The Rewatchables - ‘Death Wish’ With Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

If the police don't rewatch movies, maybe we ought to do it ourselves. The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan revisit the original ‘Death Wish’ from 1974, starring Charles Bronson and Vincent Gardenia. Podcast Manager: Craig Horlbeck Video Producers: Ronak Nair and Jack Sanders Try Loom today, visit loom.com to get started Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Look at this. Got Swayze. We brought us to Ler. We brought CR. We decided to make this big-ass 70s month. Big 70s movies. I have no plan other than we did Star Wars, and we bought a lot of goodwill. There's a lot of lobbying going on behind the seeds.

For big-ass 70s month? And for which movies we do, yeah. I feel like we're in one for us, like, century now after we did Star Wars. So much leeway. So let's do Death Wish with Charles Bronson. That's next. Was it worth it? Call him a mad vigilante.

Call him a hero. Either way, he's always on target. We want you to get out of New York, permanently. Never make a death wish, because a death wish always comes true. And you get to love it. All right, CR. This is a podcast about Death Wish with Charles Bronson and Vigilante movies and Charles Bronson and I think all them tied together. I think this is such an

interesting movie. I don't know if it's aged that well. It has a really awful scene in it, but this movie's also 51 years old. Do you want to start Bronson or vigilantes? I want to start vigilantes, I think. And the idea of these normal

everyday businessmen becoming Batman in New York City usually and going out and handing out justice on their own terms, which then you have to read into the audience reaction to the movies at that time. Why were these movies popular?

Well, and that's why we're doing the pod, because... So you have this cop vigilante era, Dirty Harry in 1971, walking tall, you big Beaufort Pusser guy? For sure. Yeah, three of those. And that was... Dirty Harry was, he's a San Francisco cop. Trying to find a serial killer.

He's making his own rules. Yeah. That was, I think, the first. He's making his own rules. Watch out. Not a lot of movies about cops who follow the rules. No, this one has really set the... set the mark, though, for don't follow the rules.

Yeah. Walking tall, sheriff trying to save his town, and he decides to bend some rules. And then Magnum Force was another one with Clint. Same type of thing. But nobody had really put all of it together with normal people until Death Wish. Where it's like, what happens?

This guy's an architect. His wife and daughter, brutally assaulted. His wife dies, and he just kind of loses it. Yeah. And this leads to, they're still making these. I mean, I made a list. The Exterminator with Robert Ginty in 1980. Remember that one?

Yeah. Because I didn't, because I was... I remember the name. I don't know if I ever seen it. Never saw it. Fighting back with Tom Scarrett in 1982. I saw it in the theater. Yeah, I remember that.

And then he went on to Top Gun. Death Wish 2. In 1982, he moves to L.A. Vigilante. Robert Forster and Fred Williamson, your guy? I don't know if I've ever seen that. Yeah, I didn't even know it existed. Death Wish 3, 4,5, Falling Down.

Michael Douglas, 93. The Substitute, our guy, Tom Barry, or 96. The brave one, Jody Foster said, let me get in on this. Yeah, that's basically a variation on this.

Grand Torino, 2008. And now it just keeps, it's going and going and going. Why do we like these? And then they remade it with Bruce Willis. They remade Death Wish later. Do we acknowledge that one? I'd just say it happened.

They're still continuing to do it. Look, the idea of a man whose family has been taken from him and then he goes out to, you know, dole out revenge is like a pretty durable, It goes back to Westerns.

It goes back to like, but the idea of placing it in, either a small town or an urban environment and having the violence be so much more extreme was probably pretty new for Death Wish. It's also, honestly, like, kind of a part of a pretty disturbing, primarily 1970 genre of rape revenge movies, which was like more of a horror thing,

but starts with Straw Dogs or, you know, you can market it at Straw Dogs, which is a couple years before this or a year before this. and then it's like hills have eyes and I spit on your grave mostly. They remade and even like more violent and pretty awful way. Yeah and like the so this movie I think is almost more disturbing because it for the first half of it it's so grounded. I mean the entire Death Wish idea is like this really shy retiring guy who has a little bit of experience in his childhood with guns becomes traumatized and then actually goes out like seeking out altercations with people so that you can take out as revenge on the guys who did this to his wife.

My wife was watching this with me, for some reason, likes Death Wish. Okay. And when he gets the roll of quarters and he's just like, I'm going to take a stroll at night here. And she's like, I love this. I kind of want to do this. The roll of course, come mess with me. And that led to the role of the sock of sodas and bad boys.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. There's been some good sock violence. Yeah. We had the socks, soap socks in full metal jacket. Right. A pile? Yeah.

Yeah, we should try to get a pyramid going. The social team rushes to their computers. So is this a Bronson movie or a New York is falling apart movie if you had to pick one or the other? Because this is another reason why I find this movie so fascinating. We're heading into this world of New York, basically from mid-70s all the way through to the Warriors, where it's like New York is completely falling apart. it is scary, it's weird, there's all these little subcultures going on here, and you kind of have to take matters in your own hands,

or you might get run over by one of these gangs, or there's things that happen over here and over here, and there was this lawlessness that's just in all these movies. It becomes a character. I think it was a pretty wild time back then. To me, it's like the other versions of this movie, and we'll get to that when we get to casting what ifs

and the development process for this film, is there's a version of this movie that's way closer to straw dogs and way closer to, like, a neurotic, I'm dealing with my environment, but I'm a middle-aged man kind of movie. Yeah. The insertion of Bronson makes it an action movie and then turns it into like an action franchise going forward. So I think Bronson defines it, so I'm going to say it's a Bronson movie. When was the first time you went to New York? Do you remember? Yeah, in the 90s, it was fine. Like my experience with New York

has always been that New York is actually not nowhere near as dangerous as it's like made out to be. I think my first time was going to MSG for wrestling in 1980. Okay. With my future stepdad. And we were going to New York. Did you guys get confronted by the Warriors? No.

But at that point I knew a bunch of these movies. Yeah. And I'm like, we're going to New York. It's fucking crazy there. You know, I just knew from all the movies. I knew from like the Yankee games. where Chris Chambers is game-winning Homer and everybody poured it on the field.

So in my little kid head, I was like, this is like the most dangerous place in the world. Yeah. Did you think it was when you saw it? No. It was like, oh, this is just this huge big city. But the way it was portrayed made me think that it was just like going to the Wild Wild West.

I think that there's this cycle that everybody goes through, that this movie maybe identifies the anxiety where as you get older, it can't possibly be that you're getting older, it's that the city is falling apart. Yeah. And so when I was in New York, when I was a kid, when I was in my 20s and when I was in my 30s,

I was just like almost completely blind to the idea of like crazy wild 80s New York. Yeah. You know, and then as you get older, and more and more of your friends are like, oh, the city, it's falling apart. It's falling apart. It's crazy on the subways.

It's crazy here. It's crazy there. We've got to move to upstate or we're going to move to California. And that's kind of what's driving some of the drama in the first half of Death Wish. It's just like all of Paul's more conservative friends are like, we should throw all these people in jail or whatever. And Paul's like, well, that's not what, you know, proper society does.

And then he gets pushed and pushed and pushed. But I think a lot of it is almost like a midlife crisis movie as much as it's like a revenge movie. Well, you hit this point when you get older with New York City where the fact that it seems like there's no ceiling and it's fucking crazy is like the best. thing in the world. Yeah. But usually when you're either late teens or mid-20s where you're like, this place is awesome. I don't know what the fuck's going to happen to.

I can get so much fucking trouble here. Oh my God. Doesn't shut down. I don't know what's going to happen at three in the morning. And then as you get older, you're right. You're like, man, New York's falling apart. I just feel like New York's basically been the same, probably the entire time I've been alive.

Yeah. Just it's how you portray it. Bronson, the Liam Neeson of the 70s. Like, kind of unintentionally. Like, that's the thing. is like, I mean, he's obviously always been this iconic action Western military character and is just one of the most unique faces, voices, voices, and vibes in movie history. But the craziest thing about him is to read interviews with him and they're like, so you made,

you made Death Wish and he's like, yeah, I actually don't think violence solves anything. He was like this very different kind of guy than the people he played. he starts out he's in magnificent 7 Great Escape Dirty dozen Once Upon a Time in the West in the 60s

But he's like one of those guys He's never the star He's never McQueen But he's like tough He's fucking ripped Um Something happens He does like the Leo

And Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Goes to Europe And becomes a huge star In Europe making these Spaghetti Westerns And stuff Yeah And then comes back

In 72 and 73 He makes Chato's Land, which I never seen. That's how you say. That's how you say. Yeah. The mechanic, which I have seen in the Stone Killer, all of a sudden he's a major star. And then in 74, he makes Mr. Majestic and Death Wish.

And at that point, he has his little weird mustache. Yeah. That is kind of captivating in 4K Blu-ray, because I did buy this in 4K Blu-ray. Did you really? Oh, yeah. It was like 1199. I'm like, fine.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Twist my arm. My $12. You guys see Goldblum in 4K. I kind of see every mustache hair for Bronson. I can't really fully explain Bronson, but there's been a few of these.

He's basically Seagall of the previous generation. It's hard to explain. It's honestly when I look at him, when you see him in Hawaii, when the movie is first opening and he's on his vacation with his wife. He's like, hanging out with his swimsuit, and he stands up. You're like, that looks like an alien. Like, guys don't look like that anymore. where the face is super old,

but the body looks like somebody took a knife and carved it out of leather and rock. And he's never worn sun tan. Like, he's a real, like, I put on tanning oil guy. Like, I want to get, like, UV rays.

It's an insane physique. I was good to do this later. The Dr. Richard Kimball inappropriate body award. This guy's an architect. He's got 2.3% body fat. He's fucking jacked. He's got a 12-pack.

I don't know how to explain him and I think we've had a few of these Stallone is more explainable because he always had the unintentional comedy Van Dam was always like kind of an unbelievable athlete and always had a couple of card moves He could imitate his accent

Schwarzenegger giant can do his accent Seagal you know Kyle Brandt and I have tried on a couple movies try to explain him ponytail can't really act Yeah. Something hilarious about him the whole time. I don't know where Bronson fits in.

It really is like a Liam Neeson thing because he talks like this. Yeah. And every line he delivers. Well, but Bronson, I mean, there is an interesting thing where Bronson's like evolving from that character actor or that supporting actor. I mean, he's so good in those movies like dirty dozen and great escape that you're mentioning. I think he's good in everything. He's awesome. But it's strange to watch him carry an entire film.

I think you're right. Like, my favorite probably performance by him, other, I think it's once upon a time in the West. Just because he's so mysterious in that movie. But, yeah, when you put him front and center, like, Liam Neasen is like a very accomplished actor, but before he becomes Mr. Vigilante, I have skills. Like, Bronson was more or less like a character, actor, like action movie star that then became, like, the centerpiece of these films. Yeah, Liam Nieson was competing against, like, Ray Fines and people like that.

all of a sudden does take in and then that's just to be just becomes bronson bronson said in 74 i supply of presence there are never any long dialogue scenes to establish a character he has to be completely established at the beginning of the movie and ready to work so that's it you knew who he was yeah he's he's like uh like i don't know like in basketball like i'm just here to set re to set picks and grab some rebounds help you protect the room a little bit yeah yeah That's all I'm here for. Don't ask me to really be in a big acting scene. I'm going to have my family just get traumatized in the worst possible way.

And you're not even going to be sure if I'm like that bummed out about it. We're going to get into that. Yeah. I just shaking it off. So 75, it has hard times. And he has a movie called Breakout that apparently did well. And he's the fourth biggest star in that box office thing in 1975. It's Robert Redford, Barbara Streis-in,

Appuccino and Charles Bronson. Yeah. And that was kind of the piece. I think there's always a guy. Now I would say it's Statham, right? Yeah. Who can get these movies made, but nothing else. Like William Goldman always used to write about the movie star galaxy in the 70s, about if you can get Redford or if you can get one of these guys, Newman, whoever, Clint, you can get your picture made if they want to make it. Bronson, I don't think could have done all the president's men. respectfully. No.

Well, there's a couple movies that he turned down. This goes all the way to the top. We got to keep making calls. Damn it, Ben Bradley. I don't know

that would have been sick, though. Instead of Robards, if he was doing the speech at the end. You better be right. Nothing's riding on this other than the future

of the country. And he guns them both down. His ghost Woodford birthday. I'm literally going to kill you. He did, he turned down the shootest with that became a John Wayne movie, one of the last ones. He turned down city slickers in 91 because he didn't want to die in the movie. He had this, I mean, the Bronson research, I, I defy anyone to find like kind of a quirkier,

weirder, like, A-list star. Give one normal response to a movie quote, yeah. Yeah, he, he would like turn down parts because like the shootest, I think that, I think that was the one where the guy has, has. some sort of cancer. He's like, I don't want to have cancer in a movie. Just, that's it. He's out.

City Slickers, which was a great part that won Jack Pounce, the Oscar. Bronson's like, I can't die in a movie. And just turns it down. And it would have been like the crowning achievement of his career. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood rules he's following. It's like, I'm not supposed to die on Charles Bronson. He didn't get Capricorn won, a movie that I might be the only one that likes. And then he tested for escape from New York.

And the studio pushed for it and Carpenter... For him to do Snake. John Carpenter said he's too old. Yeah, he would have been in his 60s by then? Because he's, like, in his 50s for Death Wish, right? Would I not own Charles Bronson and Escape from New York on 4K Blu-ray? Yeah, of course. I would. I don't think he could pull off a half of what Russell does.

No, I think you need stunt doubles, all that stuff. He felt like in this movie, he said, I was a really miscast person. It was more a theme that would have been better for. for Dustin Hoffman or somebody who could play a weaker kind of man. A little Dustin's fired.

Dustin. He's like, oh. Well, because Hoffman had just been in straw dogs where that's the entire point of his character.

Yeah. Still, shots fired. Michael Winter, the director, said, take it. We'll make him

a more active and virile architect. And we'll all make a potful of money. I don't know where Viro got in there. It's not like Charles is like, laying pipe there. Well, I think because this novel

I don't even... I guess in Hawaii, maybe. Yeah, he tries to. And then, like, he kind of gets a little bit of a bachelor pad going. He does. It feels like there's a dueted scene or two. Right. About an escort.

Where he's back out on the... When he goes to the prostitute diner, too. Right. In any case, the fascinating part about this is adapted from a novel by Brian Gardner, I think. What was the last thing? Brian Garfield. Garfield. And...

I bought it on eBay. Okay. It's part of my collection of books turn into movies. There's a version of this movie that is way closer to like, say, Dog Day or Serpico. Yeah. Than what we get. And I think that's why Bronson was probably identifying how he was, he was the awkward fit. But then Michael Winter turns out to be right.

They have identified a 1970s anxiety and talking point that the movie dramatizes and fantasizes about. that I think, like, captured something. Serpico, mean streets, taxi driver, and then at the same time, Woody Allen's making... Annie Hall and Manhattan. And this is, like, completely different side of New York. That seems way more fun. And then by the time we get to the late 80s,

they started embracing New York as, like, a happy character. Yeah, when Harry met Sally. Do you wish there was a scene where Paul and Death Wish was walking by Annie and Alvey from Annie Hall? Yeah, he probably shoots... He probably shoots Alvey. Yeah, Alvey, whatever his name was. Um, this film became a big deal.

Bronson became a huge star. It eventually copycatted. It had these copycat vigilante incidents, most famously in 1984, which I remember, because I was living in Connecticut at the time. Bernard Getz just wiped out four subway dudes and it became the death wish murder. It was the biggest story in the tri-state area for a year. and it felt like something, and then it would turn into like people going on talk shows, talking about pros and cons of just being able to shoot people.

Wacky era. I mean, they're doing that in the media drops in Death Wish itself. Yeah. And I think one of the reasons why this is such a interesting movie to talk about on this pod is this was so, such a divisive movie at the time. Yeah. The reviews were like, hey, nice job. Or this is a deplorable piece of shit that should be flushed down the toilet.

it's true there was such a spectrum of responses we're feeling the same thing with the with the ringer team you mean they got the hush from over here I don't know if the guys the guys over there Craig might just be like I'm not even reviewing this at the end of it

Michael winner the mechanic Scorpio Scorpio is really good is Scorpio and the Stone Killer Scorpio great title for a movie yeah it's Bert Lancaster I feel like

Scorpio, I'm probably in good hands. I don't really need to know anything else. Yeah, it's like CIA assassins chasing each other. Yeah, I sure am. He kind of goes off the, they bring him back for Death Wish 2. Mm-hmm. Where he goes to L.A. Which if you think, if you think this movie has a pretty deplorable assault scene in it,

Death Wish 2 is like, hold my beer and has one of the worst scenes that I actually can't, I think there's been stories written about it. Like, it's kind of like the peak of how, why did you guys decide this was a good idea to do in a movie that's going to be in the theater? And there's a lot of stuff written about just how fucking weird he was, Michael Winter. Okay.

Yeah. I didn't know. Death Wish 2 is L.A. Death Wish 3, he comes home. Back to New York. FYI, all of these are on 2B, Pluto, wherever you're going to. I watched a little, I refreshed my memory about

Death Wish 3 last night. Ed Louder from Longest Yard. I got to be honest, three is pretty solid. Three is not against three. Three is goofy as shit. Three is like, Paul comes back to New York from L.A. And essentially it gets the green light from cops. Yeah.

To start going around and killing thugs. But the thugs are way closer to escape from New York thugs than the 1970s guys. Well, that was when the, we talked about. And Alex Winter is in it. Golun Globus. Yeah. And those guys, there's a great documentary that we talked about with one of the Kyle Brandt pods.

Those guys are just like, need a star. Give them some money. We're just going to crank out these actions movies. We don't care if they're good. And they made four Death Wish sequels. Unbelievable. Yeah. Death Wish 3 is not terrible.

I mean, yeah, it's... If you're looking for, in that cobra kind of area... If you're doing the 2B surf... It's not terrible. And I've got to be honest, I don't hate Death Wish 2 either. You just got to skip the first half hour. As soon as he's in L.A., like, there's five guys I need to kill. I'm just going to go through and try to try to fight.

find them one at a time. Pretty good. He's a little bit more precise than Death Wish, too. There's a great scene in Death Wish, too, where I think somebody's on PCP, one of the guys he needs to kill, and the guy jumps out a window,

and the cops start coming at him, and all of a sudden the guy turns into, like, Adrian Peterson in the 2006 season, just... Are you saying that Adrian Peterson was on Angel Dust? No, just like, pick the best football player you've ever seen. Yeah, no, I know.

He's just shedding tacklers, flipping guys over, and he fights cops for, like, a minute. I think it becomes a social. social video every once in a while. Yeah, the PCP, whatever the anti-PCP lobby, it really worked. They scared me off of AngelLess. They had a run in TV and movies where it scared the living half.

Yeah, because it was like you'd do it and there would never be like, oh, I'm high. It would always be like I'm jumping out of a window or like headbutting a car. Yeah. Yeah, I remember there was a white shadow episode where somebody went to the roof. No, when it really got an after school special territory. Yeah. And somebody took it and just jumped off the roof of the school. and was like, I can fly.

And I was like, I'm never fucking going. Well, PCP, though, the real danger was like it could be in weed. That was always the scary old wives tale they would tell you. It was like that could be angel dust in that. Now we have fentanyl. That's right. Same thing. You like to get wet?

What I tell my kids. Yeah. Be careful. This movie was made for $3.7 million. And it made $30 million. Roger Eber gave it three stars. What an interesting man. Death Wish is a quasi-fascist

advertisement for urban vigilantes done up in a slick and exciting action movie we like it even when we're turned off by the message. That was Raj. Then he said Michael Winter gives us a New York in the grip of a reign of terror.

This doesn't look like 1974 but like one of these bloody future cities and science fiction novels about anarchy in the 21st century. Literally, every shadow holds a mugger, every subway train harbors a killer. The park is a breeding ground for crime.

Urban paranoia is one thing, but Death Wish is another. Raj, he's really, his Raj is like, he's not even looking at it. The actual New York Times called this film irresponsible. Yeah, I think a lot of, I mean, there were a lot of critics.

Did your dad review this? I would think this is a little bit before his movie critic days. This is 74. I don't think he was doing, movies until the later 70s. He would have hated it, though. Think about the New York parks and all the shit that was going on from a movie standpoint. Cruising, yeah.

The Warriors. If you've just ever, like, maybe AI, you just merged all these things together. The New York Cinematic Universe of the 1970s, this is a billion-dollar idea. Actually, it's not a billion-dollar idea. Can't I-I-do this? Yeah.

Just put everybody together. Sam Altman, come on. I want Al Pacino from cruising. hanging out with Roy Scheider and Marathon Man. One other thing about this movie is we talk about titles a lot. One of the best titles. Is this the origin of the term death wish pretty much? Sure.

Okay. Yeah. Were people like, man, that guy's got a death wish before death wish? I don't know. How do we find that out? Ask Chat Chup-T. Chat-ch-ch. No, don't do that.

It could be a chat. G. B. T. No, I would assume it popularized it. It definitely did, right? My only regret is nobody says the word, the phrase death wish during the movie. Yes, but it's very, I think it's interesting that Paul is the one that has the death wish. You know, like, he's the one who's pushing it and putting himself at risk. But nobody says, you've got a death wish, man. No. Do they ever say that in two or three? I can't remember.

Probably they work it in. You know, they say it in 48 hours, which I forgot. There you go. Because Kate says to Reggie, they gave me 48 hours to find out whatever. I'm like, title. Yeah. Boom.

You did it. We're going to take a break and we're going to come back and do the categories. The playoffs are here and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Follow all the playoff dishes, swishes, wishes, wishes, and misses. predict the spread, the total points, and even the game winner. Sign up for Fandual Predicts and predict it from the couch. Offered by Fandual Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors.

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city on the rise from LinkedIn, Grand Rapids invites you to find a rhythm all your own. Season after season and pure Michigan. Find your season at experienceg.r.com. All right. Most rewatchable scene. This movie somehow does

never rewatchable scene for 40 minutes. Which I think means you can just come right in 40 minutes. Honestly, if you're, like, if you don't feel like you have the stomach for it, I think you can skip to the 40 minute mark. You could probably skip to him going to Tucson.

And then... You want to wait for what stage is the worst to talk about that scene? No, let's do it now because I think it's a really difficult point of entry for people. The movie starts, they're in Hawaii. It's just great. Really loves his wife. Having a great time. Good vacation. comes back. Maui in the 70s looks awesome.

You know, every time we're in Maui, I had this in What's Age the Best. There's been a lot of stuff from the 70s in Hawaii, and it's always amazing. Brady Bunch, I remember they went there for three episodes. It was great. Also, it's always great to watch it and just be like the guy could just walk up to the desk and be like,

here's my plane ticket. No TSA. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. Well, it also just seemed like you could go on any beach, just bring a blanket. Yeah. Nobody's like, excuse me, sir. So they come back And the wife and daughter Let's go get some groceries

They decide to get the groceries delivered And Jeff Goldboom and his two cronies Follow them Stock them back to their apartment And it's a pretty awful scene Yeah That I honestly I don't understand some of this stuff

With the 70s But it really feels like A lot of the goal was to provoke people Yeah And it wasn't just with violence It was with sex or whatever else and it's just like the kind of scene that would just never ever happen now.

You know what's also weird is that I kind of wonder how many times I had actually seen this movie on TV versus the actual film film. Good point. Because I forgot how graphic it was. So when I was watching it for this, I was like, oh shit, this is way worse

than deliverance. You know, this is pretty close to spit on your grave and some of like the exploitation like grind house horror stuff. Yeah, and I wonder what do you do that because you're trying to set up like this is why this guy snapped. Yeah, but it almost works better if it's a better actor than Bronson.

Like, that's the thing. It's like, Bronson's not reacting that emotionally to what happened to his wife and daughter. So it's like you would do that if you were going to do maybe some of the other actors that you had and like watch them go into like deep emotional crisis. Bronson's just like, I guess I got to go back to my apartment. Yeah, I got a thing to do in Arizona. Yeah. Next week.

The son-in-law is like, Dad, we've got trouble. Yeah. He seems not really grasping the stuff either. Anyway, it's a weird way to start a movie. I'm not going to defend it. And in a lot of vigilante movies after the fact, and I don't want to say this is a blanket term,

but I think roughly more than half, if not 70%, the violence against the person's family either takes place off-screen or is obscured somehow. Like, you get the impression of what happened, but it's not like, hey, let's spend like five minutes watching Jeff Goldblum do this. Very strange. Well, the first rewatchable scene

is the roll of quarters scene. Which is just great. It's also like, why is he in the bank getting quarters? Why is he getting $20 in quarters? What's he got in his hand? And he's just kind of waiting for somebody. But the best part is when he comes back and he starts swinging the roll of quarters around.

It's like, just kind of loses his mind. Easily the most giffable moment for this. Oh, my God. Yeah. It starts swinging it against the thing. We got to do a best like DIY weapons power ranking Oh that's a really good idea

Yeah Yeah But this is like When the Warriors win With just buddy healed It's just swinging quarters around Actual quote for my wife This movie makes me want to go out

With the roll of quarters And beat up bad guys Okay Yeah Put that Put that in our Wikipedia The Wild West Saloon brawl is really good Yeah I just wanted to point out

Does this happen? Like where they do, like, staged. But that was an elaborate stage. Yeah. I couldn't believe how good that was. Yeah, I ever see, like, the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular at Disney?

No. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, as cool as that? I mean... They're falling off roofs and... Yeah, there's, like, they do the whole Boulder chase in the Indiana Jones thing.

Like, the guy runs away from a Boulder. Yeah, it's at Disney. Uh, I think, or Universal. Anyway, the, the whole sequence, actually, it's a sneaky, almost best, most rewatch scene for me, like the 10-minute Tucson sequence. I do know something about guns, things. I grew up with them, all kinds of guns. You see, my father was a hunter.

I guess out here you'd call up a gunman. My mother was the other side of the coin. When my father was killed in a hunting accident, some fool was took him for a deer, you see. My mother won the toss. I never touched the gun since. Yeah. Just because it really lays the groundwork,

not only for what Paul's going to become get a little bit of like, oh, when I was a child I used to handle guns all the time. The Bronson's getting better. Thank you. You're really workshopping. You really workshop in the Bronson. The Janechill character is awesome.

The guy's taking him around Tucson and then just the connecting what's going on with the Paul character in 1970s with our perception of what Cowboys in the 1870s were like. Yeah. And like the Wild West mythology, Wild West Justice, vigilante is out on the open range kind of thing. Twinkle in the eye.

Yeah. Craig, that could be a good name for your first son. Ames. Ames Horlebeck. Yeah, I can tell my... It sounds like a kick-ass kid. Yeah, I named him after Death Wish. Do you guys ever see Death Wish?

The best character in Death Wish. Cursie's first shooting is my next rewatchable. Which leads to then the second shooting, which is the three-on-one. That's one with the movie. movie, that would be, what's our category? The, okay, motherfucker. When the movie goes up a notch. When he's just like looking around and it's like, hey, there's three guys

robbing somebody in an alley. I'm going to take all three of them down. So, I really enjoyed the police sergeant in this movie played by Vincent Gardini. He has 40 people in the office.

We could be looking for a man who's had a member, all members of his family killed by muggers. Now, he shoots that pistol pretty good, right? Okay. Combat veteran. So put Vietnam back to the top of the list because they're youngest and toughest. Then you can work your way through Korea and World War II.

Oh, my God. It's really funny. Another thing I love about these 70s New York police movies is just the police station scenes and just, which I guess we're all real. It all looks like Barney Miller on like steroids. Either that or they were shooting so much police stuff back then and they were shooting so many movies and TV shows that they had working sets, you know,

so that they were able to like kind of dress it a little bit differently, but they would have like a police precinct set. But a lot of this stuff feels location. Like the first precinct that he walks into to find the detective who's working on his wife's case. Yeah. And then there's the guy who's like, I need my dog. He's key to my income.

Right. That whole seems like an actual police station. Well, he somehow figures out in 90 seconds. Check all the murders from the last three months. He's probably a combat vet. I think he's a vigilante. He just does all of this awful one alley shooting. I think we're supposed to,

Ocho is like supposed to be like this amazing Popeye Doyle level famous cop because he's on People magazine. Yeah, major celebrity. The Subway Double Murder would be by next scene. Yeah. You know, Cursy's really getting into it

because it comes back for the second shot for each guy to make sure you're dead shot. It's like, oh, you're really... Yeah, the Neil McCauley. You're really exploring the studio space down.

I think I actually got served a YouTube video the other day that is McCauley killing Wangro and Heat and it's apparently called like Mozambique technique. And I was like,

I'm in a bad part of YouTube when I am now getting weird like soldiers of fortune videos that are praising heat for their for their for their kills.

Oh my God. That's where you have to do the Please don't recommend me this video anymore tab. Honestly, I haven't done that yet, but okay. I've done that a few times. Yeah. There's one time, I don't know what happened,

but it recommended a Dan Levitard clip to me, and I went right in there, and I said, I'm not interested. Next one, subway platform shooting. Cursey's a little, he's heat checking in at this point. Well, because also the really interesting part of this movie is whether or not Cursey's getting addicted to the game. Oh, no question.

Because this one, he raises the stakes. He ends up getting stabbed. Yeah, he's walking around. He's flashing money in diners and stuff. Yeah. That's when he takes out, what is that giant wallet he has? There's just like this huge lot of cash. And he's like, ugh, how much is my coffee?

Next one is the big ending scene. Cursey on the big park stair. In the promenade yeah. Guys got a gun at the top. We got Boom Boom, Boom, Washington at the bottom from Welcome Back Cotter with another guy. Shoots all three. Get shot. And then chases the dude.

We got a little chasing and then passes out. He's like, deal your hand. Draw. And then passes out. And then I would throw it at the end just the cop telling him to get out. Let's pretend this never happened. Inspect a by his sundown. And then that's it.

And he's like having this fantasy life where he's still a cowboy. It's crazy. But it's actually like a really interesting portrait of a guy coming apart. I don't know always that Bronson is like up to that part of the job, which is like the serious side of this movie, but he's really good at shooting guys. So your favorite's the saloon brawl? I just like, as part of the film in some ways, the Tucson stuff is my favorite part. But the last shootout is like the iconic.

This is. And he's great. Well, one of the reasons this was a rewatchable. First of all, it was on TV. Like you said, you never. saw like the really bad stuff. This was on TV. I feel like whenever I would turn it on, it would be him stalking around New York City.

And my dad would be like, oh, he's going to do that for four of quarters. Yeah. This was on TV for 40 years. And you could always just come in at the roll of quarters and just watch him just gunned down bad guys for an hour. It's basically a Western. I'm going with the same thing. What's the most 1974 thing about this movie? God, what isn't?

Creepy, scary 1970s New York City. A movie hero who is a Korean War vet? You don't get that very often. A 50-year-old Korean War Vett. TWA airlines, just walk on there. Man, thank you, Howard Hughes. TWA sounded great. The assaultsane we mentioned, very 1974.

The overcoats in this movie. Yeah, just the way the guys dress. Yeah, there's like these weird, the collars are like down, and I didn't really understand those. And then this is my number one. Magazine billboards telling us what's happening in the story through like Harper's in New York Magazine and People Magazine and these big billboards of magazines.

When's last time we had a billboard of a magazine? A long time ago. Pre-Internet probably. Decades. Yeah. I would say another 1974 thing for me was guys taking long, boozy lunches and being racist. Like Sam and Paul are going to like a long bar and grill lunch

in the middle of the day. And they'd be like, let's go draw some buildings. I've had four pops and a steak. I just wish the world was all white people. Yeah. Can I have another scotch, please? Oh, one more 1974 thing. Has anyone eaten liver with spaghetti since 1974?

He makes his son-in-law? I had that in what stage is it worth. Yeah. If I went to somebody's house and they asked, do I want the liver with the spaghetti or on the side? I'm out. That sounds. Who eats liver? I had liver last fall, and I'm just getting over it.

Did you guys ever, do you ever had liver? No. What animal's liver is it? Cow. Cow? Yeah. I mean, it was delicious. Was it?

But I felt like it was coming off my skin, like, smell-wise for a long time. Like, liver worse or something, that's like a grandpa meal to me growing up. There's just no scenario. My dad, when we were... Liver or tongue. We used to drive from Philly to Vermont, and my dad would always stop at a Howard Johnson's on the New York State through way and get liver and onions. And I'd be like, I'm driving with mom now.

Cap it out for a couple six. Smoking at the table, eating the liver and onions? Oh my God, no. He quit by that. Special. What's age the best? We mentioned old school 70s police stations. Yeah, really enjoy that environment.

Cities with wildly different views on guns, I think, has weirdly aged well. since we're in that area still. We still are. Yeah. Yeah. Do you find it comforting to watch stuff that's set in like the 70s or whenever and realize that we're just arguing about the same things forever?

Yes. Rather than like, oh, the world is falling apart, it's like, oh, it turns out we've been having this fight for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of the stuff they talk about in this movie, you're like, all right. Yeah. Definitely would hear that exchange right now.

Yeah. Somewhere. I read this thing there's an article about why people watch the same movies and TV shows over and over again it's a big feature. They did a study on it. Do you know what the answer is? Why? Because it relaxes people

because they're not tense when they watch something. When they don't know where it's going, you get a little more whatever. And I was like, they've just described the rewatchables. I'll have to tweet that out of the rewatchables. Do you find it? Comfort, like me watching people, 48 hours last night, even though I've seen it 395 times right before I fell to sleep. I do that with big, I've done that with Big Trouble and Little China like 10 times this year. Yeah.

I'm just like, I just want the opening 20 minutes of Big Trouble and Little China before I go to bed. Right. But that's like... It's comfort food. Yeah. It's comfort food. But there's like an entire like... Combs your body down?

Browl between triads in Big Trouble and Little China. I don't know why it's comforting. You're like this is so relaxing. Yeah. Two more what's the best for me. Traumatized movie characters. would become catatonic. I always feel like it's a good gimmick.

Oh, you can't snap out of it. Can't snap out of it. She snaps out of it and Death Wish, too. Well, she comes to Los Angeles, yeah. Sergeant Frank picking up the People magazine that he's on, I really enjoy it. Yeah. He's like looking at the cover. What do you have?

I have Charles Bronson's Beach Body. It's age the best, but it's also like not a body you see anymore. Paul becoming addicted to the hunt is really cool. Like, even after they're like, hey, all you have to do is just, get out of town. Like, we're cool to look the other way on this one. And he's like, I don't know. I really love it.

Yeah. He gets a taste. Yeah. And then all the New York media coverage of Paul, like, giving him a nickname, all the, like, press conferences. Yeah. It's really, it's kind of amazing to watch, like, the churn of newspaper and TV journalism back then pre, like, any kind of internet

and just the depiction of that. I miss it. Den and Theves Benihana Awards, Seed Stealing, Location. I got sex worker diner. Interesting. It seemed like an incredible cast of characters in there. The lady who's like, there goes the pussy posse. That's like a film within a film.

Yeah, you're right. I had that last park shootout with the stairs. It's just like really well done. Meanwhile, Pacino and cruising's over in the little tunnel on the side. The baseball furies are walking by. What do you have for Great Shot Gordo most cinematic? It's pretty disturbing, but all the weird wide angle lenses of the mother and daughter, like kind of hanging out in the apartment before the thugs get there.

It just makes you feel so on edge because you're like, why is this almost like fish eye? The way they're sitting on the bed and talking. And I think it's, it really gets under your skin, as does obviously the subsequent sequence. Kid Cuddy Pursuit a Happiness Award. Dude, Herbie Hancock. Best Needle Drop. Fucking cooking in this. Herbie's cooking.

Absolutely amazing score. Can I give you one other candidate? Yeah. Paul Cursey, when he invites his son-in-law over and he's blasts. He's blasting game show music and making liver and spaghetti. And it's like, if I was the son-in-law, I would have been like, you know, dad, there's a bed right next to a psychiatric hospital. There's a new website called BetterHelp.

Yeah. I think you should call. He's just lost his mind. point? Yeah. Why isn't he playing like disco or, I don't know, like, Jeth Rothal? And I love him. He's like, turn it up. I can't hear it. Well, like liver. How do you like it, Lever?

The Chess Rockwell and Brocklander is a word for best character name. Ames Jantio? Good. Is the guy's name? What do you have? I think Inspector Franco Choa is pretty classic cop name. Did he look like an Italian to you, though? I guess I guess he's Vincent Gardini. Yeah.

Did he look like a Francochoa? I don't know. I just really I think it's... Inspector Rochella is a really good cop name for the 70s especially. What do you have for your flex category choice? Boy, oh boy. The I used to fuck guys like you in prison award

for craziest quote. Jeff Bolt, Goldblum screaming, Kill Rich. Oh, no. I don't know if you could use that. But that is it. He screams at and then he fucking hits the... He kills his wife.

it's pretty awful. Yeah. You think we should change the award? Oh no, I don't know if we're going to change that new title of the award. I just don't know if I can say to C word. I don't, probably that. Okay. I probably have to bleep it.

But I think you're right. It's that or it's like Jeff Goldblum saying, shit, we want money, mother! He is. Well, he's coming up. Butch's girlfriend award for Weeklink of the film. Other than that scene. Jack's the son-in-law.

I have the son-in-law, he's horrible. Yeah. He's just a horrible character. Yeah. I don't understand any piece of it. Why he's such a loser. Why he's not more... Like, obviously, his father-in-law is losing his mind.

And he can see it. Doesn't seem concerned about that. Doesn't even really seem that concerned about his wife. Dad, they're going to put him in a sanitarium tomorrow. And it just doesn't seem like I can't believe this happened. Everything about him's off. I had this in Apex Mountain, but this character... is also definitely

Apex Mountain for calling your father and law dad. It's really confusing through the movie. I'm like, wait, is that his father? Because if I was Charles Bronson, it would be like, I'm not your dad. I had that in what's age the worst. Son-in-laws who call their father-in-law dad. I don't understand.

Craig, do you do this? Absolutely not. I don't think anyone does this anymore. I think it's a 70s thing, though. It's like calling your wife the old lady. Yeah, but like... Certain things that went sideways. He seems so eager to call him dad. He's like, yes, got it.

Yeah. Charles Bronson's my dad. We rarely get to give this out, but the Steven Seagal, hard to kill a word for did this movie need a better intimacy coordinator? Yes. The answer is yes. And then the Elizabeth Shoe is an Oxford electrochemist award for most

ridiculous casting. Charles Bronson as an architect? Charles Bronson architect. Yeah. The way that they depict Charles Bronson's architecture skills is him sitting at blueprints for a while, seemingly drawing circles. Yeah.

And then later he's just like, he's a development. And it's like a fucking monopoly board with a bunch of little houses. And they're like, this is going to lose a lot of money, but it's beautiful. Look at these.

I put some olive trees right there. Everybody has a hill in a backyard. This episode is brought to you by Loon by Atlassian who missed out on Star Wars by one week. I'm sure it was frustrating for them. You know what else is frustrating? Even more frustrated than being a week late

when you could have been in the Star Wars episode and instead you're in Death Wish, it's really frustrating when you start feeling stuck at work with too many unnecessary meetings. Luckily, there's a simple solution for that. Use loom video messaging. It can simultaneously record both your screen and yourself. You should use this. It's actually good.

I've used this. Share a quick update, provide feedback, train a colleague, everything in between. I'm just going to start looming Craig. I think you love that. Craig, I have some thoughts about your edit at 58 minutes. Looming me sounds like an HR violation.

Yeah. Plus add Loom AI to your meetings for instant written notes and recordings. Try Loom today at loom.com. That is L-O-O-O-M. dot com. Let's go to what's age the worst

other than the terrible assault scene. Yeah, sure. Graphic nature of the rape murder scene. The legal apartment search I had some issues with. I'm not positive. There's not a single warrant in this movie. Not sure that was legal, just to kind of waltz in with locksman?

I've all heard of by the same token that crime was out of control in the cinematic version of the 1970s, New York. Cops did not adhere to the rule of law. They certainly did not. For what's age the worst? I mean, you'd catch the vigilante right now because they'd have cameras everywhere. This movie would be five minutes ago. Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah, he's right there. It's Paul Cursey, the architect.

They would have also, like, cameras in the supermarket, cameras, like in the apartment building. Like, there would not be, like, we snuck in with the movers. Yeah. What do you have for what stage is the worst? Graphic nature of the rape murder scene. The nickname The Vigilani. Just dig deeper, New York. Come on. Like, there's not like a single, like, cool element to this killer.

Yeah, like the silver bullet killer. The real Batman, something like that. Just Paul's general, I guess it's time to go home and go back to work. Right. Three days after. Easily the most traumatizing thing that could happen to somebody. and he's like, well, what am I going to do, moan and cry forever? Well, and then he doesn't even paint the walls for like a month.

He just kind of graffiti is over the graffiti. Right orange, which is definitely a sign of a mental breakdown. Well, but it's the movie does a good job of like, this guy's lost his marbles. He's making liver and spaghetti and he's got bright orange walls and he's playing game show music. That architecture firm did not offer mental health days. Definitely not. Lawrence Hilton Jacobs is still one of the last muggers. who then became Boom Boom, Boom, Washington,

and, you know, Welcome Back Cotter was one of the biggest shows of the late 70s. It's just weird to see him in this. Yeah. And Jeff Goldblum from The Big Chill and many other things. I mean, there's so many random people

showing up in this movie where like, I can't believe this. But that comes a little bit later. I want to say also, since you mentioned the casting, one of the things this age of the worst is Michael Winter and Charles Bronson talking about who to cast as Paul's wife in the beginning.

And I think Michael, winner was like Jill Ireland who's Charles Bronson's real life wife and Charles Bronson was like absolutely not not after what happens in the movie Yeah I'm not having her thrown around by a bunch of thugs And then they just were like

Can you imagine being Hope Wang who plays the wife? Yeah And be like oh great thanks guys Plan B Yeah I have for what's age the worst The Bruce Willis' 2018 remake because

I even think when we started We watched it was I remember the first year we had some sort of conversation about movies that should be remade. And Death Wish was clearly one of those. Like, it's such a great idea. And then they actually did it and it wasn't good. Yeah, I think... And it also felt too close to the Equalizer.

We've done it now. I think if you were going to really try to, like, do something creative, you would basically have to tell Death Wish from the perspective of the criminals that he's hunting. You know, you would have to be like, we're like a New York... A couple of New York Street guys, but there's this rumor that this crazy white guy is walking around with a gun and we're like now investigating him but also trying to like protect the other criminals

flipping on its head I'd probably watch it was there but do you have any more with the worst was there better title for this movie an old category I brought back um do you know de Laurentis was involved in this yeah another another one of my heroes in Paramount

and they originally wanted to call this film the sidewalk vigilante well that's better than just the vigilante because they thought death being in the title was a deterrent. Boy, were they wrong. I think that's what the opposite of a deterrent.

The Ruffelahanna-Rubidic Partridge Overacting Award, the three bad guys. Yeah, Goldblum. I don't know what is going on. Yeah, the guy from the lead singer from Midnight Oil with Goldblum and then the other guy. And they just get deranged?

Goldblum, like, is in the Warriors, like four years early or five years early. He's just doing, it's so amazing. He's like, ah, ha. They, like, he's been asked about this movie a couple of times since then where it's just like, oh, you're kind of ashamed that that's your

early film. He's like, no, I got to be in the movies. Right. And I think it was because he knew like a band guy, like a guy in a band who just got him into this film. It's like, Mom, go see my new movie. Death Wish. I'm in the first 15 minutes. You can't miss me.

What a rocket ship to like start me. He's in Big Chill a couple years later, right? Yeah. Yeah. The CR thanks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford How to Take a Word. Okay. So, this, you first because mine goes right into casting what-ifs. Vigilantes. What does that mean?

I don't know. Crime rate went down. Maybe we need some. Cut the crime rate in half in 1974. Minor groans in the back of this room. Let's just, let's talk it out. I'm tough on crime. The minority report, remember? I was for it. Keep the precond of milk.

I think that there's a difference between a vigilante and a thrillseeker with a death wish. And Paul's out there, like, he didn't even do any detective work of like, let me find him Goldblum, right? He's just like, I'm just going around gunning guys down. That was my biggest question. It's like, why didn't he ever try to find them? Yeah.

What's going on there? Craig, I present to you Death Wish, too. Because he finds them one at a time. What do you have for how to say? There's a version of this film. The original director who was approached for it was, was Sidney Lumet, and one of the original pairings of actors was supposed to be Jack Lemon and Henry Fonda. As Ochoa.

Within Death Wish, within this sort of iconic vigilante action movie that spawned multiple sequels, I think there is like an amazing fucked up 70s drama film. Couldn't agree more. About like an emasculated New York businessman whose family is taken from him and is like, I don't have the tools to process what's happened to me. and Jack Lemon would have been an incredible idea. I don't know if it would have worked,

but it would have been, I love to have seen the Sydney Lumet, Jack Lemon version of this movie. So he turned it down and do Serpico. Would you rather he did Serpico? I would rather he had done Serpico.

Yes. Yeah, it's tough. If I don't get that Pacino performance, then that's a huge... It would have been nice as Serpico right into Death Wish with Jack Lemon.

I'm with you. Steve McQueen also turned it down. Clint Eastwood said, thanks. Allegedly, who knows? Bert Lancaster, George C. Scott, Frank Sinatra,

Lee Marvin. Can we spend a second talking about? Elvis Presley, who's the last one? First of all, I guess this is a relatively larger version of Elvis, right, by 74? Let me tell you something.

1974, Elvis playing Paul Cursey and Death Wish sounds like the greatest movie I don't on anything. You would rather Presley than Sinatra? I just don't think Sinatra does it. He's like, my wife would never be assaulted.

Yeah, right. He would get some weird agro-sinatra thing. Right. As you know, he was the coolest guy in the one. I think George D. Scott would have been good. Elvis crammed into like an architect two-piece suit that... Oh, what you got to do is put a little building over there on the hill. Yeah. George's Scott doing this in hardcore would probably be a little intense for him. He would have been good, though. Yeah. You know what, that's true. We've done hard.

You know, Death Wish is not uncharted territory. Hardcore, another New York. Oh. I guess that was LA. Yeah. But same. Yeah. Yeah.

Same kind of like big city falling apart type of thing. Best that guy award. I got Jack Wallace. Detective Hank. He's also in Boogie Knights. Yeah, he's the guy with Ricky Jay, right? Yeah. And he's a show as partner or like a sort of.

He's been a lot of stuff. He's the guy for the people who saw the movie with a huge mustache. Yeah, it was like, I'm not going to ask any more questions. The son-in-law is played by Stephen Keats, who was also on Friends of Eddie Coyle, big part, Black Sunday. And then one of my favorites, Silent Rage. Oh, yeah. He played one of the doctors.

Did we do Silent Rage yet? We have not. It might be one of Craig's ten favorite movies we've ever done. Once he sees it? Yeah. It's really good. Chuck Norris, Craig? Haven't seen it.

It's been a while since I seen him. Guy wouldn't die. Deon Waiter's Award. Janchel would you go with or would you go with Amelie Brown, the lady in the newscast who fought off the muggers? Oh, with the hat pin? I have Stuart Mergolan as Janchill. Okay. The Lena

Dunham running the Spahn Ranch Award for most jarring casting decision. I'll give you Jeff Goldblum or I'll give you Christopher Guest as the cop who finds the gun. I'll give you Olympia ducacus as the lady cop. Yeah, who starts to figure out the entire thing. They should

redo this as, like, on Amazon and just have all of them in the cast. like they had major parts. They should also do it as a Christopher guest mockumentary. Why he shouldn't have done that? Like a violent mockumentary? Recasting couch director of City. John Cazale is the son-in-law.

Oh, man. I mean, John Cazale would be another, imagine him playing Paul? That would have been amazing. Oh, him is Paul Cursey? Oh, my God, dude. Yeah. Paul shouldn't be this, like, Greek god.

You know, he should be. like a frail dude. You don't talk to a guy like Ames Gentio like that! Have Fess internet research. Bronson asked for a California-based location so that it could be with this family in Bel Air and they said, fuck you, we're filming in the city of city. There's a lot of good Bronin.

I didn't realize how much good, we've never really done a Bronson before. I didn't realize how much good Bronson research you was. Like, by all accounts, rough hang. This is our first Bronson. Yeah. We haven't done dirty dancing. Everyone's like, yeah, kept to himself and a little difficult. Yeah.

Like, nobody was like, oh, man, I love Charlie. Great guy. Not a lot of that. Do you think he behaved himself on like the Great Escape or Dirty Dozen Sets, though? I think he was just super quiet and not like, where are we going tonight after the shooting? Was he a good enough actor to warrant that behavior? Like, why are people keeping him around? I just think that there was a different, it was a different system back then.

And it's like, if he's a guy who keeps his body in shape and can convincingly fire a gun. He's got a job for life. He was basically like the Colts getting Daniel Jones because they needed a QB. I know. Who is he in this scenario? Clint Eastwood, McQueen. Those guys were getting all the roles.

And then Bronson's like... Okay, we dropped down to Bronson. We signed Justin Fields for two years for 20 million a year. Like he was kind of in that mode, but then he kind of became as big as Clint Eastwood for like three years. It's like if you're seven feet tall and you can block shots, you'll be in the NBA. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

the writer of the book, Death Wish, Garfield, Brad Garfield. He was furious about the film. He called it incendiary. Yeah, because his book is much more critical of vigilanteism. Probably out number one. Did you start reading it at all, or did you just get it as like to check it out? I actually want to read it, but I know it's completely different than the movie. Yeah. He wrote two books that were, I don't know if they were very similar, but like two got optioned and this one wound up being like a big deal. He wrote a follow up called death sentence, which was a really. response to this movie, not made into a movie.

Does Paul get the death sentence in it? Maybe. Bronson defended the film. Said it was intended to be a commentary on violence, meant to attack violence, not romanticize it. I think that the first film... I'm going to say romanticized it. Well, but do you say that because you've seen Death Wish 2 and 3

and all the other stuff from it? Do you think that this film romanticizes violence? Well, the last hour of the movie, you're like, get him, Chuck, get him! I'm not. I was really like, this is fucked up. I'm not. I wasn't like this is fucked up, but I was like, I'm watching a guy spiral out. It's a little more like taxi driver. If you just watch it in the context of one film.

If you watch it in the context of part of a franchise where this guy goes all over the country killing people. I was watching it from the perspective of, man, on the subway platform, just take those two down. Don't let the guy get behind you. Just they're right front of you. I think he wants the challenge in that case. So one other thing for half-assed,

there was always a rumor that Denzel played one of the alley thugs in his first movie appearance. No shit. At the 47 minute mark. And this kept going and going. And then finally he gave an interview where he was like, I wasn't in Death Wish I was?

No, he just put the gabash on it. He said he hadn't been acting yet. But he was mad that it was added to his IMDB page. That's funny. Yeah. Fish Burns in two, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And, yeah, he's in the scene that somehow like is 100 times worse than the Death Wish one scene. Apex Mountain. Bronson, I think yes. I think it's Apex Charlie. Yeah, but it's not my personal Apex for him.

No, but for him, this leads to hard times, and he's like a massive star after this movie. I mean, no question. Vigilantes? Maybe. It turned into a phenomenon in the mid-70s. Yeah. What would you go for scary New York City movies? Warriors.

Yeah, me too. Right there. Vinsigardinia? I guess he was in Moonstrike. Yeah, I feel like he's He's really good at it. I mean, he takes up Most of the second half of this film.

They bring him back for two. Yeah. He goes, he sees some killings that are going on in LA and decides to take a little Axifoli-esque cross-country trip to make sure what's going on. Vigilante movies, I think yes. Unless you want to qualify John Wick

because they killed his dog. That's a really good example of like, basically John Wick is Death Wish, but then taking it an entirely different direction. But the first John Wick is essentially Death Wish. Yeah, I feel like when it's is taken a vigilante movie because he's specifically just

killing those guys. Yeah, and it's and she's not killed. It's just a kidnapping. I feel like this one stands apart. Because Wick and Paul can't come back. Like that's the whole point. Taken, he's still got to maintain some semblance of assault. Yeah. Yeah, Death Wish won. He's basically like, this broke my brain.

I'm going to now soft crime by myself. Yeah, and eat liver. I didn't listen to Game Show music. Cruise or Hanks? Oh, no, I didn't finish. Sorry. Apex Mountain. I guess I did finish.

I have a couple of Apex Mountain. This is Apex Mountain for Switchblades in movies. Wow, there was a great switchblade era. Yeah. Just guys getting knives pulled on them. It's a great movie setup because you're like, it's dangerous, but it might not be that dangerous. Yeah, but you can... I can trump this.

Painting your apartment orange two weeks after your wife is murdered there. Apex Mountain for that. I probably move. And guys calling their father-in-law is dead. No question. Cruiser, Hanks. I have Hanks. I think it's Hanks.

Yeah, I think it's Hanks. Craig, who'd you have? Hanks. You need the softness. The turn needs to be the most shocking. Hanks? It would be cool, though, if we had Vincent from Collateral as well.

He's like, hey, homie, is that my briefcase? I think this is the movie. I wanted Hanks to make in the 2000s or 2010s. Yeah. We needed, let's get a little dark here time, Hank. Yeah, he just never wanted to. He always wanted to do Jimmy Stewart.

Scorsese or Spielberg, it's obviously Scorsese. Although Spielberg's version would have been quite different. What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman have played? I think he could have done a lot of things. Very young, he could have been one of the thugs. I think around the master, and like later in life, he could have done

the main role. He could have been Paul in a different version of this film. And I think he would have made a cool of Choa. I had, I had cursing,

but I think you would have been a good of Choa. Craig, you're up of the flex category. I'm going to go with the Dan Campbell scale for holy shit, are they really going

for this right now? And I'm going to compare the muggers in the apartment was like a flea flicker. Yeah. Where I wasn't really aware of how intense this was going to be. And the one guy

walks in with the paint can and the first thing he does is he just spray paints a line over a painting on the wall. I'm like, okay. Vandalism. And that's like Jared Goff handing it off to David Montgomery. I'm like, oh, it's a run. And then he goes to the other wall and it's a swastika and you're like, oh, no, he's flipping it back to Jared Goff. And then it's a 50-sexual.

That's a good one. And you don't ever want to see a swastika. The second you see a swastika, you know, things are turning. Brought to you by loom. Pickin' Nits The doctor just delivers The your wife did it make it news So abruptly

I mean the entire movie is a nip-pick But the way that he's like Oh, your wife's dead But his wife's going to see his wife's okay The son-in-law first is like Your wife's gonna make it And in breath's like There's almost like this weird vibe

To the doctor where it's like Yeah your wife's gonna make it You gotta see the Mets? You know He's like the literal doctor They're like grinding out wins Yeah. Right. And he's like, oh, your wife's dead.

But I'm sorry about that. Yeah. Did you see Siever through eight, two hit innings? Yeah. My wife made me pause the movie. And she was, and we just couldn't believe how bad the doctor was. And her take was, maybe there wasn't enough awareness on how doctors should talk to patients yet. And this was actually what it was like.

It was more realistic. Maybe it wasn't a bad acting choice. Oh, I would think that in the 70s and. I would just think that there would be more bedside manner, but I guess in a New York City hospital in the 1970s, that guy's probably seen some shit. Yeah, oh no, your wife, your wife's dead. She'd fucking died already.

That was your wife? Yeah, oh, my God. She was dead when she came in. Yeah. Yeah, she's in the room, dead if you want to go see it. Your wife's catatonic, but your wife. Not painting your apartment within a day after the graffiti assault murder. How about just put the place up for sale?

and be like, you know what, burn the furniture. But stay in a hotel. I had one more, people in a restaurant watching a news conference with a police officer, like it's game seven of a playoff series. They're all like just riveted by this. Like, really? We're supposed to believe that.

People aren't just eating and drinking in a restaurant. No, I love when everybody stops. I mean, in JFK, it makes sense. But in this, it would be like, you really like a New York bar would grind to a halt to watch the police commissioner. This happens in Rocky, when you're at the bar and like the creed turn that up yeah yeah like did we really do that in the 70s

we're that interested in the news any other nitpicks um no not really i mean i we said the one was the big one was the doctor's bedside manner all right we'll take a quick break and then we'll finish the categories okay before we answer the question sequel prequel prestige tv all black cast are untouchable i should mention there were four sequels death wish two death wish three 1995 Death Wish 4, the crackdown, 87. And then for some reason, 94, Death Wish, the face of death. They just, seven years pass.

Bronson is now in his mid-70s, and they're like, we're running it back. But I think it speaks to how popular the sequels were on TV from a rewatchable standpoint. Yeah, I mean, I think it's not that expensive to make. Bronson's like, I'll stand there and shoot. You guys can make whatever movie you want around me.

He's probably not like, oh, the story's not working for me. Let me get a rewrite of that script. I would love to see a Prestige TV prequel called The Architect about Paul's early days in New York City. It's basically Madman. Right. Got this lead on a New Mexico real estate development.

Yeah, it's just like an architecture firm and like he's got a great wife and daughter. Can I talk you into the Apple TV, Prestige TV, Death Wish remake? Like now? Jelen Hall? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Jilling Hall. Just episode one, something bad happens. Episode two, work trip. Goes to the range because the guy loves the range. He's like, ah, that felt good. And then we're just off. Maybe he goes to Utah, starts listening to some right-wing podcasts.

It's like, huh, these guys have some ideas. I like. And then the rest of the season. He comes back to the architecture firm. So you guys heard Rogan? We're apparently supposed to be hunting our own food. all the architects like sure Paul

I don't know I would I would give Death Wish a chance yeah apparently you wouldn't no I would I liked my idea too but like yeah

we could do both be the same idea yeah we'll combine them Craig would watch Death Wish on Apple TV sure Craig loves the studio yeah

he'd give anything a chance yeah is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Treo, Doris Berks, Sam Jackson, Nell, Byron Mayo, Barney Cousins, Tony Romo, Harling Mays, Chris Collinsworth, Daniel Plainview, long legs, or Wilford Brimley

in the firm. God damn, Paul! You're kind of freaking me out. I'm speechless. I guess I'm going to make sure you don't go away for a long fucking time, big boy, but that orange paint's starting to give me some questions.

I didn't think you're going to break out Wayne for this. I would love to see Wayne as a Choa in this movie. You know, like Wayne hunting this guy. But like, damn, you know, this guy is really taking care of some business out there. It's making my job easier. I had two, actually, for this. I think Nell should be in the park in one of the scenes.

Just going to. Oh, my God. We just see her once. And then the subway platform when he shoots the two guys. Ryan Ruko. Cursey Bag and beg again! Just one Oscar who gets it,

Herbie Hancock. Yeah. I don't have any in answerable questions. It's a pretty straightforward film. Yeah. I think my only unanswerable question would be would be would the commissioner,

district attorney, and cop all agree to suppress his arrest? I actually, all right, I guess I do have an end there. So he's got to transfer, right? So he's got to talk to work. Maybe you make up some story about, yeah, you know, but he's still in the hospital of the gunshot wound. So he's got to tell work something, right?

Not going to be in this week. What happened? Appendectomy, like you come up, I guess you could get through that. Then it's like, you know what? I really need to be transferred. And now I have a limp. they're like, okay, how about Chicago?

And they just kind of, that's it? Yeah. It's just seamlessly. Yeah, it would have been, I honestly think it would have worked if he had been like, I got mugged, I can't live in the city anymore. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. But the big question I have is with the New York City police and the media,

and this is now like a circus, did they get them, they're not get them. And then the killing stop. Are they still covering it, like crazy for the next? After a week, they get bored and move on to something else. What piece of memorabilia would you want or not want from this movie. I have the gun with the case that says Tupal for the games.

Yeah, I'd put that in the office. There's a lot of really cursed items in this film. Yeah, it's tough to be like, what a cool coat. Maybe the People Magazine? Yeah, I would like to show of People magazine. Coach Finstock wore Best Life Lessons. Bring your groceries home if you live two blocks away.

Or I think the big part in the beginning of the film when they're like, you know, is it time to cut and run from New York City? It's like if you're feeling that way, maybe you should do it. Yeah. That's a lesson. Best double feature choice falling down. Oh, I had the Warriors just to like put a fantastic cap on the 70s New York experience.

Because this is essentially the Jeff Goldblum movie. Yeah. You know, it's like the flip side of it. It's a good choice. I agree with you. Who won the movie, Brownsley. Yeah. All right.

Craig, I know you probably didn't like this one. No. Yeah, this probably won't make the top five list at the end of the year. Did you see? what I was talking about with like Jack Lemon and Sydney Lamet, like the bones of like a weirder movie in this. I didn't, it was as I was driving in today,

I thought, I actually think this movie had the potential to be something really great. Yeah, I kind of just thought it was miscast and stale and very two-dimensional. And I thought the brutality of it was not redeemed by the story. It just felt like half-assed to me. You know what? It's not dissimilar from Rocky,

in the sense that it's a, movie that's franchise has kind of defined the original film now unintentionally. Like Rocky is such like a small urban drama and it's about human relationships and then there's a fight at the end. And then Rocky, all the subsequent sequels

are like, it's about boxing and this guy's boxing career. Death Wish was about you know, like you said, like you're like, holy shit, the first hour of this movie is really disturbing. And then like it becomes about vigilantees. Yeah, and then it just becomes a franchise. But it's interesting that you would almost think about Death Wish in relationship to the sequels.

you know. It's been on the list for a couple years. I do think there's a tweak to this movie that could work now where the complicated message around what this movie's trying to say, romanticism versus the criticizing violence. The Luigi Mangione thing,

there is like a rich person wealth tweak that you could make to this where it's like the killing of these CEO types, the United Healthcare CEO thing. You're not loving that. No, I think that's an interesting twist. You know what I mean?

Season 2 in the Apple show. Yeah, it's the complicated like, How do we feel about what, you know, these people at this level and vigilanteism in the corporate world? That's true. Yeah, I think, and we're going to do a couple more 70s movies this month. But in general, the 70s is so interesting because they had all these great ideas for movies. And some of them didn't land the plane and some did. But then all of them existed in the cable universe for the next 30 years, like this one.

And this is a really flawed movie that I probably have seen 20 times. You think about how different the. film-going experience must have been for people at that time period compared to what we get now, where 90% of what we see is so affirming at the end. Like, we are made to feel good about what we just watched. Yeah. This is almost the complete opposite of that, where people seemingly were going to the movies to feel bad, or to feel like their anger was being shown on the screen, or their depression or their anxiety

was being shown on screen. It's kind of amazing time to talk. I mean, I love this one of my favorite decade, so. Craig Horlebeck, thank you. Gahau and Jack, thank you as well. And Ronic. Thank you to Ronic. Thank you to Ronic. Thank you as well. Ringer Movies YouTube channel.

Yeah. All these are on video, and we'll have two more 70s movies. Death Wish 2 next week. To be. Are there three ones left in May or two? What's today's date? We have one, two, just two more after this. Thank God.

1926. There's a lot of campaigning going on behind the scenes for which these 70s films should be. Really? Yeah. By neat. We had to do this. Should we do a poll?

I had to not get pushed out. It's good. We did it. No, we have close encounters as possible. Heaven can wait. Apocalypse needs too much research. Roller ball is in there. What was the other one we had?

Oh, I asked for Marathon Man. Marathon Man. And you know what? You kind of teased once, and I don't know how serious you were. It was all that jazz. I thought that was one of the ones that's not available though. It's not available on DVD.

I don't know if it's streaming. You're right. Yeah. All right. Well, we'll come back next week with one more 70s weeks. We've never done Chinatown, have we? We have not.

That movie's kind of a rough hang now. Yeah. They think? Not that this movie was a walk in the park. No, I mean, like, it's more like the stories around it, yeah. Sierra, thanks. Good to see.

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