Classic Movie Review Deathwish 4 The Crackdown

Deathwish 4 The Crackdown

Directed by J. Lee Thompson

Written by Gail Morgan Hickman

Starring Charles Bronson, Kay Lenz, John P. Ryan 

Release Date November 6th, 1987 

How in the world did the Death Wish franchise last for four movies? How did anyone with a brain figure that the story of vigilante Paul Kersey could simply linger for over a decade? It’s a bafflement and yet, in the first weekend of November 1987, Cannon Films managed to release Death Wish 4: The Crackdown and it somehow wasn’t the last of this limping, moronic, gun crazy, alpha male fantasy franchise.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown finds Paul Kersey living in Los Angeles and running his architectural firm. Paul is dating a journalist named Karen (Kay Lenz) who has a daughter named Erica (Dana Barron). One night Erica hits the town with her boyfriend and tries some cocaine and then dies from an overdose. The loss consumes both Karen and Paul as she sets about using her reporting to track down the bad guys while Paul does it his way, through vigilante justice.

After Paul murders the dealer, he believes is directly responsible for Erica’s death, he finds he’s being watched. A man claiming to be Nathan White, a wealthy industrialist, wants to help Paul reap bloody vengeance on Los Angeles organized crime. He offers to get Paul the guns and the information he needs to battle the two biggest drug dealing factions in Los Angeles. Why? White claims to have had a daughter who also died from a drug overdose.

With White’s assistance, Paul begins murdering drug dealers on both sides of the two biggest crime families. While we are told that this is part of a plan by Paul to turn the two gangs against each other, ending their current détente, all we see is Paul randomly choosing targets on both sides and killing his way out of whatever spot he gets himself into. Paul is clumsy and slow, but the movie makes up for it by making it seem as if he never misses, even as every drug dealer in Los Angeles couldn’t shoot water while standing on a dock.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review 10 To Midnight

10 To Midnight (1983)

Directed by J.Lee Thompsom

Written by J. Lee Thompson

Starring Charles Bronson, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis, Ola Ray, Kelly Preston

Release Date March 11th, 1983

Published March 11th, 2013 

30 years ago, March 11th 1983, the most talked about movie of the weekend had no Witches or Wizards or magic or wonder. Instead, a 'scummy little sewer of a movie,' "10 to Midnight" packed houses and continued to demonstrate the unlikely star power of a not so handsome brut named Charles Bronson, the man men wanted to be and women didn't mind hiding behind if a killer was coming.

Plot: A nude serial killer (Gene Davis) is stalking the women who've rejected him and offing them in gruesome fashion. Nearly captured by veteran Detective Leo Kessler (Bronson) and his young handsome partner (Andrew Stevens), the killer turns his vengeance on Kessler's daughter setting up a cat and mouse chase between cop and killer that tests the limits of the law and morality.

Review: Roger Ebert called "10 to Midnight" 'a scummy little sewer of a movie' and that's not mere hyperbole. "10 to Midnight" is a revolting little piece of trash that ranks alongside "I Spit on Your Grave" and the oeuvre of Eli Roth in the pantheon of sick and twisted movies. Harsh? Hardly, the film makes great sport of nude women cowering in fear from the killer as well as the killer's penchant for stripping nude to commit his murders. Bronson draws more laughs than drama from his reading of such abysmal dialogue as "Anyone does something like this (gesturing toward a nude stabbing victim), his knife is his penis."

Trivia: "10 To Midnight" features an early performance from Kelly Preston, billed as Kelly Palzis (a savvy career movie Kelly but we recognize you), and a pre-"Thriller" Ola Ray, both playing co-workers of Bronson's daughter.

Final thoughts: Why didn't Andrew Stevens make it as a star? Maybe it was this movie.

The title "10 to Midnight" means absolutely nothing. The title is never even hinted at during the film having apparently been selected at random by producers Menachem Golan and Yuri Globus.

Golan and Globus are two of the all time scuzziest producers in Hollywood history. Their anything for a buck style of movie making led them to release six films in 1983, none more memorable than "10 to Midnight."

Movies have seemingly grown tamer since the early 80's. It hardly seems possible that a movie as sadistic, misogynist, and featuring so much unnecessary naked flesh as "10 to Midnight" would get made in this day and age. Then again, it may also be an example of the evolution of taste; after all audiences once believed a two bit, one note tough guy like Charles Bronson was a star whose presence was worth the price of admission.