Death Wish 3 (1985)

Charles Bronson's acting reaches new heights of somnambulism in this demented flick by the late, great Michael Winner.

In the first two revenge flicks, Winner had killed off everyone remotely close to our anti-hero Paul Kersey. So in Death Wish 3, he takes the franchise to its next logical step. Bronson is now a guardian-angel drifter, who returns to New York to meet an old friend whose being terrorized by a local street gang. 

With the same bad luck as all his other acquaintances, Bronson's pal is beaten to death before he can say 'no dice', and is immediately framed for the murder. The chief of police, played by seasoned-pro Ed Lauter (Longest Yard), recognizes him as the vigilante from the first film, and lets him return on condition he takes out the street scum which is turning the neighbourhood to hell. 

the streets of this unnamed suburb looks more like a post-apocalyptic war zone than 80's NYC. This might be because it was actually shot in London!

The main slime-ball spends a lot of the movie eyeballing Bronson and vice-versa. So its a bit odd that Bronson doesn't target him first. Instead he seem to arbitrary take out car thieves and bag-snatchers, rather than the main perps who are murdering the neighbours one by one. They're quite easy to spot due to the ludicrous gang paint/hairstyle combo.

Some of the funniest bits occur in the tacked on romance with his young beautiful court appointed lawyer who,  for some reason, has a thing for mysterious monosyllabic elderly  murder suspects. She literally begs him for a date, which Bronson begrudgingly  accepts. The date has some hilarious bad dialogue and their relationship ends as badly as you'd expect.

As Bronson's rep grow within the community, the big bad leader calls up dial-a-gang, and a biker group ride into town to spice things up. The movie conclude with a neighbourhood free for all, as everyone grabs a gun and all hell breaks loose.

Bronson barely raises a sweat or his pulse in this movie, which is probably only sensible as he was 64 at the time. The only emotion he portrays is a sad stoicism, and it's not too surprising that this is his last collaboration with Winner. Even though the stupidness makes this film a lot easier to take than the first two, it still contain some ugly scenes.

Things to look out for:

Alex Winters (of Bill and Ted fame) plays a street punk

Marina Sirtis (Dana Troy from Star Trek Next Generation) plays a small role

Street Thug: " They killed the Giggler!"

Kathryn: " I hope you like chicken, it's the only thing I know how to make."

Kersey: " Chickens good. I like chicken"

 Fraker: "Truth is, I hate creeps too. But there's nothing I can do about them. I'm a cop."

This Movie is presently available on YouTube