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Whether it's critically acclaimed classics like Die Hardand Pulp Fictionor easy-viewing action flicks like 2022's Gasoline Alley, Bruce Willisand his iconic filmography will always prove popular, especially in light of his illness-induced retirement three years ago. From the latter category, another of Willis' testosterone-fueled action thrillers has found success in 2025, becoming one of the ten most-streamed titles on MGM+ in the U.S., as of July 21, 2025, per FlixPatrol.

That movie is Death Wish, a 2018 remake of the 1974 film of the same name, following Willis' Dr. Paul Kersey as he vows to take revenge on the perpetrators of a horrific crime that left his wife and young daughter the victims of a brutal attack. Also starring Vincent D'Onofrio, Greyhound's Elisabeth Shue, and Law & Order: Organized Crime's Dean Norris, the movie was helmed by Eli Roth, six years before he would bring the disastrous adaptation of Borderlands to the big screen.

MGM+ subscribers cannot get enough of an overlooked action remake starring Bruce Willis. Death Wish, a modern-day remake of the classic Charles Bronson-led action flick, has begun climbing the Top 10 chart on the streaming service.

According to FlixPatrol, as of July 24, Death Wish is ranked No. 8 on MGM+'s Top 10 chart, up one spot from the day before. Released in 2018, Death Wish stars Willis as Dr. Paul Kersey, a Chicago-based surgeon who sets out to exact vengeance on the culprits responsible for attacking his family. The vigilante action thriller also stars Vincent D'Onofrio (Daredevil: Born Again), Elisabeth Shue (The Boys), and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), among others.

Bronson originated the role of Paul Kersey in the Death Wish franchise, appearing in the first five films — Death Wish (1974), Death Wish II (1982), Death Wish 3 (1985), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), and Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994). A remake was announced in 2006; however,...

I love a good revenge flick. While there are some classics—Revenge, Hard Candy, and I Saw the Devil if you’re in the market for some contemporary flair—even the bad ones still target this simple yet innate desire to see justice achieved. Is it often the case in real life? No, not usually, but that’s why I go to the movies. I want to see some poor sap come into his own to avenge whomever it is they’ve lost.

Some of the horror greats have dabbled in the subgenre. James Wan helmed 2007’s Death Sentence, and The Babadook’s Jennifer Kent’s sophomore effort The Nightingale, is one of the century’s best movies. Period. Give me all the revenge. All the blood. All the melodrama and moral quandaries. Even better, give me a certified nerd in the lead. Such was the case with James Hawes’ The Amateur,...

Charles Bronson could not happen today. Born to Lithuanian immigrants in 1921, Brosnan began working in a Pennsylvania coal mine at the age of 12 to help maintain the family's income after the death of his father. It was a miserable existence. The Great Depression hit his family hard. Meals could be scarce and shelter seemed ever endangered. Despite these hardships, Bronson managed to graduate from high school and ultimately left Appalachia to serve as an aerial gunner in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.

After the war, Bronson moved to Hollywood and studied acting. At 5 '8," he was not an overpowering presence, but there was a coiled intensity to his early performances that must've been rooted in the tension of his hard-working childhood. Bronson felt determined, formidable -- and, in many of his early roles, shockingly vulnerable.

Bronson was not a method actor, but he took his craft very seriously.

"Death Wish" began its life in 1972 as a Brian Garfield novel. The story followed Paul Benjamin, a mild-mannered accountant living in a dangerous neighborhood in pre-Giuliani New York. He has spent his adult life being a civic volunteer and trying to mitigate crime in the city, feeling that society was merely out of whack. Paul does a philosophical 180, however, when criminals break into his apartment, steal his stuff, beat his wife to death, and leave his daughter in a vegetative state. He immediately becomes bitter, angry, and violent, evolving into a pro-police conservative so quickly it actually disturbs his conservative friends. Before long, Paul even takes to the streets with a gun in his pocket and starts committing lethal acts of vigilante justice.

The book ends with a cop catching Paul in the middle of a murder ... and then letting him go free. It's a polemic about humanity's natural tendencies...

‘Days Of Our Lives’ (Dool) spoilers suggest that Sami Brady (Alison Sweeny) is a complicated character. She’s endured a lot of pain over the years and has also caused pain for the people she’s closest to.

‘Days Of Our Lives’ Spoilers: Sami Showed True Growth As A Character

The talk Sami and Johnny Dimera (Carson Boatman) had at Ej Dimera’s (Dan Feuerriegel) bedside was long overdue. Sweeny and Boatman delivered powerhouse performances that were raw and emotional.

Image Credit: Jpi Studios

The April 11th episode allowed Sami and Johnny to talk about her past traumas involving sexual abuse and violence.

She admitted that she had once been the abuser herself when she drugged Austin Reed (Patrick Muldoon) so he would have sex with her.

Sami even mentioned Alan Harris (Paul Kersey) and the role he played in this nightmarish web of horror she lived through.

She owned...

In the Friday, April 11 episode of Days of Our Lives, Sami attempted to explain to her son why she fell in love with Ej Dimera after he raped her. Vivian attempted to claim her stake in Titan now that she had legally exited prison. Sarah attempted to tell Xander the truth.

Sami and Johnny

Johnny (Carson Boatman) didn’t need to be mad at his mom for evading his calls. Sami (Alison Sweeney) made up for it big time. This was definitely a conversation that needed to happen in person, and it happened at Ej’s bedside.

While he was comatose, Sami admitted that she was in therapy. Yes, Sami Brady’s doing the work, and she shared some of the results of that work with Johnny, including her self-esteem issues and her feelings of abandonment. Her journey into addressing her mental health happened after she found out Lucas (Bryan Dattilo...

Not every actor can be one of the greats, but they make a memorable impression based on how filmmakers play to their strengths. Charles Bronson is one of those actors. He didn't exactly break the mold as an expressive actor, but there's a flexibility in his stoicism that could present a two-way mirror depending on the kind of character he was playing. Legends like Sergio Leone ("Once Upon a Time in the West") and John Sturges ("The Great Escape") knew as much.

If there's one film that defines the definitive Bronson look and feel, it's Michael Winnerman's revenge fantasy "Death Wish." Paul Kersey is an architect turned nighttime vigilante who vows to clean up the streets after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted during a home invasion. Not much changes when it comes to Bronson's performance across the increasingly ridiculous five film series, as the character's quiet bloodthirst remains fairly consistent.

The gritty action movie that started a franchise featuring genre icon Charles Bronson has gotten a new streaming home. Though it featured Bronson in the lead, the movie also notably featured the on-screen debut of actor Jeff Goldblum.

Originally released in 1974, Death Wish is now streaming on Paramount+. Directed by Michael Winner and written by Wendell Mayes, the film starred Bronson as Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered middle-aged family man living in Manhattan. When his wife and daughter are brutally attacked by thugs, resulting in the death of the former, Paul becomes frustrated with the police department's lack of justice. He takes matters into his own hands by taking to the streets as a vigilante, shooting criminals to death in the name of vengeance.

Related Demi Moore Shares New Health Update on Bruce Willis After Heartwarming Holiday Photo

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore remained close after their divorce in 2000 and Moore...

This article contains mention of sexual assault.

Clint Eastwood's dark Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact is really a gender-flipped remake of a controversial 1974 hit. Dirty Harry is one of the rare Clint Eastwood movie franchises, but after the third entry in 1976, the star seemed done with the character. It was only when a Warner Bros poll revealed audiences wanted Harry back that Clint returned for another sequel. This saw Harry on the case of a serial killer who shoots victims in both the groin and forehead, and while Sudden Impact is famous for Harry's "Make my day" catchphrase, it's perhaps the bleakest of the series.

Harry eventually discovers the killer is artist Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke), who is tracking down and murdering the gang who assaulted her and her sister years before. While the Death Wish movies and Taxi Driver covered similar themes, Sudden Impact sets itself apart by...

While CGI and visual effects have seen countless amazing advancements over the years for filmmakers, the issue of the "uncanny valley" in movies has been a challenge to overcome. In terms of filmmaking, the uncanny valley refers to a certain stage in animation advancement that renders a creepy or unsettling quality to human characters in movies. The idea is that the ability of animation reached a level that was too realistic to look like a cartoon anymore, but not realistic enough to look completely human, thus falling into the uncanny valley.

The effect has been satirized and criticized among critics and movie fans for years with some movies that relied on the relatively new motion-capture technology making the uncanny valley even harder to ignore. However, the uncanny valley is simply a result of the advancements in technology encountering some growing pains. There are great movies that have featured examples of the uncanny valley,...

In 1975, George Kennedy starred in an unusual revenge thriller in which AI was used to catch the bad guys. A look back at The ‘Human’ Factor:

Revenge films and vigilantes were all over the place in the 1970s, whether it was Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey gunning down crooks in Death Wish (1974) or Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle going on a rampage in Taxi Driver (1976). One of the more unusual thrillers of its type from the era, though, was The ‘Human’ Factor from 1975. For one thing, there’s its high-tech premise, in which George Kennedy’s protagonist uses cutting-edge technology to track down his enemies.

Kennedy plays John Kinsdale, a middle-aged, American computer expert stationed in Naples. Each day, he says goodbye to his picture-perfect Nuclear family – wife, two sons, a daughter with an outsized clown doll – and drives to his workplace at a nearby NATO base. There,...

Jason Statham's 2011 action thriller The Mechanic is a remake of a classic Charles Bronson film of the same name and is now one of the most popular movies on Netflix. The Mechanic remains one of Jason Statham's highest-rated movies of his celebrated career and one of Statham's most successful film franchises. The film follows Statham's Arthur Bishop, an elite hitman or "mechanic" who is the best in the business. After Bishop's mentor Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop goes on a one-man-army mission to avenge his death and make those responsible pay. It's a classic premise for Statham and one of his most immersive movies.

As of October 1, 2024, The Mechanic is available to stream on Netflix. Directed by Simon West and written by Richard Wenk, The Mechanic also features performances by Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, and David Leitch. With a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 53%, The Mechanic is not...

Out of all the leading men in '70s cinema, Charles Bronson was in a class of his own. After a decade of supporting roles in ensemble classics such as The Magnificent Seven and The Dirty Dozen, he became an international superstar at age 54 playing New York vigilante Paul Kersey in 1974's Death Wish. Come the 80s, however, Bronsons star power waned as he became the go-to leading man for Cannon Films B-level action programmers including the critically derived Death Wish sequels. At the darkest moment of his life in 1990, a rare opportunity to act against type was presented to Bronson for Sean Penns directorial debut: The Indian Runner.

Marvel Comics recently launched an all-new Ultimate Universe, and within that universe are variants of a number of familiar Marvel characters, including the Punisher. Earth-6160 is an alternate reality taken over by the Maker, who used time travel to shape it to his liking. So far in this continuity, fans have gotten stories featuring the Ultimates (Avengers), Black Panther, and Spider-Man - but its missing one more: the Punisher. And theres one comic writer whod be perfect to tackle an Ultimate Punisher series.

In The Ultimates #2 by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri, Captain America is preparing for his first mission since being unfrozen. He decides to catch up on the history of the Ultimate Universe and learn about everything he missed between the 1940s and the present day. Standing in a high-tech Stark device, Cap gets a virtual history lesson, and in the 1970s, theres one person whos particularly noteworthy: the Punisher.

These days, the old man with a gun character type in movies is old hat, but back when Charles Bronson first came to play in the Death Wish movies, it was a really exciting idea. The Death Wish movies were one of a kind at the time. These movies are part exploitation, part revenge, part drama, all with... "attempts" at really deep and heavy character moments, then wrapped up with a funked-out soundtrack and massive body counts. Nobody's here to cry over the tragic backstory of Bronson's character Paul Kersey, we're here to watch him mow down a ton of truly bad bad guys. These are seriously some of the strongest action movies that you can find, even with an older protagonist at the center. This series started out simple, and as they progressed in entries, only got more ridiculous... but maybe they're better for that? In short, Death Wish rocks.

Eli Roth's Borderlands was a big-budget flop, missing the mark by casting against type and aiming for a PG-13 rating. Death Wish's 2018 remake lacked the passion of the original, failing to evoke the same outrage. The House with a Clock in Its Walls aimed for fun, but ended up feeling like a third-rate Harry Potter clone.

From Cabin Fever to Borderlands, Eli Roth has had a lot of ups and downs in his filmmaking career, but which one of his movies is the best (and which one is the worst)? Roth first broke out with his low-budget debut feature Cabin Fever, about a group of college kids who travel to a remote cabin in the woods, where they encounter a deadly flesh-eating virus. Cabin Fever put Roth on the map and established him as one of the most exciting new voices in horror cinema.

What followed was a surprisingly varied career.

Marvel's new Ultimate Universe reflects real-world controversy by exploring how militias adopt the Punisher's logo in The Ultimates (2024) #2. The issue reimagines the Punisher as an emblematic figure inspiring armed groups, highlighting the character's dark legacy of murder. While Marvel addresses the logo's misuse, the Ultimate Punisher offers unique commentary on the character's real-life symbolism.

Contains spoilers for The Ultimates (2024) #2!Marvels new Ultimate Universe is leaning into its political commentary, and that includes the new Punisher, whose logo has been adopted in-universe by militias, much like in the real world. The use of the Punisher skull logo has been controversial off the page for years, but this is one of the most direct references to the phenomenon thats been made in a comic. Its a clever use of the character, and a reminder that Punisher is, above all else, a guy who murders people.

In The Ultimates (2024) #2 by Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri,...

Taxi Driver, a Scorsese classic, is ranked as the worst film on Rotten Tomatoes' greatest movies list due to its low critics' score. Despite this, Robert De Niro shines in his role as Travis Bickle, giving a powerful performance that still holds up today. The film, a gritty portrayal of NYC, blazed the trail for New Hollywood, flipping the vigilante genre to showcase a disturbed antihero.

Rotten Tomatoes has named the 300 greatest movies ever made, and according to its stats, Martin Scorseses groundbreaking masterpiece Taxi Driver is the worst film on the list. The list is mostly made up of the usual suspects, from Casablanca to The Godfather to Schindlers List. But it also includes some strange choices. The 400 Blows is ranked below Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One. Citizen Kane is ranked below Zootopia. This list names L.A. Confidential as the greatest film ever made.

This list, dubbed...

The Death Wish franchise, which began in 1974 and is based on a novel of the same name, has featured plenty of famous actors. Recognizable faces like Jeff Goldblum appear in cameos and antagonist roles, adding depth and diversity to the cast. The 2018 reboot sticks to the original's core, with Bruce Willis leading as Kersey & familiar faces like Elisabeth Shue starring.

The Death Wish franchise is thematically tricky, especially in an age where people truly seem to end debates with bullets as often as words. However, Brian Garfield's novel and its sequel, Death Sentence, are far more inclined to express repulsion towards unnecessary violence than admiration. Can the same be said for the films, which made the character of Paul Kersey more and more of a typical action hero? Not exactly.

The original Death Wish (1974), starring Charles Bronson, toes the line. That is, compared to the four Bronson-led sequels. The...

When director Michael Winner and screenwriter Wendell Mayes adapted Brian Garfield's novel "Death Wish," it's doubtful that they had any idea they'd be launching a film franchise that would change the landscape of vigilante thrillers forever, and solidify Charles Bronson as one of the greatest stars of action cinema. The "Death Wish" films start out as a twisted character study of a man named Paul Kersey as he slowly descends into a life of vengeance and violence, bearing arms and serving as a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. There's a real allure to righting wrongs outside of the American justice system, but as Kearsey's arc shows, his desire to kill has perhaps always been a part of him -- which makes him part of the problem.

As the franchise went on, the "Death Wish" films cared less and less about the moral conundrums of its hero and instead wanted...

Joel Kinnaman as Godlock in Silent Night. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate

For years, film buffs have enjoyed arguing about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. The “yeas” emphasize when it’s happening and what’s going on there besides the mayhem between Bruce and the baddies. The “nays” say it’s the polar opposite of the decades of seasonal feelgood spirit exemplified by everything from It’S A Wonderful Life to what the Hallmark Channel cranks out annually for the holidays. For them, if it ain’t gooey, it ain’t Yuley. Well, whichever camp you’re in, you’ll vote the same way for this gift from A-list action writer, producer and director John Woo, Silent Night.

Silent Night serves as a two-edged title. Besides the main events occurring on consecutive Christmases (for which that title ranks among the most popular carols), the entire film plays out without a single spoken word.

Silent Night is an action-thriller film directed by John Woo, from a screenplay by Robert Archer Lynn. The Christmas-themed film revolves around a man who witnesses the murder of his young son when he gets caught in the crossfire of two rival gangs. On that day, the man was also injured and he lost his voice because of that. Now, he is on the path of revenge and is trying to kill everyone involved. Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman in the role with Kid Cudi, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Harold Torres in supporting roles. So, if you love the most silent action movie here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Kaabil (Hulu) Credit – Filmkraft Productions Pvt. Ltd

Synopsis: The blissful married lives of Supriya and Rohan, a visually impaired couple, come to a halt when the former is raped by men with political links. When she commits suicide,...

It's hard to imagine the Death Wish franchise without Charles Bronson, but if certain actors had taken on the part then there's a chance that we would have had a very different set of movies than what we ended up with. This is a series that is deeply indebted to Bronson's portrayal of the iconic anti-hero Paul Kersey. Imaging anyone else occupying this part just feels wrong, and would have taken Death Wish's legacy down a very different path. While it is interesting to look at the potential faces that almost nabbed the lead role, would we have loved these filthy action movies if they were served to us any other way? Charles Bronson *is* Death Wish! And yet there was a moment when the role of Paul Kersey was floated to acting legend Henry Fonda.

The first Death Wish might be the best film in the franchise, but none of these movies kick as much ass as Death Wish 3. This 1985 sequel follows Charles Bronson in the shoes of Paul Kersey once again, this time defending a neighborhood of elderly people from a bloodthirsty, savage gang. With this entry, the franchise has gone full-on into action schlock territory. Armies of men are killed, Kersey is almost twice the age of the woman he ends up with, and the police let him kill anyone that he pleases — so long as he reports back to them. Not one aspect of it is believable, not the hero's skill set, his love story, or the backup in the law that he has. But none of that matters, because we're not here for a believable movie. We're here for the action! More than any other movie in this series, Death Wish 3...

Death Wish sparked controversy due to its supposedly pro-vigilante message, but the backlash actually helped elevate its cultural status. Critics criticized the film for condoning vigilantism without showing the consequences, leading to mixed reviews upon its release. Despite the controversy, Death Wish was a box office hit, possibly due to the passionate reviews that made it a talked-about movie during a time of rising crime rates and public mistrust in authorities.

The classic Charles Bronson-starring vigilante thriller Death Wish was a huge commercial hit in 1974, but it also generated its fair share of controversy. Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered architect who decides to take the law into his own hands when his wife is killed and his daughter is assaulted during a home invasion by a sadistic street gang. Death Wish was a big enough success to launch a franchise with four sequels and a remake, and the...

Charles Bronson's career was defined by his roles in westerns and war movies, making him one of the most iconic tough guy actors in Hollywood history. Bronson starred in two of the greatest westerns ever made, including "The Magnificent Seven" and "Once Upon a Time in the West." He also appeared in two all-time great war movies, "The Great Escape" and "The Dirty Dozen," which defined subgenres within the war film genre.

Charles Bronson was a master of many genres, and he perfected the two genres that defined his career – westerns and war movies – within a single decade. Bronson is one of the most iconic “tough guy” actors in Hollywood history, and he starred in a wide range of different genre films throughout his storied career. Bronson’s career-defining role as Paul Kersey in the Death Wish franchise helped to popularize the vigilante thriller. He played a vengeful Vietnam War veteran in Mr. Majestyk,...

For a time in the 1990s, a film adaptation of a John Grisham novel was guaranteed to turn a tidy profit at the box office, if not mushroom into a full-on blockbuster. "The Firm," "The Pelican Brief" and "The Client" all made loads of money off of a built-in audience that just had to see how the lawyer-turned-bestselling author's latest book was brought to life by Hollywood's biggest stars. Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Tommy Lee Jones, and Susan Sarandon, among many others, were enlisted to turn these page-turners into big-screen spectacles. They were never better than over-produced B movies, but you didn't care because the material was never more than risible. Grisham wrote disposable legal thrillers that moved fast enough to get you past their myriad implausibilities, and there was nothing wrong with this.

"A Time to Kill" was a different animal. Based on Grisham's debut novel,...

Drawing from the extensive Paramount library of movies, Paramount+ is proving that it can stand among the streaming heavy hitters. Multiple classic and new films are set to come to the streamer in July. With any luck, audiences will find something on the list to fill out their movie nights.

Paramount+ is reaching way back into the archives this July, with several iconic classics joining the platform. A certain beloved gangster film and its sequels are even getting the "remastered" treatment. Not everything is for the older crowd, as a Nickelodeon sitcom from the not-too-distant past will see a brand-new story on the big screen. Want to learn more? Let's check out some of the best movies coming to Paramount+ in July.

Death Wish (July 1)

Based on the 1972 same-named novel, this film stars Charles Bronson as a man whose family suffers a home invasion. When his wife dies in the attack,...

Bruce Willis has a rich legacy of great movie characters in his filmography. Willis' swing to action movies wasn't planned, with many of his early roles being comedies like Moonlighting or Blind Date. After everyone from Clint Eastwood to Richard Gere passed on the original Die Hard movie, Willis was offered a large fee to take the movie, which had a seismic impact on both his career and the genre. In the years that followed, Willis would often mix action movies with riskier roles, such as Butch in Pulp Fiction or dark drama Mortal Thoughts.

One thing Willis brought to the table as an action star was his sense of humor and vulnerability. The '80s were dominated by the muscle-bound likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, but many of Bruce Willis' characters presented a more human side, and they often had to bleed and struggle to win. Of course,...

Locked and loaded with a decent screenplay, Michael Winner and Charles Bronson acquit themselves well in this brutal 1974 hit that launched a decade’s worth of nasty vigilante movies. The lynch-mob formula presents crimes so awful that the audience demands violent retribution. The shock is that this incitement to ‘fight back’ is not direct right-wing propaganda — vigilantism is glamorized but not endorsed. A fine supporting cast includes Vincent Gardenia, Steven Keats and unexpected treats like Olympia Dukakis and Jeff Goldblum. “Fill your hand!”

Death Wish, 4K

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 93 min. / Street Date January 24, 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, Steven Keats, William Redfield, Stuart Margolin, Stephen Elliott, Kathleen Tolan, Jack Wallace, Fred J. Scollay, Chris Gampel, Robert Kya-Hill, Ed Grover, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Logan, Gregory Rozakis, Christopher Guest, Paul Dooley, Olympia Dukakis, Al Lewis, Robert Miano.

Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz...

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Stuart Margolin, the character actor and James Garner buddy best known for portraying the smarmy yet sweet con man Evelyn “Angel” Martin on The Rockford Files, has died. He was 82.

Margolin died Monday, his stepson, actor Max Martini (The Unit), reported on Instagram. Another stepson, director Christopher Martini, told THR that Margolin died of natural causes in Staunton, Virginia.

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Margolin also brought his manic, manipulative persona to the Blake Edwards films S.O.B. (1981), as a star’s (Julie Andrews) insidious personal assistant, and A Fine Mess (1986), as a bumbling crook in the filmmaker’s homage to slapstick.

Margolin appeared opposite Charles Bronson in The Stone Killer (1973) and Death Wish (1974) — both directed by Michael Winner — playing a contractor who arranges mob hits in the former and the guy who gives Bronson...

This, and the realisation that not everyone obeys the rules, to their obvious benefit, leads to appreciation for the anti-hero, or protagonists with their own value systems.

That may help to explain why we have a sneaking admiration — or interest, at least — in fictional characters whose "heroic" credentials are quite vague as to morality, say James Bond, or his equally lethal but less glamorous American counterpart, Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm.

Or for that matter, those compelled to take the law into their own hands, vigilante style — an entire host, spanning various genres and media, from Don Pendleton’s Mack Bolan, alias the Executioner, to V from "V for Vendetta", to Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) in the "Death Wish" series of films, to Bollywood’s Angry Young Man.

Then, there are those on the other "wrong side" of the law — ‘Godfathers’ Vito and Michael Corleone or other Mafia figures and a number of similar outlaws,...

Charles Bronson is one of the most iconic movie stars in Hollywood history. With long-time directorial collaborators like Michael Winner and J. Lee Thompson, Bronson played all kinds of tough-as-nails roles across his decades-long acting career, including roguish cops, gunfighting cowboys, and war heroes.

Related: 10 Best Charles Bronson Movies, According To IMDb

Bronson brought plenty of iconic characters to life, from architect-turned-vigilante Paul Kersey in the Death Wish franchise to the titular melon-farming Vietnam War veteran in Mr. Majestyk to the mysterious gunslinger named after his signature harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West. But, as with any sought-after Hollywood A-lister, Bronson turned down almost as many high-profile roles as he took on.

Some readers might remember when, in 2013, Abel Ferrara’s third feature film, Ms. 45 (1981) was once again released in theaters, reinvigorated by a brand-new, state-of-the-art restoration and with its sound remastered in HD. This re-release, with its first screening held fittingly in New York on Friday, December 13th, demonstrated to audiences the extent to which Ferrara’s controversial and hastily labelled “rape and revenge” film had maintained its aggressive spleen.

While walking home from work, Thana, a mute young woman working as a seamstress in New York City's Garment District, is raped at gunpoint in an alley by a mysterious, masked attacker. She survives and makes her way back to her apartment, where she encounters a burglar and is raped a second time. Thana—her name an allusion to Greek god of death Thanatos—manages to knock her second assailant out, then bludgeons him to death with an iron and carries his body to the bathtub.

Stars: Bill Oberst Jr., Michael Pare, Tom Parnell, Mark Savage, Khalimah Gaston, Alexander Pennecke, Pacey Liz Walker, Austin Janowsky, Scot Scurlock, Liz DeCoudres, Kristina Beringer, Eve Jordan Litchfield | Written by Tom Parnell, Mark Savage | Directed by Mark Savage

Back when I reviewed Purgatory Road I said it might be the film to finally put director Mark Savage over in the US market. Instead, he dropped off the map for four years. Now he and co-writer Tom Parnell back with Painkiller, a sequel to their 2016 dark comedy Stressed to Kill which I haven’t seen. That film featured Bill Oberst Jr. as Bill Johnson, a man who takes the doctor’s advice to get rid of stress a bit too literally and starts killing those who annoy him. In Painkiller, originally titled Stressed to Kill: Doctor’s Orders, he’s back, but his killing has a different focus.

Bill is a radio talk jock.

From Paul Kersey to Batman, vigilantism is a terrific vehicle for creating a compelling antihero. Since the justice system often fails to do its job in the real world, moviegoers enjoy watching the on-screen fantasy of somebody taking the law into their own hands and bringing people who have wronged them to justice.

Related: Léon & 9 Other Action Movies About Sympathetic Hitmen

Michael Winner’s gritty 1974 gem Death Wish is the quintessential vigilante movie – it practically defined the genre, and it’s the first movie to come up in discussions of vigilante thrillers – but there are plenty of other great movies about antiheroes doling out their own particular brand of justice.

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By Matt Davey

Released in 1972, The Valachi Papers depicts the rise and fall of Mafia informant Joseph Valachi, who became the first member of the Mafia (otherwise known as Cosa Nostra) to acknowledge its existence in public. Directed by Terence Young and produced by legendary Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis The Valachi Papers stars Charles Bronson in the lead role, alongside his real-life wife Jill Ireland as well as Lino Ventura, Walter Chiari and Joseph Wiseman.

The film covers five decades of Valachi’s involvement in organised crime – from his burglaries with the Minutemen to working under mob boss Vito Genovese from the 1930s – as the film unceremoniously portrays life in the criminal underworld. Told from the perspective of Valachi, the film begins with the ageing gangster in prison fearing for his life after a contract for his killing is ordered...

For many years in cinema we thought of movies in a very linear way. Action movies were action movies, comedies were comedies, romantic dramas were... you get the gist. Sure, a comedy might have action here and there, but by and large you were laughing not seeing some heavy getting his face blown to bits. Over time this medium has evolved and now we will often see all the aforementioned genres mixed together to make a film that literally doesn't have a place. Is it action? Drama? Suspense? Romantic comedy?

This whole debate gets thrown into an even bigger tailspin when we start throwing holidays into the mix. And the one holiday that seems to have crossed more genres than any is that of Christmas. I'm not saying that you'll have a heist movie and suddenly Santa shows up with his reindeer and a bunch of elves (although that can...

1968: The Doctors' Nick proposed to Althea.

1980: Texas' Justin rescued Rikki from a burning race car.

1981: Edge of Night's Sky plotted with Gunther against Gavin.

1991: Young and the Restless' Traci helped Brad with a Jabot ad."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1946: Prolific radio soap opera writer Elaine Sterne Carrington (Pepper Young's Family; Rosemary) was featured in Time magazine.

1968: On The Doctors, while at dinner, Dr. Nick Bellini (Gerald Gordon) asked Dr. Althea Davis (Elizabeth Hubbard) to marry him.

Thanks to Scott for sending in the item above.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday.

This week’s question: What is the worst movie remake ever made?

“Beauty and the Beast” (2017)

Mike McGranaghan (@AisleSeat), The Aisle Seat, Ranker

It was a massive hit and got mostly good reviews from other critics, so maybe this is just a personal thing, but I’d have to choose Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” remake. They took a beautiful, meaningful story and turned it into a big, dumb, overblown, soulless, CGI-heavy bore. Actually, I hate all the Disney live-action remakes. They’re just inferior versions of movies that were virtually perfect. Disney has always been way too willing to cannibalize itself. These films take that unappealing tendency to a new low. The “Beauty and the Beast” remake is the worst of a bad lot.

“Breathless” (1983)

Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The...

Stars: Robert Kovacs, Daniel Baldwin, Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton, Stormi Maya | Written and Directed by Rene Perez

[Note: With the film now out on DVD in the UK, here’s a reposting of our review of Death Kiss from its Us debut last year]

As if having one of his films, Playing With Dolls, released in the UK as Leatherface wasn’t bad enough (though not his decision but rather the UK distributors), Rene Perez has gone all out with his latest movie, in “homaging” other exploitation films – in this case Charles Bronson and Death Wish – with Death Kiss. Perez’s latest film features Charles Bronson doppelganger Robert Bronzi (here billed as Robert Kovacs), who previously appeared in another Rene Perez film From Hell to the Wild West, as a vigilante with a mysterious past who goes to a crime-infested city and takes the law into his own hands, trying to rid the city of crime whilst at the same time protecting a young mother and her child.

Death...

Perhaps best known as relentless vigilante Paul Kersey in the Death Wish movies, Bronson played another justice-seeking character, Leo Kessler, in 1983's 10 to Midnight, coming to Blu-ray in a Collector's Edition from Scream Factory early next year, and ahead of its January 22nd release, the Blu-ray's full list of special features has now been revealed.

From the Press Release: "Charles Bronson stars as a rogue cop pursuing a deranged killer in the action-packed suspense-thriller 10 to Midnight. Serving up vigilante justice as only he can, Bronson delivers one of his most riveting performances in this film. On January 22nd, 2019, Scream Factory brings this Cannon Group classic to Blu-ray as a Collector’s Edition loaded with new bonus features, including a new 4k scan of the original camera negative, new interviews with actor Andrew Stevens, producer Lance Hool, actor Robert F. Lyons, and actress Jeana Tomasina Keough; as well as a...

Through five Death Wish movies spanning 20 years, Charles Bronson delivered a unique brand of justice to violent criminals who crossed (and sometimes ended) the paths of his family and friends. Although the iconic actor passed away back in 2003, Bronson's memory lives on in the new film Death Kiss, starring Robert Kovacs as a man who could be Paul Kersey's doppelgänger. With Death Kiss coming out on digital and VOD platforms on October 2nd from Uncork'd Entertainment, we've been provided with an exclusive clip from the film to share with Daily Dead readers!

Press Release: Uncork'd Entertainment announces a digital/VOD release date of October 2nd for new action-vigilante feature Death Kiss.

Filmed in Northern California, the film stars Robert Kovacs (who has gained attention for his uncanny resemblance to a certain well-known action star), Daniel Baldwin (John Carpenter’S Vampires), Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton (horror fest fave Ruin Me), Stormi Maya,...

Stars: Robert Kovacs, Daniel Baldwin, Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton, Stormi Maya | Written and Directed by Rene Perez

As if having one of his films, Playing With Dolls, released in the UK as Leatherface wasn’t bad enough (though not his decision but rather the UK distributors), Rene Perez has gone all out with his latest movie, in “homaging” other exploitation films – in this case Charles Bronson and Death Wish – with Death Kiss. Perez’s latest film features Charles Bronson doppelganger Robert Bronzi (here billed as Robert Kovacs), who previously appeared in another Rene Perez film From Hell to the Wild West, as a vigilante with a mysterious past who goes to a crime-infested city and takes the law into his own hands, trying to rid the city of crime whilst at the same time protecting a young mother and her child.

Death Kiss lays out its cards from the get-go,...

We haven't gotten a new Charles Bronson movie since Family of Cops 3 way back in 1999. The actor passed away at age 81 in 2003, and there has been a hole in action cinema ever since. Now, one man is stepping in to fill that hole, and you'll either find it indelibly creepy or really cool. It all depends on how you feel about lookalikes and their need to make money off the dead.

Meet R&#243bert Kov&#225cs. He's a dead ringer for Charles Bronson that will have you doing double-takes. Now, he's taken his notoriety for being a Paul Kersey doppelganger, and is giving us essentially a lost Death Wish movie, aptly titled Death Kiss. And, oh, boy. We're not sure what to make of it just yet.

Filmed in Northern California, Death Kiss also features Daniel Baldwin, Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton, Stormi Maya, Leia Perez, Reese Austyn, and Sam Story.

1968: The Doctors' Nick proposed to Althea.

1980: Texas' Justin rescued Rikki from a burning race car.

1981: Edge of Night's Sky plotted with Gunther against Gavin.

1991: Young and the Restless' Traci helped Brad with a Jabot ad."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1946: Prolific radio soap opera writer Elaine Sterne Carrington (Pepper Young's Family; Rosemary) was featured in Time magazine.

1968: On The Doctors, while at dinner, Dr. Nick Bellini (Gerald Gordon) asked Dr. Althea Davis (Elizabeth Hubbard) to marry him.

Thanks to Scott for sending in the item above.

1980: On Texas, Terry Dekker (Shanna Reed...

Bruce Willis’ Paul Kersey goes on a killing spree in Death Wish, bringing justice to the kinds of thugs who attacked his family. But before the bullets start to fly he’s a broken man, and in this exclusive clip from the movie we see Kersey returning home only to look upon the state his home was left in after his wife and daughter were rushed to the hospital. Just let the man have... Read More...

Eli Roth remade Death Wish, and it arrived on life support in theaters this month. To be fair, Roth’s take on Paul Kersey’s vigilante rampage – which traded in a deceased Charles Bronson for a comatose Bruce Willis – reportedly only cost $30 million and recouped nearly half of that in its third-place bow. If […]

The post A History of Violence: Eli Roth, John Wick, and the Morality of “Gun Porn” appeared first on /Film.

Paul Kersey never set out to be a hero. Following his 1974 debut, in the successful though explosively provocative first film of the Death Wish series, and after a string of four widely-lambasted sequels and an even more derided remake, many think he never should have been. As played by Charles Bronson across the five preliminary features, and by Bruce Willis in the newest incarnation, this character, an initially middling and mild-mannered architect (surgeon in the remake), is routinely, mostly unwittingly, thrust into a world of incessant, brutal violence. His quest for revenge is at first a primal and fathomable reaction to an assault on his wife and daughter (the former dies as a result, the latter is left in a catatonic/comatose state), but growing ever more convoluted and pitiless, his subsequent forays into vigilante justice attain varying degrees of clichéd, cartoonish excess. No longer was his target an almost...