Death Wish 3 (1985)

Preceded by: Death Wish II (1982)
Followed by: Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

	Directed by: Michael Winner	COUNTRY USA GENRE Action NORWEGIAN TITLE Death Wish 3 RUNNING TIME 90 minutes
	Produced by: Menahem Golan Yoram Globus
	Written by (based on characters by Brian Garfield): Don Jakoby

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Paul Kersey	Charles Bronson
Kathryn Davis	Deborah Raffin
Police Chief Richard Shriker	Ed Lauter	½
Bennett Cross	Martin Balsam
Manny Fraker	Gavan O'Herlihy	½
The Giggler	Kirk Taylor	-

Review

Paul Kersey is back in vigilante mode, and this time the filmmakers actually take the trouble to create a new backstory for Kersey's now customary revenge spree. He is about to visit an old friend in a gang-plagued neighbourhood in New York City, only to find the friend robbed, bludgeoned and left for dead as he arrives just too late. The police chief (Ed Lauter) is an incompetent bully, but at least acknowledges this fact and gives Kersey a free pass to "clean up" the area. And who wouldn't, when the place is overrun by those 1980s movie thugs whose collective motivation and crazed appearance make the ensuing warfare look like humanity's battle against some zombie-like species. There's nothing human or remotely realistic about Manny Fraker and his caricatured gang, which eliminates any chance this sequel could have had of evoking any sort of emotion. Still, Death Wish 3 is more enjoyable than the first sequel, thanks in large to the agreeable manner of Bronson and his posse of elderly warriors, including Martin Balsam. Conversely, there's also a completely unconvincing romantic subplot involving Bronson and young Deborah Raffin, but you could forgive the filmmakers for this: old Kersey deserves to have some fun after all the misery he's been through.