The Punisher (1989)

When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as the Punisher.

Director:

Mark Goldblatt

Writer:

Boaz Yakin

Stars:

Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeroen Krabbé

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dolph Lundgren	...	Frank Castle
Louis Gossett Jr.	...	Jake Berkowitz
Jeroen Krabbé	...	Gianni Franco (as Jeroen Krabbe)
Kim Miyori	...	Lady Tanaka
Bryan Marshall	...	Dino Moretti
Nancy Everhard	...	Sam Leary
Barry Otto	...	Shake
Brian Rooney	...	Tommy Franco
Zoshka Mizak	...	Tanaka's Daughter
Kenji Yamaki	...	Sato
Hirofumi Kanayama	...	Tomio
Larry McCormick	...	TV Newsreader
Todd Boyce	...	Terrone
Lani John Tupu	...	Laccone (as Larney Tupu)
John Negroponte	...	Musso

Storyline

Based on the Marvel Comic, Dolph Lundgren is Frank Castle an ex-cop who lives in the sewers and acts as judge, jury, and executioner to the city's criminals in retaliation for the unpunished murders of his wife and kids. Frank's ex-partner Jake (Louis Gossett Jr.) finally catches up with the vigilante as he tries to stop the Japanese mob, which is trying to take over the city's mafia operation.

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Plot Keywords:

vigilante | japanese | marvel comics | murder | yakuza | 

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Taglines:

Judge. Jury. Executioner. All in a day's work.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1989 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A Büntető

Filming Locations:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New World Pictures (Australia), New World Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 76 min (heavily cut) (1990) (1995)

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There was a scene filmed, but cut from the movie, showing Frank Castle, when he was still a cop, busting mobster Dino Morretti (the mobster he kills at the beginning). However, there are still allusions to the bust in the film. When Sam Leary introduces herself to Berkowitz, she mentions that they had worked together on the Morretti bust ("I was the hooker."). And both the DVD and VHS copies of the movie feature a still photo on the jacket of Castle in a blue jean shirt with two guns, Berkowitz, and Leary (in her hooker disguise).

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Goofs

While Frank Castle is fighting a Japanese Swordsman, a holstered gun on Castle's back disappears. Moments later, it re-appears in the holster. The weapon wasn't touched by anybody.

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Quotes

Lady Tanaka: That was a very expensive question you asked at our place the other night. Several of our most trusted people were working there; it cost us nearly $2 million to get them out of prison - the ones you left alive, that is.

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Connections

Version of The Punisher (2014)

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Soundtracks

"Vicious Minds"
Written by Harry Garfield
Performed by Hobo & Habby

User Reviews

An exciting action-packed thriller

This film was pretty good. Frank Castle is The Punisher, a former police officer whose family was murdered by mobsters and years later, he comes back and wages a one-man war against crime. Although thought dead, he slowly kills off leading mobsters and criminals, one by one, in the name of "street justice". This movie had good music, and Louis Gosset Jr. played his role well as a police chief who was a friend of Castle. This movie had a decent story and exciting well-filmed gunbattles, but there were some bad things too. It relied more on pure action than on acting, for there was little talking in the whole film, just gunfire. It was somewhat fake to the point where it no longer seemed like a film (more like a video game) where a single man kills dozens of mobsters and is only hit by a single bullet in the whole film (in the shoulder!!!). But besides the bad things, this was pretty exciting and I would recommend it to all who enjoy action films. Feel free to email me with any questions or comments.