Fred J. Scollay

Death touches a little girl's soul by granting her fondest wish on Christmas Eve.

Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson), a self-appointed one-man vigilante squad, has moved to Los Angeles, but cannot escape irrational, brutal violence. His Mexican cook is sexually assaulted and then murdered, and his daughter, still suffering from a catatonic stupor after her brutal rape in the first film, finds herself raped yet again. Paul goes into hiding, and his buddy, New York detective Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia), comes out to Los Angeles to find him, but is soon slain on a freeway. Paul is finally drawn out of hiding, where he goes on a vigilante spree to avenge the killings.

He's a shy, illiterate short-order cook who's never taken a chance at love. She's a newly widowed factory worker who's vowed to never love again. But as their friendship slowly blossoms and Iris helps Stanley learn to read, his strong yet gentle kindness helps mend her broken heart. And where once two lonely strangers stood trapped within the past, Stanley and Iris can now begin a new chapter of their lives together.

In this explosive story of revenge and urban violence, Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey, a bleeding-heart liberal who has a change of opinion after his wife and daughter are violently attacked by a gang of thugs in their apartment. His daughter is sexually assaulted and his wife is murdered. Bronson then turns vigilante as he stalks the mean streets of New York on the prowl for muggers, hoodlums and the like. Death Wish is a violent, controversial film that is frank and original in its treatment of urban crime and the average citizen's helplessness in dealing with it. Herbie Hancock wrote the musical score. And watch for a young Jeff Goldblum in his film debut as one of the thugs.