The Charles Bronson Death Wish Movies, Ranked Worst To Best

Here’s are the Charles Bronson Death Wish movies ranked from worst to best. Charles Bronson’s unique look and stoic demeanor saw him make an impression in supporting roles in movies like The Magnificent Seven or The Great Escape. For much of his career, Bronson was a bigger star in Europe than the U.S., especially thanks to his iconic turn in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West – one of Tarantino’s favorite westerns. Bronson also collaborated frequently with director Michael Winner, who later cast him in 1974 thriller Death Wish.

Death Wish followed architect Paul Kersey, who becomes a vigilante stalking the streets of New York following an attack on his wife and daughter. Like the Dirty Harry movies before it, Death Wish was highly controversial for seemingly condoning the idea of people taking the law into their own hands. Regardless of tepid reviews, Death Wish became a surprise success and established Bronson as a star in America in his early 50s, though the movie also typecast him permanently in similar roles.

Bronson – who nearly replaced Clint Eastwood in the Dollars series –  returned as Kersey four times in the next 20 years, though the laws of diminishing returns apply to most of them. Here are Charles Bronson’s Death Wish movies, ranked.

5. Death Wish II (1982)

Death Wish II moved the story to L.A., where Kersey’s maid and daughter are brutally assaulted and killed by a gang, and the architect picks up his gun to hunt them down. Death Wish II is basically the movie the original was accused of being; an ugly, dispiriting action film that features unnecessarily graphic assault scenes and has no real heart or message. Michael Winner frames the action with blunt efficiency and Bronson has some great lines, but Death Wish II is easily the worst of the franchise.

4. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

Death Wish 4 is the first entry not directed by Winner and is probably the most generic of the bunch. Following the death of his girlfriend’s daughter from an overdose, Kersey sets up A Fistful Of Dollars trilogy-style revenge plot where he turns two feuding gangs against each other. The Crackdown has some interesting ideas, but Bronson sleepwalks through it and even the action scenes are forgettable.

3. Death Wish V: The Face Of Death (1994)

Not only was Death Wish V: The Face Of Death Charles Bronson’s final outing as Kersey, it was his last theatrical release too. Death Wish V moves back to New York, where Kersey picks up his bad habits again when a mobster murders his girlfriend. The fifth movie puts more focus on its campy villains than Kersey and carries a sillier tone. Bronson has less physical action -in one scene, he kills a mobster with a poisoned pastry – but he seems to be having more fun, and combined with a likable supporting cast, the sequel is better than it probably should be.

2. Death Wish (1974)

Based on the anti-vigilante novel of the same name, Death Wish – whose 2018 remake received brutal reviews – became one of the most controversial thrillers of the decade. The film’s depiction of violence may feel somewhat tame by modern standards, but it was truly shocking for the time, as was the concept of a normal civilian taking the law into their own hands. Death Wish is more ambivalent about Kersey’s actions than critics at the time stated, and Bronson’s has rarely been more effective in a leading role.

1. Death Wish 3 (1985)

Charles Bronson’s Death Wish series became sort of a cartoon with Death Wish 3, where Kersey returns to New York to avenge a friend’s murder. Death Wish 3 suffers from a bad script, bizarre editing and an inconsistent tone – but it’s also wildly entertaining as a result of those flaws. From Gavan O’Herlihy’s – who appeared in unofficial Bond Never Say Never Again – unforgettable villain Fraker, his henchman The Giggler to a climactic scene that essentially turned Bronson into Rambo, the third entry is the most purely enjoyable of the Death Wish series despite some very sloppy filmmaking.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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