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flellis
Archdeacon of Jabootu
USA
17 Posts |
 Posted - 05/04/2006 : 11:11:43 AM
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Since Ken wrote a very funny review of what is without a doubt the worst of the Death Wish series (Death Wish III), I decided to add some more info of the film into the Jabootu threads. I read a book on the series by Paul Talbot called Bronson's Back: The film of the Death Wish series, a short but informative book for those who have some interest in the series. Anyway, I want to add a few tidbits here, I learned from the book
---Screenwriter Don Jakoby took his name off the credits (using a psynedonum of Michael Edmonds). Although Jakoby claimed that he was rewritten by director Michael Winner (who had also done uncredited rewrites for the last two Death Wish films), his credits involving Arachnophobia, Evolution, Blue Thunder, Lifeforce and the 86 remake of Invasion from Mars, which might indicate the sudden cartoonish tone or why he would not be the best writer for writing gritty street drama. Either way, there's a tone that's way out of place in Part III especially coming after the last two darker entries.
---Winner claims the movie is a bit comic, though one wonders if he is saying that after people laughed at it. (Kind of like Paul Verhoven claiming Showgirls is satrical after initially saying it was serious.)
---Bronson hated Death Wish III and complained publicly about it during the release. Although Winner claimed he turned down part IV, people close to Bronson said that he hated III so much he refuse to work with Winner again. Given Bronson's dislike for Part III, that's one reason the series never got as bad as III.
---During Part V, which is Ken's favorite of the sequels, (mine is II, only because it is closest to the darker tone of the original and less cartoonish of the sequels), Bronson was much more involved here than he was in the past series. He had been friends with the director Allan A. Goldstein after the begun work on a Warners Bros. project that didn't happen. He insisted on Goldstein if there was to be a part V and the two worked closely on what was the final product of Part V. Although Part V isn't my favorite sequel as is Ken's, Ken should take note that the series didn't go the traditional way of getting worse by each sequel and that Part V turned out the way it did had a large part to do with Bronson, who hated III and wanted to avoid the same mistake.
--flellis(aka Prago) |
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flellis
Archdeacon of Jabootu
USA
17 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2006 : 4:05:48 PM
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One more update, Jimmy Page was not responsible as he was for that awful disco score for Death Wish III. That was a mystery for this guy who has heard all of Zeppelin's records, Coverdale/Page and Page/Plant (and a little of the Firm), since that score sounds like nothing he ever did and I can't imagine Page was that tone deaf when he came up with the score. Again, Talbot's book clears up this mystery when he states that Page had no invovlement with part III. Winner used Page's Death Wish II tapes as a temporary score when editing the third entry and decided to use rearrangements of the track for the final soundtack. Composer Mike Moran (who wrote Time Bandits score) played synthesizers and was credited as "arranger and conductor." It comes as no surprise to see that Death Wish III is the only film in the series that doesn't have a soundtrack. As I write this, I am reminded of another reason why I think II is the second best to the original: the score for part II (although I'm a little biased cause I like Page) was somewhat original, not the generic action score they could have use. IV and V's score aren't as bad as III but kinda generic and forgettable. It's no surprise that part I and part II's music score came out good because they had real musicians composing the score: Herbie Hancock (part I) and Jimmy Page (part II).
--flellis(akaPrago)
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