As chance would have it, less than 12 hours ago,  I watched a documentary looking back on the “Dirty Harry” films where Carnahan said, and I am paraphrasing, “I’m liberal on a lot of things but very much a law and order right-winger.”

That’s all well and good, but I doubt present-day Hollywood has the maturity to tell this story with the same courage of conviction we saw in director Michael Winner’s 1974 genre-masterpiece. For starters, Paul Kersey’s (The Mighty Charles Bronson) vigilantism is shown to work and is portrayed as a solution to a serious crime problem the ineffectual police and liberal courts can’t solve. For emphasis, there’s a wonderful scene where we see how Kersey’s actions inspire everyday people to finally fight back.

Secondly, the Kersey character (a conscientious objector during the Korean War) is made to see up close and personal the cost of his limousine liberalism and haughty pacifism. Intolerant Hollywood giving a character that kind of arc today is inconceivable. In films like the superb 2007 remake of “The Hills Have Eyes,” we’ve seen it. But if you listen to the director’s DVD commentary, you learn it was by accident.

Finally, this first entry in what would become a fantastic five film franchise isn’t like its sequels. Here, Kersey isn’t exacting revenge on the same punks who blew a hole in his family. He’s simply working through his grief and refusing to be a victim through the awesome act of cleaning up the streets and, in the end, he is not at all repentant for his actions.

It’s very hard for me to see today’s immature industry allowing the very thematic elements that made the original (and its sequels) so satisfying to shine through again. My guess is that Carnahan goes back to the original novel, which portrays vigilantism as a more serious problem than the crime it’s meant to solve. That will give all involved the cover necessary to completely screw the remake up.

If you want to see an unapologetic “remake” of “Death Wish,” check out The Mighty Michael Caine’s almost-as-good but just as satisfying “Harry Brown.”

Note to leftists: In real life, I obviously oppose vigilantism. But this is a movie were talking about, and what I am not opposed to is wish-fulfillment or being manipulated by a crowd pleaser.

TEN MEMORABLE NON-COMEDIC PERFORMANCES BY COMEDIANS

Jon Stewart? Really?

Pretty spotty list (“Southland Tales?”), but credit is owed for at least grabbing one film pre-1980 film, Jackie Gleason’s truly memorable turn in “The Hustler.”

My votes go to (in no particular order):

1. Jerry Lewis: “King of Comedy.”
2. Andy Griffith: “A Face In the Crowd.”
3. Charlie Chaplin: “Monsieur Verdoux.”
4. Richard Pryor: “Blue Collar.”
5. Red Buttons: “Sayonara.”
6. Mary Tyler Moore: “Ordinary People.”
7. Don Rickles: “Casino.”
8. Peter Sellers “Lolita.”
9. Lucille Ball: “Five Came Back.”
10. Tom Hanks: “Road to Perdition.”
11. Jackie Gleason : Requiem for a Heavyweight.”
12. Robin Williams: “Insomnia.”

There’s always been something missing in any dramatic performance given by Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Bill Murray and Jim Carrey. Steve Carrell is a little better, but all too often they substitute a kind of sad sack, put-upon pathos for actual character and dimension. With the exception of Williams’ terrific turn as a serial killer in “Insomnia,” think about how similar the performances of all these actors are when they go “dramatic.”

Predictable and boring.

DRAFTHOUSE FILMS ACQUIRES US RIGHTS TO ‘ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS’

This sounds fantastic:

The film, which will be helmed by Mark Hartley (Machete Maidens Unleashed, Not Quite Hollywood), follows Israeli-born cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who launched Cannon Films, an indie film studio in 1979 that went on to make over 120 exploitation films, between 1979 and 1989, dubbing itself the “seventh Hollywood major.”

Cannon Films brought Runaway Train (which received an Oscar nomination in 1986), Missing in Action, Death Wish, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Masters of the Universe and American Ninja to the big screen.

“Cannon Films was an enterprise that in many ways defined exploitation cinema of the 1980s,” said Alamo Drafthouse Founder/CEO and Fantastic Fest Founder Tim League, “We are thrilled to share their untold legacy with movie fans around the country.”

Minor correction: Cannon was only responsible for the first three “Death Wish” sequels, not the original, which was a legitimate studio film (Paramount).

There’s no doubt Cannon made a ton of crap, but they also made some genuine grinder classics: 10 to Midnight, Bloodsport, Death Wish 2, 3, & 4 (the second being one of my all-time favorite films), Delta Force 1 and 2, Invasion U.S.A., Cobra, Missing in Action 1 and 2 and the brilliant Runaway Train.

I’ll take any of these over 99% of the hyper-edited, overlong, metrosexual-driven junk Hollywood’s producing today.

The story behind Cannon should be a fascinating one, as all Hollywood stories are. But some of these movies deserve respect.

TV OWNERSHIP DROPS FOR FIRST TIME IN NIELSEN HISTORY

Seismic:

With services like Netflix and Hulu beefing up their streaming selections, it’s easier than ever to pull the plug on your TV and still remain in the pop culture loop — and increasingly, consumers are doing just that. According to a new report released this week by Nielsen Media Research, the number of U.S. households that own a television set will actually drop between 2011 and 2012, the first such decline since the company began tracking that statistic in 1970. The decrease is especially significant given that the number of households in the U.S. continues to grow from year to year.

Bigger news:

There’s one technology that isn’t doing too well, however. The number of households with DVD players is expected to slip down to 85% in 2012, down from its record high of 88%. Though that drop could be attributed to a number of different factors, including the economy, it also suggests that consumers are ditching discs in favor of Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, and other digital services.

Hollywood is attempting to fight the inevitable by postponing for as long as they dare the release of new titles to Redbox and Netflix. Only problem is that there’s already so much out there to relish, so much to discover and re-discover on home video. Honestly, I think I can wait 28 days for “The Green Lantern.”

A LOOK BACK AT STANLEY KUBRICK’S ‘THE KILLING‘

Great, great, great heist-gone-wrong flick and a million years removed from anything Kubrick would do later in life. Part of Kubrick’s genius was casting. Who else would’ve given the great Sterling Hayden the lead role? And then there’s the amazing Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Vince Edwards, Timothy Carey, and Coleen Gray.

As good the tenth time as the first.

—–

—–

LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

“Dark Knight” on Blu-ray. Need I say more?

—–

—–

SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

ROBERT CONRAD DOES A WEEKLY RADIO SHOW

THE BEST & WORST MOVIE POSTERS OF 2011

GEORGE KENNEDY DISCUSSES HIS NEW MEMOIR, TITLED ‘TRUST ME‘

FINAL POSTER FOR ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS‘

DIRECTOR SIMON WEST IN TALKS TO HELM RACING MOVIE ‘DUST AND GLORY‘

YIKES.

STEVEN SODERBERGH TO DIRECT THRILLER ‘THE BITTER PILL‘

NEW HI-RES STILLS FROM ‘PROMETHEUS’ PUT THEIR BEST (TERRIFYINGLY HUGE) FACE FORWARD

SCREENWRITER MARTI NOXON TO PEN ‘OUIJA’ AND, YES, IT’S BASED ON THE BOARD GAME

DANIEL RADCLIFFE TO PLAY ALAN GINSBERG IN ‘KILL YOUR DARLINGS‘

ANOTHER ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL’ CLIP

HARRISON FORD AMONG ACTORS BEING CONSIDERED FOR ‘ENDER’S GAME‘

IS IT THE YEAR OF THE DUDE FILM?

CATCHING UP WITH DIRECTOR GEORGE MILLER

‘FULL MONTY’ DIRECTOR PETER CATTANEO TO BIRTH ‘BRIDGET JONES’S BABY’

MICHAEL IRONSIDE AND THE EVOLUTION OF HIS MISSING BODY PARTS

TOMMY LEE SUED BY FORMER ASSISTANT FOR (ALLEGEDLY) BEING A CHEAP, PETTY SLAVE DRIVER

VIDEO: LATEST TRAILER FOR TNT’S NEW SERIES ‘DALLAS’

THE 10 BEST ORIGINAL LUCASARTS ADVENTURE CHARACTERS

HEDY LAMARR: BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS BY DAY, INVENTOR BY NIGHT

7 MOVIES THAT PUT INSANE WORK INTO DETAILS YOU DIDN’T NOTICE

SOME ACTORS: BETTER OLDER THAN YOUNGER?

WHY IS NICOLAS CAGE ON THE COVER OF A SERBIAN TEXTBOOK?

10 TV SERIES ON NETFLIX INSTANT TO GET YOU THROUGH RERUN SEASON

11 HILARIOUSLY EMBARRASSING MOVIE APES

THE ZUCKER-ABRAHAMS-ZUCKER RULES OF FILMMAKING

THE TOP 10 BEST WRITTEN ANIME

PODCAST: HOW RESIDUALS WORK

TOP 10 MOVIE RIOTS

FIZZBIN AND 21 OTHER FICTITIOUS POP CULTURE GAMES

TOP 10 TV HORROR HOSTS

—–

—–

CLASSIC PICK FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2

8:30 AM  EST: Crossroads (1942)  – A French diplomat who’s recovered from amnesia is blackmailed over crimes he can’t remember. Dir: Jack Conway Cast:  William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, Claire Trevor. BW-83 mins, TV-G, CC.

Never seen this, but quite the cast and a solid director.

—–

—–

--Please send tips/suggestions/requests/complaints to jnolte@breitbart.com

—–

Imagine an era of movie action heroes who actually look as though they could kick your butt. There was such a time, not so long ago, when masculine men strode the Earth and walked directly into trouble firing very big guns at very bad guys without being all conflicted about it afterwards.

A Purple Heart recipient for his service in WWII as an aerial gunner, Charles Bronson was the unlikeliest of movie stars. Born in 1921, his early success as a supporting player in legendary films such as “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape” didn’t occur until he was into his 40s and genuine super-stardom finally hit when he was in his 50s, starting with Michael Winner’s “Death Wish” in 1974.

Most critics dismissed Bronson’s acting as wooden and most of his films “reactionary” and “ultra-violent,” but he remained a bankable star in low-budget genre films until he was well past the age of 70. And when he did star in the kind of films critics approve of, such as Sean Penn’s “The Indian Runner” in 1991, they would suddenly find him praise-worthy.

Charles Bronson was a star over four decades because he was absolutely believable in the roles he chose, had as much screen presence and charisma as Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, led a quiet personal life that never shattered his image, gave his fans what they were looking for, and while he wasn’t always a fan of his own films he never let a sense that he was above the material bleed into his performance.

If you’re looking for a Charles Bronson Netflix starter kit, let me suggest:

Once Upon a Time In the West, Chato’s Land, The Mechanic, The Stone Killer, Death Wish 1 & 2, Breakout, Death Hunt, The Evil That Men Do,  and Murphy’s Law.

The best of that bunch is 1982’s “Death Wish 2.” At 60 years-old, Bronson was at the very peak of his menacing masculinity, Jimmy Page’s scoring is beyond inspired, and you’re never going to see a more satisfyingly straight-forward revenge film like this again. As an added bonus, director Michael Winner’s iconic shots of a determined and deadly Bronson dressed head-to-toe all in black against the time capsule of early eighties L.A., are some of my favorites in all of film. 

—–

God won’ t make another Charles Bronson, which is why He gave us DVD.

This is one of my favorite genres, especially when it comes to the smaller, lesser known – or better yet – less respected members of this family. Sure, there’s “Star Trek II,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Sting,” “Man on Fire,” and both “Kill Bill” films – love ‘em all, and so do you, but here are five you may have missed that are even more satisfying than their better known cousins.

–

1. Death Wish II (1982) – Michael Winner’s first “Death Wish” (1974) is often mistaken as a revenge film when it’s really a vigilante film. For we purists that distinction matters. The original may show up on all kinds of Top 10 Revenge Film lists but at no time does Bronson’s Paul Kersey look for the thugs who murdered his wife and raped his daughter. What he does do is take it to the streets as an avenging angel to overcome his own sense of helplessness. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great because punks get blown away and liberal critics howl, but a revenger it is not.

Winner’s follow-up, however, is an epic of revenge, one of the most exploitive, manipulative and satisfying movies ever made. Bronson was 60 at the time and at the height of human achievement in pure badassery. Watching The Mighty One, dressed in black from top to bottom, stalk the seedy streets of Los Angeles hunting the punks who raped and murdered his daughter as Jimmy Page’s howling score skews the tone into something surreal is as good as it gets.

The cherry on top? Well, that would be the subtextual viewing pleasure of knowing how much critics hate it.

 –

2. Act of Violence (1948) – In “The Searchers,” John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards describes his own determination with this famous quote:

Seems like he never learns there’s such a thing as a critter that’ll just keep comin’ on. So we’ll find ‘em in the end, I promise you. We’ll find ‘em. Just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.

Post-war Los Angeles — when California was still known as “Sunny California,” — and war hero Van Heflin’s done quite well for himself: Nice home, thriving business, cute little son, and best of all, his wife looks exactly like Janet Leigh. Unfortunately, there’s this…

Scrape … scrape … scrape … scrape…

That sound has relentlessly haunted Heflin over an ocean and across America, and now it’s knocking on the front door in the form of Robert Ryan who will have his revenge on Heflin … just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.

Fred Zinneman directs this splendidly shot, tightly plotted piece of noir that’s deserving of a revival and finally available on DVD. I won’t spoil a drop of story, but the performances are as good as it gets, especially Oscar-winner Mary Astor in a late-career supporting role, and the wrap-up is hugely satisfying on every level. Well worth a Netflix, to say the least.

 –

3. Coffy (1973) – A masterpiece of blaxploitation thanks to Pam Grier’s ridiculously sexy and determined presence as a nurse out to get The Man who fed her sister contaminated heroin. Every scene reaches for “cool” and delivers. Sure, the acting’s stiff and the action’s over-rehearsed, but with dialogue like this…

Vitroni: Crawl, ni**er!
Coffy: [pulls gun] You want me to crawl, white motherf**ker?
Vitroni: What’re you doing? Put that down.
Coffy: You want to spit on me and make me crawl? I’m gonna piss on your grave tomorrow.

… if you catch me on the right day I’ll tell you “Coffy” is the greatest movie ever made. There’s just something distinctive and sublime about a genre film that aims for a target and hits the bullseye.

–

4. Chato’s Land (1972) – Two years before kicking off the “Death Wish” franchise, director Michael Winner and Charles Bronson teamed up for the first time to give the revenge genre a test-drive with this  satisfying and violent Western about a half-breed Apache (Bronson) hunted by a posse after he kills a sheriff in self-defense.

You don’t need me to tell you that some tables find themselves turned and thanks to a splendid supporting cast consisting of Jack Palance, James Whitmore, Ralph Waite, Richard Jordan and  Victor French, there is all kinds of pleasure to be had in that table turn as the posse degenerates into lawlessness and in-fighting.

Imposing over every frame is the stoic and fearsome Bronson whose transformation from a quiet, peaceable man wanting to get home to his family, into a relentless revenging angel with a righteous cause is something few actors could pull off believably.

Acting’s in the eyes, not the affectations … and Bronson made you believe.

–

5. Hannie Caulder (1971) – Raquel Welch starred in three outstanding Westerns between 1968 and 1971 — this, “Bandolero!” (1968) and “100 Rifles” (1969). Beyond her stunning physical appearance, Welch is progressively better in each of them and with “Hannie Caulder” impressively carries the film mostly on her own. There to help her is Robert Culp (one of my favorite unheralded actors in one of his best film roles) as a slightly offbeat bounty hunter, but Raquel adds some real brawn to her beauty as a woman determined to learn the way of the gun in order to have her revenge on the three men who raped her and killed her husband.

Burt Kennedy directs and adapted the screenplay, so it’s sure to be a lean, satisfying 85 minutes. Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, Jack Elam and Christopher Lee fill out an excellent supporting cast and a surprisingly (for director Kennedy, anyway) odd sense of humor pervades everything.

An unconventional  film, but more than worthy.

6:45am PST – Big Heat, The (1953) – A police detective whose wife was killed by the mob teams with a scarred gangster’s moll to bring down a powerful gangster. Cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby Dir: Fritz Lang BW-90 mins, TV-14

There’s nothing quite like a Glenn Ford slow burn. Watching Ford’s nice guy characters take it and take it some more until they give it back with compound interest is one of the delights of Ford’s under-appreciated work. My favorite of these is “The Violent Men,” a 1955 Western that pits mild-mannered, square-shouldered Ford against land grabbers Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck.  It’s “Death Wish” on a horse.

Today’s pick is another engrossing Ford slow-burner, this one a noir classic directed by The Mighty Fritz Lang and co-starring the delicious Gloria Grahame as a horribly scarred, boozy moll. The film’s real delight, however, is Lee Marvin in his breakthrough role as a complicated enforcer dealing with something he didn’t quite expect from Ford’s crusading cop.

Look for references to Ford’s “Gilda,” Carolyn Jones in a small roll, a scene that might have influenced a similar one in “The Godfather,” hardboiled dialogue, a blistering pace and a revenge theme (Lang’s specialty) fully realized to a satisfying and memorable finish.

The film was highly successful with audiences, making Bronson a big star and inspiring several sequels. Critics hated it.

Both reactions were caused by the same thing: the film’s uncompromising truthfulness. Death Wish marked the death of liberal illusions about crime and punishment: the idea that crime is caused by disadvantageous social environments and that the solution is to pour even more taxpayer money into bad neighborhoods in an attempt to buy submission from the poorer elements of society.

Death Wish showed that process to be an absurd sham. The film, based on a novel by Brian Garfield, clearly showed that giving in to such political extortion was making social conditions worse and exacerbating the nation’s already terrible crime problem.

Death Wish and its sequels refused to sugarcoat the villainy of the criminals the architect Paul Kersey pursues, nor did it state that he was justified in what he was doing. It simply showed the characters doing what they were inclined to do, making their choices and following the consequences. Such truth was impossible for Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, and other elitist critics of the time to stomach.

As direct and truthful as Death Wish is, it is not simplistic or political, despite the ravings of critics at the time. It is a story that was all too plausible, and the characterizations and situations were accurately and insightfully portrayed.

In the years since its release, Death Wish and its sequels have received some of the positive reconsideration they deserve—long after I wrote a lengthy article defending Death Wish, Dirty Harry, and other vigilante films in Chronicles magazine in the mid-1980s.

AMC will show the film several times in the coming days; click here for a synopsis and schedule, and click here to have AMC send you a reminder to watch it.

Death Wish: Highly recommended.