1987 • Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Screenplay by Gail Morgan Hickman
With Charles Bronson, Kay Lenz, John P. Ryan, and Perry Lopez
Released by Cannon Films
By late 1987, Cannon Films was financially stagnating and cutting into its movie budgets. Having turned out infamous failures like the Tobe Hooper epic 'Lifeforce' and the Roman Polanski-directed 'Pirates,' Hollywood's leading independent filmmaker was nearing bankruptcy. Cannon was in great need of box office profits, which made company heads Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus turn to its reliable Death Wish franchise. The Death Wish series, beginning with Dino De Laurentiis's 1974 original, had already generated two sequels that led the American box office in their opening week. Most recent was 'Death Wish 3,' a farcical romp that has Charles Bronson running through the streets of East New York with a machine gun and chasing after thugs who wear reverse Mohawks. While lambasted by critics, 'Death Wish 3' topped U.S. movie receipts during its first week in 1985.
Although 'Death Wish 4: The Crackdown' is a better-assembled film than its predecessor, it shows clear signs of a movie company that was breaking apart at the seams. It went through a troubled production in which Gail Morgan Hickman's script was damaged by continuous rewrites and Bronson favorite J. Lee Thompson had to direct on a shoestring budget. Despite an interesting concept, 'The Crackdown' suffers from cheap production values and the slapdash impression it leaves on viewers. It also does not have the flair of three previous Michael Winner-directed entries, which combine a grimy atmosphere with moments of droll humor to offset the action.
'Death Wish 4' is very much a product of the Reagan anti-drug era with Paul Kersey (Bronson) setting off a feud between rival Los Angeles drug traders. Kersey has returned to L.A. and hooked up with a new girlfriend, newspaper columnist Karen Sheldon (Emmy Award-winner Kay Lenz), who looks after her teenaged daughter Erica (Dana Barron). One evening, Erica is taken by her boyfriend to a local amusement center, where she is given contaminated drugs by a pusher. She dies in an emergency room, after which Kersey finds and shoots the pusher dead in good ol' vigilante style.
Kersey is then contacted by 'Nathan White' (John P. Ryan), a millionaire who claims to have lost his daughter through cocaine addiction. Toting information on the two leading drug families in Los Angeles, White offers Kersey anything he needs to kill off the Zachariases and Romeros, who make a fortune off teenagers' drug habits. 'Death Wish 4' models itself after 'Yojimbo' and Leone's 'Fistful of Dollars' by having Kersey provoke an all-out gang war. The script also offers a twist by revealing 'Nathan White' as another drug boss who is looking to seize control of the entire crack-cocaine trade in L.A.
Compared to the atrocious scriptwriting and technical work of 'Death Wish 3,' 'The Crackdown' is a much better film. J. Lee Thompson's direction is generally solid, with better performances from a more accomplished cast. Unfortunately, Thompson's work stands out like a sore thumb and doesn't quite fit into the series. Michael Winner made numerous poor decisions in the first three episodes, but he created a mold for the series that was unquestionably his. It was also impossible to build on 'Death Wish 3,' a nutty send-up of the entire vigilante genre.
Gail Morgan Hickman's patchwork script begins to unravel in the second half, when a promising story turns into another brainless actioner. DW4's opening half-hour revolves around Karen Sheldon, who begins investigating the drug trade after Erica's death. For one reason or another, the strong work of actress Kay Lenz comes to a screeching halt and we don't see her again until the finale, when she's conveniently taken hostage and turned into a bloody mess. Since 'The Crackdown' was made for fans of Bronson, it is the veteran actor that we mostly see, but DW4 only rehashes past roles where he's a gunslinger in a huge shooting gallery.
Cost-cutting measures due to Cannon's financial problems are also seen across the backdrop. Paul McCallum, Valentine McCallum, and John Bisharat are named as composers, but 'Death Wish 4' is littered with stock cues; there are strains of Robert Ragland's music from the 1983 thriller '10 to Midnight' and recycled themes from 'Assassination,' another 1987 Cannon-Bronson flick. This gives the movie a cheap, direct-to-video feel. DW4's photography by Gideon Porath ('Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects') is glossy and well-done, but many of the action sets are ruined by Peter Lee Thompson's careless editing. There are also occasional low-budget treats such as a window shattering before an actor reaches it and a newspaper article that repeats the same words several times.
While the original 'Death Wish' is in another league and socially important, 'Death Wish 4' ranks as one of the lesser sequels. Bronson still plays his character effectively, but The Crackdown's sloppy writing and overall cheapness ruin what could have been a good follow-up. 'The Crackdown' sports an experienced director and sturdy cast, but it will only interest Bronson fans and rank as one of Cannon's last, desperate acts. Then again, 'Death Wish 3' was meant as an endpoint and the series needn't have gone any farther.
'Death Wish 4' is retailed on disc by MGM Home Entertainment and gives only the bare essentials; it presents the movie in full frame with mono audio and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. The theatrical trailer is offered as a lone extra. 'Death Wish 4' is in good visual shape with strong color, while the sound is unusually flat for 1987 (where's the stereo?). Fans have yearned for widescreen versions of parts 2, 3, and 4, but if 2 and 3 aren't getting better treatment, 4 sure as heck ain't.
