I had left New York City and was living for two years in Montana when Death Wish came out.
Ten years later in a life imitates art incident on December 22, 1984, three days before Christmas, Bernhard Goetz gave four teenagers, Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey and James Ramseur lead Christmas presents on a NYC Broadway–Seventh Avenue Downtown No. 2 Train Express. These four punks each with previous arrest records were on their way to rob a Playland or Fascination Video Arcade in downtown Manhattan.
The train of R22 subway cars pulls into 14th Street Station and squeals to a stop. People get off. About fifteen or twenty stay on board car number 7657, it was the seventh car of a ten car train.
At 14th Street Bernie Goetz gets on through the rearmost sliding door. He crosses the aisle and takes a seat on the long bench facing the same door. Canty was laying down on the bench alongside the right side of the same door. Allen was seated on the short bench on the other side of the same door. Ramseur and Cabey were on the same side of the train as Bernie right of the door next to the conductors cab.
As the the doors whooshed shut, the train pulls out increasing its speed on the express track heading towards the next stop at Chambers Street. The train passes local stations Christopher and Houston. Somewhere near Canal Street, Canty asks Bernie 'How you doing?" Bernie responds "Fine."
Then the four men give signals to each other and Canty and Allen get up and go to the left of Bernie blocking him off from the other passengers on the train. Canty then demanded "Give me five dollars!"
"I'll give ya five!"
Gotez stands up pulls a Smith & Wesson Model 38. An aluminum-framed, carbon steel cylinder and barreled, 5-shot revolver loaded with 38 Specials. He fires four quick shots. The first shot hits Canty in the chest, shot two gets Allen in the back as he's trying to get away from that crazy mother fucker. Shot three goes through Ramseur's arm and into his side. The fourth shot missed Cabey standing in the corner by the conductors cab. It deflects off the wall. Cabey sits down. Gotez pauses, looks over the carnage sees that Cabey was still functioning either tells him tells him or thinks to himself, "You seem to be all right, here's another," and shoots him with his last shot.
The rest of the passengers, terrified, knock over two women and run to the end of the car and through the connecting doors between. Train stops in the tunnel. The two women on the floor of the car were immobilized by fear. Goetz walks over to them to see if they were OK. The conductor arrives and Goetz tells him that "They tried to rob me." The conductor asks Goetz if he is a police officer. Goetz tells him no. Gotez then jumps to the tracks and runs South along the tunnel to Chambers Street. He heads up to the sidewalk and hurries for home. There, he packs a bag rents a car and splits for Bennington. Vermont. He gets rid of the gun, burns his blue jacket, he drives around New England hiding out in dive motels and paying cash.
On December 29, Goetz calls his neighbor, Myra Friedman. She tells him the police are looking for him. He tells Myra his side of the story.
"Myra, in a situation like this, your mind, you're in a combat situation. Your mind is functioning. You're not thinking in a normal way. Your memory isn't even working normally. You are so hyped up. Your vision actually changes. Your field of view changes. Your capabilities change. What you are capable of changes. You are under adrenaline, a drug called adrenaline. And you respond very quickly, and you think very quickly. That's all. ... You think! You think, you analyze, and you act. And in any situation, you just have to think more quickly than your opposition. That's all. You know. Speed is very important."
Goetz hits the city on December 30th. He returns the rental, picks up some clothes, rents another car and heads appropriately to Concord, New "Live Free or Die" Hampshire to give himself up.
Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses. A jury found him not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm. Goetz served eight months of a one-year sentence.
"Bernhard Goetz said that three years earlier in 1981, while transporting electronic equipment, he was attacked in the Canal Street subway station by three youths in an attempted robbery.The attackers smashed Goetz into a plate-glass door and threw him to the ground, permanently injuring his chest and knee. Goetz assisted an off-duty officer in arresting one of them; the other two attackers escaped. Goetz was angered when the arrested attacker spent less than half the time in the police station spent by Goetz himself, and he was angered further when this attacker was charged only with criminal mischief for ripping Goetz's jacket. Goetz subsequently applied for a permit to carry a concealed handgun, on the basis of routinely carrying valuable equipment and large sums of cash, but his application was denied for insufficient need. He bought a 5-shot .38-caliber revolver during a trip to Florida.
The incident sparked a nationwide debate on race and crime in major cities, the legal limits of self-defense, and the extent to which the citizenry could rely on the police to secure their safety. Goetz, dubbed the "Subway Vigilante" by the New York press, came to symbolize New Yorkers' frustrations with the high crime rates of the 1980s. He was both praised and vilified in the media and public opinion. The incident has also been cited as a contributing factor to the groundswell movement against urban crime and disorder, and the successful National Rifle Association campaigns to loosen restrictions on the concealed carrying of firearms. (1984 New York City Subway shooting - Wikipedia)
So obviously you got to ask was Bernie Goetz influenced by Death Wish?
Directed by Michael Winner who directed two of the great Charles Bronson post Once Upon A Time In The West Westerns,/ Lawman (1971), and Chato's Land (1972). Death Wish was based on the novel Death Sentence by Brian Garfield, the screenplay was written by Wendell Mayes, Gerald Wilson (uncredited) , and Michael Winner (uncredited).
Cinematography was by Arthur J. Ornitz known for The Pusher (1960), Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), and Serpico (1973). The Music was by Herbie Hancock best known as a piano player, jazz star, and a composer, Round Midnight (1986).
The film stars 1950's noir vet Charles Bronson (The People Against O'Hara (1951), The Mob (1951), Crime Wave (1953), Big House, U.S.A. (1955) and Man with a Camera TV Series (1958–1960)) as Paul Kersey, Hope Lange (Bus Stop (1956)) as Joanna Kersey, Kathleen Tolan as Carol Toby, Vincent Gardenia (Cop Hater (1958), Murder, Inc. (1960), Mad Dog Coll (1961), Moonstruck (1987)) as NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa, William Redfield as Samuel "Sam" Kreutzer, Steven Keats as Jack Toby, Stuart Margolin (Kelly's Heroes (1970), The Rockford Files TV Series (1974–1980)) as Ames Jainchill, Jeff Goldblum as "Jughead" Freak #1, Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck (1987)) as Cop at the precinct, and 1974 Manhattan.
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| Queensboro Bridge |
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| Upper West Side |
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| Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) |
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| Joanna (Hope Lange) and Carol (Kathleen Tolan) |
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| Jughead (Jeff Goldblum) lt. |
Note don't ever have your groceries delivered. The punks know the address from the grocery receipt. They pretend to be the delivery boy. They ring the bell.
Carol opens the door. Mayhem ensues. The women only have seven dollars between them. Jughead and his buds beat the shit out of Joanna and orally rape Carol.
When Paul gets the call he heads to the hospital to find out that Joanna has died from her injuries. His daughter is suffering from what we now call PTSD. Shortly after the funeral Paul gazing out his apartment window watches as a gang of punks break into a car on his street. He decides to protect himself with two rolls of quarters in the toe of a sock. It proves handy as he uses it to smack a mugger upside his head.
Paul's boss sends him to work on a project in Arizona. There he meets Ames Jainchill who invites him to his gun club. There, Paul gets to shoot various handguns. Jainchill is impressed with Paul's accuracy. Paul tells him he was an avid hunter as a kid until he dad was killed in a hunting accident.
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| Ames Jainchill (Stewart Margolin) |
Pleased with Paul's work on his real estate project Ames' gives Paul a revolver as a thank you present. Back in Manhattan Paul finds out that his daughter has become catatonic.
Paul loads the revolver and takes a stroll along a walking path in Riverside Park. He gets mugged at gunpoint. Paul, turning towards his attacker has his gun out and blasts the mugger. It turns out he's an ex con. Paul is in shock but gets over it quickly. The next night he heads out again dispatching violent criminals in the act all around the city.
NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa is put in charge of investigating the vigilante killings. The squad gathers a list of suspects based on their having a family member recently murdered by muggers who are also war veterans.
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| NYPD Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) |
They get the war vet idea from the eye witness accounts of the vigilante's accuracy. As a consequence of the vigilante activity, crime statistics show a dramatic drop in muggings.
Paul is on the list. Soon Ochoa suspects that Paul is their man. However the police commissioner does not want to make Paul a martyr. He doesn't want the publicity he just wants Paul to go away.
Noirsville
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| No 7 Train R33 World's Fair Bluebird car |
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| Checker Cab |
Paul Kersey: Nothing to do but cut and run, huh? What else? What about the old American social custom of self-defense? If the police don't defense us, maybe we ought to do it ourselves.
Jack Toby: We're not pioneers anymore, Dad.
Paul Kersey:What are we, Jack?
Jack Toby: What do you mean?
Paul Kersey: I mean, if we're not pioneers, what have we become? What do you call people who, when they're faced with a condition or fear, do nothing about it, they just run and hide?
Jack Toby: Civilized?
Paul Kersey: No.
Frank Ochoa: We want you to get out of New York... Permanently.
Paul Kersey: [pause] Inspector... By sundown?
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| "By Sundown?" |
Of course the film was panned by many critics because of it showing vigilantism in a good light. Author Garfield was so disappointed in the 1974 film adaption that he wrote the sequel Death Sentence the following year.
Nice New York City locations, with a controversial and interesting story 7/10
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