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
Zoska Aleece	...	Tanaka's Daughter (as Zoshka Mizak)
Kenji Yamaki	...	Sato
Hirofumi Kanayama	...	Tomio
Larry McCormick	...	TV Newsreader
Todd Boyce	...	Tarrone
Lani John Tupu	...	Laccone (as Larney Tupu)
Gianfranco Negroponte	...	Musso (as John Negroponte)

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:

torture | vigilante | ex cop | mafia | murder | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeroen Krabbé starred opposite Jason Statham in Transporter 3 (2008). Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham appeared in The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), and The Expendables 3 (2014).

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Goofs

(at around 47 mins) When detectives Berkowitz and Leary go down into the sewers to search for The Punisher's lair, Berkowitz explains how he met Frank Castle. As they round a corner a film crew member's leg is visible in the corner of the shot, and they quickly move their leg out of the frame.

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Quotes

The Punisher: I PUNISH THE GUILTY!
Shake: And as a result the innocent must suffer?

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Alternate Versions

The R2 Germany (Starlight Film - Ungeschnitten) version is cut by one second. It is missing a close-up shot of the nanny's head (face) sliding down, after being shot (1 secs). It was also released in a lower rating FSK 16 version with approx 5 minutes of violence cut to the film.

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Connections

Referenced in Laat maar zitten: Recht in eigen hand (1991)

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Soundtracks

Winning isn't Everything, It's the Only thing
Performed and Written by Bobby Laurel
Courtesy of Gary Lazar Productions

User Reviews

Better Than People Give Credit For

No, this is not CITIZEN KANE. But it is an entertaining film that did make a somewhat unbelievable Marvel "hero" to celluloid.

Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a former NYPD detective (originally a military special ops expert in the comic) who loses his family to a mob hit. This pushes his already unstable personality over the edge, and he becomes a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. The VERY underrated Louis Gossett Jr. plays his former partner, determined to find him and keep him out of the gas chamber.

This movie is quite a decent action film. It actually delves quite deeply into the characters' motivations, their histories, their personalities. I agree with earlier comments that, out of the lot of action stars, Lundgren does bring at least some dramatic chops to the role. I really couldn't imagine Schwarzenegger playing this part, though Stallone or Willis might have been better choices.

The action sequences are done quite well for a low-budget film. The director, Mark Goldblatt, served as editor on films such as TERMINATOR 1 & 2, the underrated PREDATOR 2, TRUE LIES, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ARMAGEDDON, and PEARL HARBOR, so he definitely has knowledge of how to properly compose an action sequence. He also served as Paul Verhoeven's 2nd Unit Director on the original ROBOCOP.

The movie is rather tough to find, and though it strays away a bit from the source material, it does manage to flesh out a rather one-dimensional character.

A new version of THE PUNISHER is now being prepped, starring DREAMCATCHER's Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.

Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1989 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

The Punisher

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New World Pictures (Australia), Marvel Entertainment, New World Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 76 min (heavily cut) (1990) (1995) 98 min (Workprint Version)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1