Director Michael Winner, an Englishman, has created a simplistic urban Western of good guys and bad guys that will conform to every paranoid's crime fantasies.

Poisonous incitement to do-it-yourself law enforcement is the vulgar exploitation hook on which Death Wish is awkwardly hung.

Winner's recourse to caricature when dealing with police and thugs, and his virtually overt sympathies with the confused, violent Bronson, make for uncritical, simplistic viewing.

It’s both fascinating and uncomfortable, as a story like this should be. Not everything clicks, especially in the final act. But it’s still a well-made thriller that’s worth more than a mere surface level reading.