Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)

Paul Kersey is back at working vigilante justice when when his fiancée, Olivia, has her business threatened by mobsters.

Director:

Allan A. Goldstein

Writers:

Brian Garfield (characters), Michael Colleary (story)

Stars:

Charles Bronson, Lesley-Anne Down, Michael Parks

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charles Bronson	...	Paul Kersey
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Olivia Regent
Michael Parks	...	Tommy O'Shea
Chuck Shamata	...	Sal Paconi
Kevin Lund	...	Chuck Paconi
Robert Joy	...	Freddie 'Flakes'
Saul Rubinek	...	Brian Hoyle
Miguel Sandoval	...	Hector Vasquez
Kenneth Welsh	...	Lt. Mickey King
Lisa Inouye	...	Janice Omori
Erica Fairfield	...	Chelsea Regent (as Erica Lancaster)
Jefferson Mappin	...	Big Al
Michael Dunston	...	Reg
Claire Rankin	...	Maxine
Sharolyn Sparrow	...	Dawn

Storyline

New York's garment district has turns into Dodge City when mobster Tommy O'Shea muscles in on the fashion trade of his ex-wife Olivia Regent. Olivia is engaged to Paul Kersey, who provides a sense of security for herself and her daughter Chelsea. Olivia isn't impressed when Tommy tortures her manager, Big Al, so Tommy hires an enforcer named Freddie Flakes, who is a master of disguise. Freddie dons women's clothing to follow Olivia into a ladies' room, where he smashes her face into a mirror, causing permanent disfigurement. In the offices of D.A. Tony Hoyle and his associate Hector Vasquez, Paul and Olivia vow to see to it that Tommy is prosecuted. Later, Freddie and two of his men disguise themselves as cops, infiltrate Olivia's apartment, and shoot Olivia dead. Now Kersey is ready to take things into his own hands. Kersey follows Tommy's thug Chickie Paconi to the Paconi family bistro, where Kersey kills Chickie by lacing his cannelloni with cyanide. Next, Paul tricks Freddie out ...

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Plot Keywords:

female frontal nudity | gun | vigilante justice | apartment | mirror | 

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Taglines:

No judge. No jury. No appeals. No deals.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, and for nudity and language

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death Wish: The Face of Death

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$1,702,394 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

21st Century Film Corporation, Death Wish 5 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Saul Rubinek plays a punk wearing a U.S. flag embossed motorcycle jacket in the Death Wish (1974) subway scene (uncredited). Twenty years later, Rubinek ironically plays a completely different character (an NYPD detective) in this film.

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Goofs

When Tommy opens the crate with Hectors body in it and the body falls to the ground, Tommy turns it over and Hectors head is facing toward his left shoulder, but in the very next scene, when seen from above, his face is straight up, toward the camera.

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Quotes

Chuck Paconi: [pointing a gun at Paul] You got a problem?
Tommy O'Shea: Guns make you nervous?
Paul Kersey: Guns have their uses. Idiots with guns make me nervous.

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Connections

Follows Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

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Soundtracks

DO YOU WANNA DANCE
Written and Performed by O.T.D.

User Reviews

5 wifes killed by gangsters - What would you do?

I have noticed in the previous parts that Charles Bronson's character is himself a total psycho/mentally "ill" person. And that's totally understandable knowing what he's been through. So both the bad and the good guys are real extremes also in their sickness (in these movies). You have to be "freakin'" crazy to fight these crazies. "Fight evil with evil". "If you "have" to fight, you have to fight dirty." "Because war in itself is bad, evil and crazy." (These citings are not from this movie, they're just clichés.) Is there any other way? But compared to the bad guys Bronson's character is also very, very sad and sympathetic. It's sad that some people have to see and experience so much evil in this world. It is a very interesting character and portrait of a time and a frame of mind.

And the bad guys are not as comical as in some other Death Wishes, they are somehow more realistic.

From the start setting of this film some mental professional would suggest that Bronson's character is begging for blood and violence in his life: He has hooked up with some psycho-sadist-mob boss's ex-wife, who has a daughter with the mentioned. But let's not be shrinks. Shrinks (both amateur and pro) seem to be wrong very often, maybe as often as non-shrinks. Maybe it's just because they have fallen in love. And maybe Bronson/Kersey has heard about this only later.

One of the most important questions that these movies rise is: What would YOU do? Would ethics and philosophy of forgiveness be enough, if some person would for example kill some of your loved ones with no reason. Would you think that that person has deserved forgiveness and is worth of that? If that person would be a repeated killer, who has been in jail a couple of times already for his/her former crimes/killings? Would you think of that person as an equal to some person you love, and who you know is trying to be as good person as he/she possibly can? The movie is very well directed, shot, acted. Good editing and music. The atmosphere is whole. Some nice pictures. It's also more sexy than all the other parts combined. This might be one of the 3 best of the 5 Death Wishes, but wouldn't 3 have been enough? Obviously not, because these movies are just a small glimpse of the "vigilante"/revenge-movies genre... Worth seeing.