When it comes to the 60s and the 70s in Hollywood, there were only four true badasses of cinema: Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, and Charles Bronson. And in Charles Bronson's career, there were really only two big highlight films for him: "Once Upon a Time in the West" and "Death Wish". While his one film with Sergio Leone was amazing, it was "Death Wish" that was his vehicle. The film was made for him and it was great at that. Charles Bronson is a man of few words and he says more with a facial expression than with dialogue. Which is why when he finds out that his wife has been murdered and his daughter has been raped, you really feel for him because of his superb acting. And you're completely on his side when he turns to a life of vigilantism, killing sociopathic muggers, because he is just so believable. Sure, the director Michael Winner may not be one of the greatest directors in the world and sure the other four "Death Wish" films really sucked (especially "The Face of Death"), but at the end of the day when, in "Death Wish", Charles Bronson smiles at a group of rowdy kids and mimes firing a gun at them, you have to shut up and let the king of badasses do his work.