night, Paul uses his fake ID at the hospital and confronts Wilson. They have a violent fight and Kersey is stabbed repeatedly with a scalpel. But when Kersey ducks a punch, Wilson’s hand smashes through a machine and Kersey turns up the power, electrocuting Wilson.
Donald Kay (Charles Cyphers), an orderly on duty, witnesses Wilson’s death. But he sympathizes with Kersey and gives him three minutes to escape before sounding the alarm.
Geri goes to his apartment, where she finds a scanned copy of the stolen ID. She realizes that Paul is actually the vigilante Ochoa claimed him to be, hearing a report of Wilson’s death on the radio. She places the paper and engagement ring on the table and drives off. Paul arrives home to an empty apartment.
A few months later. Paul is seen speaking about a new architectural design. His boss Elliott Cass (Michael Prince
) invites him to a party, and when Paul is asked if he's free, he answers: "What else would I be doing?"
was recommended along with the producers of the film to compose the score; however, Michael Winner chose former Led Zeppelin
guitarist Jimmy Page
(who was Winner's neighbour at the time). The opening credits bear Page's signature guitar tone, along with the heavy reverb-laden drum sound that he used with Led Zeppelin. The film's soundtrack
was released in February 1982.
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
, was written by David Engelbach and directed by Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
.
The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
, also titled Death Wish II
Death Wish II (album)
1999 Compact disc editionSame track listing and order as the vinyl release.-Album:-Personnel:*Jimmy Page – acoustic guitars, electric guitars, guitar synthesizer, synthesizer, theremin, bass, producer*Gordon Edwards – vocals, electric piano, piano...
, was composed by Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
. The film was made on a $2 million budget; it profited $16 million domestically.
Death Wish II was released in the United States in February 1982. It was produced by Cannon Films, which had purchased rights to the Death Wish concept from Dino De Laurentiis
Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer.-Early life:He was born at Torre Annunziata in the province of Naples, and grew up selling spaghetti produced by his father...
. First planned for Cannon executive Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan is an Israeli director and producer. He has produced movies for such stars as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and was known for a period as a producer of comic book-style movies like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV:...
to direct, Winner returned on Bronson's insistence.
The sequel makes a complete break from Death Wish
Death Wish
Death Wish is a 1972 novel by Brian Garfield.-Plot:Paul Benjamin is a CPA in New York and lifelong liberal. However, his staid life is overturned when his daughter, Carol, and spouse, Esther, are attacked by muggers. His wife does not survive the attack, and his traumatized daughter is left in a...
and Death Sentence
Death Sentence (novel)
For the film, see Death Sentence .Death Sentence is the 1975 sequel novel to Death Wish by Brian Garfield.-Plot introduction:...
, Brian Garfield
Brian Garfield
Brian Francis Wynne Garfield is an American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen and wrote several novels under such pen names as "Frank Wynne" and "'Brian Wynne" before gaining prominence when his book Hopscotch won the 1976 Edgar Award for Best Novel...
's novel series, and redefines the Paul Kersey character. Unlike the original, in which he hunts down every criminal he encounters, Kersey only pursues his family's attackers this time. His weapon of choice is a Beretta Model 85 .380 ACP.
Plot
A news broadcast details an increase in crime in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. At his new home, Paul Kersey's maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo
Silvana Gallardo
Silvana Gallardo is an American actress.She has been mostly active in television. Her credits include: Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, Lou Grant, Quincy, Hill Street Blues, Cagney and Lacey, Falcon Crest, Trapper John M.D., The Golden Girls, Knots Landing, MacGyver, LA Law, Babylon 5, ER and NYPD Blue...
), is preparing dinner. He seems to have picked up the pieces of his New York life and moved on, now dating KABC news/radio reporter Geri Nichols (played by Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland
Jill Ireland
Jill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress, best known for her many films with her second husband, Charles Bronson.-Life and career:Born in London, England, Ireland was the daughter of a wine importer...
).
They go to pick up Kersey's daughter Carol from the hospital. Her doctor says that despite traumatic catatonia, Carol has begun to speak again. (Her husband, Jack Toby, not seen or mentioned, has presumably left Carol.)
Paul, Geri, and Carol spend the afternoon at a carnival. While waiting in line for ice cream, Paul gets mugged by five gang members. He catches up with one who denies taking Paul's wallet.
Geri heads to do an interview with a senator while Carol and Paul go on a boat ride. The same five muggers come to his house, where they rape Rosario. Paul arrives home and is beaten unconscious. Rosario tries to call police, but the thugs kill her.
They take Carol with them and one rapes her. She jumps from a window, becoming impaled on a railing. Paul regains consciousness as Geri and the police arrive. Lt. Mankewicz (Ben Frank) asks for help identifying the muggers. Paul learns about the death of his daughter. He views mug-shot photos at the station, but says, "There really isn't any use."
After the funeral, Paul takes a handgun kept hidden in his closet. He uses a low-rent inner city apartment as a base of operations. The next night, he spots one of the muggers, Stomper, and follows him into an abandoned building as a drug deal is about to be made. Kersey kills one of the men, then orders the others out and kills Stomper.
Next night, patrolling the streets, he hears a scream from a man and a woman being assaulted. One of the muggers is Jiver, the one Kersey chased the day of his daughter’s death. He kills two. Jiver is wounded, but he and a fourth mugger get away.
Paul follows a trail of blood and kills Jiver at a warehouse. The L.A. police hear about these murders, as does New York's. Kersey falls under suspicion and Detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
) is called by the LAPD to help.
Fearing that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that the cops let him go instead of prosecuting, the NYPD sends Ochoa to make sure that does not happen. Ochoa meets with Lt. Mankewicz, who suspects Frank is hiding something.
Ochoa breaks into Geri’s apartment. He tells her about Paul's past and present vigilante sprees. Geri confronts Paul but he denies it, ascribing the tale to Ochoa's imagination.
Paul drives Geri to work. Ochoa follows Kersey to a local square where Kersey spots the three remaining gang members who attacked him: Cutter (Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
), Punkcut (E. Lamont Johnson), and Nirvana (Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas Francis Duffy is a versatile American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He is best known for playing hippie Paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and as Sam Moxon, the football loving dad in Varsity Blues.-Early life:Thomas was born in Newark, New...
).
Kersey follows the trio on a bus to an abandoned park, where a major drug deal goes down. Ochoa follows and decides to help Paul when the criminals are about to spot him. Ochoa is shot by a hail of gunfire. Paul manages to kill Cutter (who vainly tries to shield his head with a boom box). Punkcut is also wounded. Paul kills the getaway driver and seller of the firearms, who plummets off a cliff to a fiery doom below. The final mugger, Nirvana, gets away. Paul goes to Ochoa and asks why he saved his life. Ochoa felt it better to side with Paul than these criminals. He tells Paul to kill one for him, then Ochoa dies as the police arrive.
Paul flees. The police get the name of Ochoa’s killer from a badly injured Punkcut before he dies.
Paul later learns, from one of Geri's colleagues at KABC
KABC
KABC may refer to:* KABC , a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States* KABC-TV, a television station licensed to Los Angeles, California...
, that the police are preparing to a tactical unit to take down Nirvana. Paul also obtains a police scanner and begins monitoring the police radio traffic, and shortly finds out when and where the arrest of Nirvana is taking place. He goes to the same location to exact his own justice on Nirvana before the police can arrest him but he is not successful.
Nirvana (real name Charles Wilson) runs when he sees the police approaching. He gets TASER
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...
ed, but with no effect due to the influence of PCP
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
. He is finally arrested after stabbing several officers and slashing Paul on the arm during a chase.
Tried and found criminally insane, Wilson is sent to McLarren State Hospital. Geri and Paul visit, requesting an interview with Wilson, but are turned down. The visit allows Paul to steal a doctor's ID card.
Paul proposes to Geri the next day and she accepts. That night, Paul uses his fake ID at the hospital and confronts Wilson. They have a violent fight and Kersey is stabbed repeatedly with a scalpel. But when Kersey ducks a punch, Wilson’s hand smashes through a machine and Kersey turns up the power, electrocuting Wilson.
Donald Kay (Charles Cyphers), an orderly on duty, witnesses Wilson’s death. But he sympathizes with Kersey and gives him three minutes to escape before sounding the alarm.
Geri goes to his apartment, where she finds a scanned copy of the stolen ID. She realizes that Paul is actually the vigilante Ochoa claimed him to be, hearing a report of Wilson’s death on the radio. She places the paper and engagement ring on the table and drives off. Paul arrives home to an empty apartment.
A few months later. Paul is seen speaking about a new architectural design. His boss Elliott Cass (Michael Prince
Michael Prince
This article is about the American industrial designer. For the Egytian author, see Michael Maurice Prince. Michael Prince is an industrial designer and the founder of Beyond Design, Inc., a product and strategic design consultancy located in Chicago, IL. Beyond Design has grown to become one of...
) invites him to a party, and when Paul is asked if he's free, he answers: "What else would I be doing?"
Cast
- Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
as Paul Kersey - Jill IrelandJill IrelandJill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress, best known for her many films with her second husband, Charles Bronson.-Life and career:Born in London, England, Ireland was the daughter of a wine importer...
as Geri Nichols - Vincent GardeniaVincent GardeniaVincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
as Frank Ochoa - J.D. Cannon as New York District Attorney
- Anthony FranciosaAnthony FranciosaAnthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...
as Herman Baldwin - Robin Sherwood as Carol Kersey
- Laurence Fishburne IIILaurence FishburneLaurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
as Cutter - Charles CyphersCharles CyphersCharles Cyphers is an American actor who has starred in many films and on television. He is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 hit horror movie Halloween. He reprised this role in the...
as Donald Kay
- Ben Frank as Lt. Mankewicz
- Michael PrinceMichael PrinceThis article is about the American industrial designer. For the Egytian author, see Michael Maurice Prince. Michael Prince is an industrial designer and the founder of Beyond Design, Inc., a product and strategic design consultancy located in Chicago, IL. Beyond Design has grown to become one of...
as Elliot Cass - Thomas F. DuffyThomas F. DuffyThomas Francis Duffy is a versatile American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He is best known for playing hippie Paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and as Sam Moxon, the football loving dad in Varsity Blues.-Early life:Thomas was born in Newark, New...
as Charles Wilson aka Nirvana - Kevyn Major HowardKevyn Major HowardKevyn Major Howard is a Canadian actor best known for his role in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.After acting in high school, Howard moved to Los Angeles and Hollywood in the late 1970s....
as Stomper - Stuart K. Robinson as Jiver
- E. Lamont Johnson as Plunkett
- Silvana GallardoSilvana GallardoSilvana Gallardo is an American actress.She has been mostly active in television. Her credits include: Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, Lou Grant, Quincy, Hill Street Blues, Cagney and Lacey, Falcon Crest, Trapper John M.D., The Golden Girls, Knots Landing, MacGyver, LA Law, Babylon 5, ER and NYPD Blue...
as Rosario
Score
Isaac HayesIsaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
was recommended along with the producers of the film to compose the score; however, Michael Winner chose former Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
(who was Winner's neighbour at the time). The opening credits bear Page's signature guitar tone, along with the heavy reverb-laden drum sound that he used with Led Zeppelin. The film's soundtrack
Death Wish II (album)
1999 Compact disc editionSame track listing and order as the vinyl release.-Album:-Personnel:*Jimmy Page – acoustic guitars, electric guitars, guitar synthesizer, synthesizer, theremin, bass, producer*Gordon Edwards – vocals, electric piano, piano...
was released in February 1982.