10 Best Revenge Movies Of All Time

Death Wish is a film that the critics hated upon its release, but the public loved. So popular was it, that it went on to spawn numerous, admittedly inferior, sequels. It was even remade with Bruce Willis in the starring role in 2018. The original 1974 movie was a significant cut above that, however. Starring Charles Bronson, who always gave great value for money as a cinema hard man, it was a film that unsettled critics who feared that it might spawn real-life vigilante action.

Bronson plays a man whose wife is killed and daughter is raped in their own home. When he discovers what has happened he is quickly moved to seek revenge. His role is contrasted with that of his son-in-law who is portrayed as someone afraid to take decisive action and who prefers to let the law deal with it.

Bronson excels in what has became his signature role. Taking out bad guys becomes a compulsion, even setting himself up as a target to lure them in. As the murder tally increases, his character becomes a public hero and spawns copy-cat vigilantes. Ignore the critics and the reviews, few revenge films are as satisfying as Death Wish.