THE MAKING OF THE DEATH WISH FILMS

By Paul Talbot

Review by Eric Matthew Harvey

iUniverse, Inc.2006161 pages

With the release of two DEATH WISH style pictures in the last month, it was time to for me to revisit Paul Talbot’s BRONSON’S LOOSE: THE MAKING OF THE DEATH WISH FILMS, a handy reference for any devoted Bronson fan or reader with a casual interest in his DEATH WISH canon.

Talbot offers complete summaries of all five films in the series as well as a wealth of information culled from vintage Bronson-related articles. Most importantly, he has conducted a series of personal interviews with many of the principals involved with Bronson and the DEATH WISH films.

Pretty much everyone agrees that Bronson, while not a jerk about it, was a very private man who didn’t socialize much on set. The consensus as well is that Bronson was an intense family man, bringing his wife, Jill Ireland, and his kids to wherever he was shooting. To any Bronson fan, these are not new revelations of any kind, but the candid interviews with Michael Winner (director of the first three DEATH WISH films), Brian Garfield (author of the original DEATH WISH novel) and Pancho Kohner (son of Bronson’s agent, Paul Kohner, and producer of many Bronson films) are.

Winner comes off as a likeable English chap with many interesting stories that makes one want to hunt down his own personal biography. Kohner offers much insight into the production of these films and Garfield provides a dismissive yet often hilarious outsider’s view of the cinematic mutation his original DEATH WISH novel took over the years.

Also much appreciated is the light shone on the inner workings of the Cannon Pictures machine that turned out some of the best (and worst) low-budget action films of the 80’s. Anyone not familiar with the company and its flamboyant owners, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, will find much to snicker about in their off the wall approach to making films. The history of Cannon itself begs for an extensive tome.

This book could have suffered in the hands of an obsessive Bronson fan that would find all found information relevant enough to be published. Talbot wisely keeps the meat of the text to a quickly read 117 pages with the remaining information being the synopsis and production credits for each film, the discography where available, bibliography and a handy index. Talbot masterfully incorporates all the information one needs to know in an engaging style with black and white reproductions of various stills (unfortunately the replication of these pictures are the only flaw here). The author knows what he’s doing and has done it well. The book is never boring and always entertaining, similar to the subject itself.It would be hard to disagree that Paul Talbot has created the definitive documentation of the DEATH WISH flicks. Most importantly, BRONSON’S LOOSE fills a much-needed hole in every serious Bronson acolyte and exploitation film lover’s collection.

Return to Book Review

Home Page