Talk:Death Wish (novel)

Guns?

This article says the gun used in the first film was a .44 magnum, however, the storyline says he uses a .32 What's the deal with this? ~~He never had a .44 magnum I corrected death wish II he had a .380 for that one, not a Hi-Power.

Merge with Paul Kersey into Death Wish

Since the movies revolves around the one character, the article for the movie covers all of the activities of the guy. Therefor, no article for Paul Kersey required. Also, there is a musician on the band Max Webster with the name Paul Kersey and an actor born 10 February 1970 in Ada, Minnesota. Cafe Nervosa | talk 18:47, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

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Summary of Novel

I did a summary of the original Death Wish (the novel) and its sequel Death Sentence. {{spoiler}}

Paul Benjamin was a CPA in New York and life long liberal. However, his staid life was overturned when his daughter, Caorl, and spouse, Esther, were attacked by muggers. His wife did not long survive the attack, while his traumatized daughter died with a few years after slipping into autism. Force to reevaluate his views, Benjamin became paranoid and eager for vengeance. Purchasing a gun on a trip to the Southwest, Benjamin used it on a mugger who accosted him. Benjamin decided to continue to use his gun against muggers, drawing them into traps with himself as bait. (In one case, he rents a car, pulls it over to the side of the road, writes an ":Out of Gas" sign on it, then hides, waiting for someone to try to steal it. When they do, he shoots them.)

It is only within the last fifty pages of the first novel that Benjamin slays his first victim. The second novel, Death Sentence, states that Benjamin murdered seventeen people over five weeks. (However, some some imitators had cropped up, as murders fitting Benjamins' style occured in New York after he left the city.) Moving to Chicago, Benjamin refined his m.o. First, he bought two guns (one a .32, the other a smaller weapon) in Wisconsin (from a man named Truett) using a fake ID; a dead brother-in-law's driver's identifaction. Second, he rented an office, also using his brother-in-law's identification (that of Robert Neuser) to hide his guns in. Third, Benjamin took to wearing a flapped winter hat, goggle-like dark glasses, and a fake moustache to disguise his identity. Fourth, Benjamin would smear his car's plates with dirt and grease to make identifying his plate number harder. (As Benjamin admits to himself later, he should have purchased a second car to use for his attacks.)

Most importantly, Benjamin realized that it would not be feasible to try to patrol the city looking for crimes to stop. Since cities are so huge, and the window of opportunity for crimes to take place during the night is so long, the chances of stumbling upon a crime in progress would be remote. Aside from using himself as bait as he had before, he realized that many criminals, being repeat offenders, frequently have to show up at the courthouse for parole hearings and other matters. So, Benjamin started shadowing the courthouse, finding potential victims there, tailing them until they tried to pull something. (Benjamin also began staking out pawn shops and bars, since many criminals use those as potential sources for victims.) Benjamin's Chicago murders take place within the span of a few weeks in December and January.

Benjamin is dismayed when others begin imitating him with disastrous effect. Ordinary people begin packing guns and weapons trying to fight with muggers and robbers rather than give up their money and possessions, only to lose their lives. Worse, a copycat vigilante has launched his own version of Benjamin's sudden justice, picking off criminals with a .45 Luger; once, unfortuneately, killing an innocent bystander. Benjamin deduces that, since the copycat uses a rare type of gun that he saw at Truett's shop, the copycat may have purchased the gunn there. From Truett he finds out the identity of the man who purchased the Luger, Orson Pyne. Going to Pyne's neighborhood, Benjamin observes as the clean-shaven Pyne comes home driving an Ambassador car, and later a man with grey hair and a bushy moustache steps out of his front door; Benjamin realizes that Pyne wears a wig and a fake moustache to disguise himself. Tailing Pyne, Benjamin watches as Pyne goes to a shopping center's parking lot, parks his Ambassador car, and gets into a battered old Impala parked there. Benjamin realizes that Pyne purchased a used car (probably using a fake name and ID) to use in his vigilante missions; Benjamin realizes that he should have thought of that.

Benjamin tails Pyne as the latter tries to entice muggers to attack him with no success. Eventually, Benjamin stops Pyne, telling him he has to stop his actions. Pyne lashes out, shooting at Benjamin, but where Pyne misses, Benujamin does not. Luckily, Benjamin shot Pyne with the smaller gun (which he had not used before). Benjamin realizes that, by planting his .32 on Pyne (Benjamin used the .32 in all of his Chicago missions), he could frame the now dead Pyne for all of his Chicago slayings. Doing so, he then throws his remaining gun and a cleaning kit into the river.

Pyne's body is found, with the .45 and the .32 on it. The public believes that Pyne held responsibility for all of the vigilante murders of the last few weeks. Sadly, Pyne's death does not stop the imitators. The final page of the novel reveals that a string of similar killings has commenced, with the newspaper speculating that yet another vigilante has arisen in Chicago.

Plot of IV derivative of Red Harvest and Saint in New York

The plot of IV seems derivative of Red Harvest by Hammett and the Saint in New York by Charteris.

In the novel, he was not an architect

See the synopsis above, in the novel, he was not an architect or named Kersey.

Death Sentence will be filmed

James Wan will direct Death Sentence.

God damn rich cunt!

I kill rich cunts!

Funniest fuckin' thing I've ever seen Jeff Goldblum do/say/whatever.

So what?

"Marina Sirtis portrayed a rape victim in Death Wish 3 — right before joining the Star Trek franchise. Subsequently, Tim Russ was seen as a hitman in Death Wish 4 long before Star Trek: Voyager."

Nice to see every damn Wikipedia article relates to Star Trek and the Simpsons. Why is the fact above included in the Death Wish article? I mean Marty Balsam was in one DW movie and Psycho, who gives a sh*t?

Further details on the novels

Brian Garfield wrote the original novel Death Wish, but disagreed with the film. So he wrote a sequel novel exploring his ideas further.

I will say that a great idea someday if they ever try to do a Death Wish remake is to combine the first novel and the sequel novel together. The original novel Death Wish was more about mood and atmosphere...which are of course had to convey on film. Not much plot and action in the first novel (he kills his first victim on page 130 out 180 pages), so that is why the film was made as it was.

The sequel novel had more action and a somewhat more complicated plot, but it also continued Garfield's ideas about ways to reform the legal system and why taking the law into one's own hands causes problems. Kersey also interacts more with people who have strong opinions about the vigilante's actions, something not in the first novel or really in the films, and as a result, gains an alternative view on things. In the end, Benjamin the vigilante renounces his outlaw ways. This gives the story a sense of a person going through an event and maturing because of what he has learned and seen.

Victims of Paul Benjamin

The first victim in the first novel was Thomas Leroy Marston, 24. Two weeks before his death he had served 42 months for grand larceny.

Page 154 notes that five had been killed, two of them seventeen year old boys. George Lambert, 22, was killed while stealing a tv.

Page 22 of Death Sentence notes that over five weeks in New York he killed 17 people.

In Chicago he slew:

Circa Dec 16-17 Edward A. Smith and Leroy Thompson

Dec 18-19 Ernest and Julio Delgado

James Washington

On page 55 and 69 it is noted that he slew Joseph Crubb and two unnamed men.

Orson Pyne on page 69 killed Richard Hicks and John R. Davis

Page 76 Orson Pyne slays William O. Newton

P.111 Orson Pyne slays two youths, Benjamin slays a machete wielder.

P.116 Pyne double homicide

P.164 Pyne slays Peter Whitmore by accident (intended victims survive)

P.184 Pyne kills a drug dealer and an addict

P.185 23 shot in Chicago,

11 shot by Benjamin 12 shot by Pyne

Benjamin also shot, but did not slay, a group of boys attacking girls.

Benjamin of course slays Orson Pyne.

Benjamin is 47 at the time of Death Wish Pyne is 47 at the time of Death Sentence Carol was about 23 at the time of Death Wish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Enda80 (talk • contribs) 22:47, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Films

I've moved the information about the films to their own articles:

• Death Wish (film)
• Death Wish II
• Death Wish 3
• Death Wish 4: The Crackdown
• Death Wish V: The Face of Death

This article can therefore be about the novel. Count de Ville 04:16, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Similar story published in 1967

In 1967, author Adobe James published "Tomorrow and Tomorrow", a short story which appears to anticipate Death Wish. A man named Paul Bosigian turns vigilante to avenge the rape/murder of his wife and daughter by taking to the streets and killing muggers. The story was later included in a 1975 Alfred Hitchcock anthology, Stories to be Read with the Door Locked. The only difference is that Bosigian's tactic is to disguise himself as an old woman, and uses a sword (not a gun) concealed inside a walking stick. Has Brian Garfield ever commented on whether this story influenced his novel?--Muzilon (talk) 23:34, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Lt. Briggs - is he "under investigation" or is he doing the investigating?

In the list of characters, we have this:

"Lieutenant Malcolm Briggs – Detective who is under investigation on the home invasion of Paul's family."

Is Briggs being investigated in connection with the home invasion, or, is he investigating the home invasion? It sounds odd that a policeman would be under investigation, that is, he is being investigated, unless that is indeed part of the plot. Best regardsTheBaron0530 (talk) 00:14, 20 February 2021 (UTC)