Paul Kersey (Death Wish)

Infobox
title = Paul Kersey


caption = Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) in Death Wish 3.
headerstyle = background:#ccf;
labelstyle = background:#ddf;
label1 = Name
data1 = Paul Kersey
label2 = Othernames
data2 = The Vigilante
Kersey
Paul Kimble
John Kimble
Professor Paul Stuart
label3 = Location(s)
data3 = New York City
Los Angeles
label4 = Status
data4 = Alive
label5 = Weapons
data5 = Revolver
.475 Wildey Magnum
Handguns
M240 machine gun
label6 = Family
data6 = Pierre Whítmoré Keèrsye (paternal ancestor)
William Robert Kersey (father)
Catherine Kersey (mother)
Joanna Kersey (first wife; deceased)
Carol Kersey (daughter; deceased)
Olivia Regent (second wife)
Chelsea Regent (step-daughter)
label7 = Created by
data7 = Brian Garfield
label8 = Portrayed by
data8 = Charles Bronson

Paul Kersey is a fictional main character in the "Death Wish" film franchise. Kersey is portrayed by Charles Bronson through out the whole series.

Fictional Biography

Kersey was born in New York City of the early 1920s. Kersey's father was a English-American who originated from Norman England and his mother comes from Provo, Utah. Kerseys' Norman English ancestor, Pierre Whítmoré Keèrsye, anglicized his surname to "Kersey".

Kersey served in World War II from 1944 to 1945. In 1953, he served in the Korean War as the medial corps. In the late 1950s, he travelled to New York City to settle down. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0013722/quotes|title=Paul Kersey Quotes|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=2006-01-29]

Movies

"Death Wish" (1974)

Paul Kersey is an architect who served in the Korean War in the medial corps, and he lives in New York City. One day, three street punks posing as grocery delivery boys break into his apartment while he's not home. They beat up Paul's wife Joanna and rape his married daughter Carol Toby, spray-painting both of them "just for fun." Joanna later dies of her injuries, and Carol is left catatonic. Paul's life is ripped apart by this.

Paul's boss decides that Paul needs to get out of New York for a while, so he sends him to Tucson, Arizona to meet with a client. There, Paul witnesses a mock gunfight at Old Tucson, a reconstructed Western frontier town that is often used as a movie set. Paul's client gets him interested in guns, and even gives him one. When Paul returns to New York, he brings the gun with him, and when the police are unable to find the rapists, Paul sets out to find them himself. Paul begins patrolling the streets, killing street criminals as he encounters them. While his obsessive search for street justice sickens him at first, Paul begins to enjoy it as Detective Frank Ochoa tries to find the man who is doing the police department's job for them. The public sees Paul as a hero. As a result, Ochoa and the city government would have a political nightmare on their hands if they actually arrested him. One night, whenKersey was injured after another hunt for muggers, he is hospitalized. Ochoa confrontshim, revealing his willingness to make a deal to throw away Kersey's weapon (recovered by officer Jackson Reilly) if Kersey will leave New York. Kersey made good on his part of the deal, moving to Chicago (as seen at the end of the first Death Wish). As revealed in Death Wish 3, one of the policeman involved in this conspiracy was Richard Shriker, who agreed to maintain Kersey's secret in line with Ochoa's edicts. Accordingto Officer Reiner in Death Wish 4, Kersey's wife died in 1975, therefore the aforementioned events from the first Death Wish film took place either early or late in that year or in 1976 (based on the snow seen at Mrs. Kersey's funeral. Ochoa stated in Death Wish II that Kersey's slaying of muggers took place "four years" ago during Death Wish II (see below), which took place in 1981 (see below)).

"Death Wish II" (1982)

Kersey apparently did not relapse into hunting muggers in Chicago, but encountered a previous friend who ran an radio station in Los Angeles. Paul Kersey and his daughter Carol, who is still catatonic, now live in Los Angeles because Paul accepted a deal from the NYPD to leave town so they wouldn't tell anyone that he was the vigilante. Paul now has a new woman in his life, KABC news reporter Geri Nichols. One day while he's out with Carol and Geri, he is mugged by a gang punks. Paul fights back, but they get away. The muggers go to his house, rape and murder Paul's cook, and rape and kidnap Carol. After the muggers are done, Paul beside himself with grief and rage, rents a ratty hotel room, disguises himself, and sets out to find the muggers who killed Carol. When the LAPD deduces that that they have a vigilante on their hands, they decide to consult with the NYPD, who fear that Kersey is killing criminals again. Fearing that Kersey, when caught, will reveal that they let him go instead of prosecuting him, the NYPD sends Ochoa to make sure that doesn't happen. Kersey began using the alias "Kimble" during this period as dicated by the situation. The events mentioned above involving his daughter's death took place in 1981 (as stated by Officer Reiner in Death Wish 4, Kersey's daughter died in 1981).

"Death Wish 3" (1985)

As seen at the end of Death Wish II (in which three shots are heard over the end of the closing credits), Kersey resumed his mugger slayings even after slaying the final member of the gang that kidnapped his daughter. Richard Shriker of the NYPD kept tabs on Kersey's activities or at least activities he suspected Kersey had a hand in. Namely, Shriker recalled reading of six mugger slayings in thirty-six hours in LA, four gang member slain Kansas City (Shriker does not specify whether this was in Missouri or Kanas), and two mugger-rapists in Chicago. Shriker and Kersey's paths intersect again, as Shriker puts it "ten years" after Shriker's found out Kersey was the New York vigilante (therefore 1986 or 1987). Paul Kersey returns to New York to visit his friend Charley, who lives in one of the worst parts of New York City. But when Paul arrives at Charley's apartment, he finds Charley dying after a vicious beating by a gang led by Manny Fraker, and the police enter the apartment and find Paul standing over Charley's body. Paul is arrested for the murder, but police chief Richard S. Shriker offers a deal: Paul can kill all the criminals he wants if he keeps the cops informed about the death count. Though Kersey says that he stopped his mugger slayings, Shriker releases Paul to go after Fraker. Paul moves into Charley's apartment in a decaying building in the middle of a bombed out gang war zone. The building is populated by a group of elderly tenants who are absolutely terrified of Fraker and his gang, who control the neighborhood. Among the tenants are Charley's friend Bennett, an old watch repairman who keeps a couple of machine guns in his closet. There is also an elderly Jewish couple who live on the first floor. Paul buys a .475 Wildey Magnum with exploding big-game cartridges, spends an afternoon planting explosive charges in the bullets, and loads up for war against Fraker.

"" (1987)

Evidently, Kersey had largely retired from slaying muggers before the events of Death Wish III or shortly after, since in Death Wish 4, a policeman mentions a mugger shot downtown two years previous to the events of Death Wish 4, to which another policeman responds by saying that "the vigilante retired years ago". In any event, Kersey kept regular residence in LA, regardless of his breaking off his mugger slayings. Paul Kersey is back in Los Angeles, and he is dating reporter Karen Sheldon, who has a teenage daughter named Erica. While Erica is at an arcade with her boyfriend Randy Viscovich, Erica dies of a crack cocaine overdose. Later, Randy goes back to the arcade, with Kersey following him. Randy confronts JoJo, the dealer that Erica got the crack from. Randy tells JoJo that he's going to the police, but Jojo kills him to keep him quiet. Kersey shows up and shoots JoJo, and watches him land on the electrical roof of the bumper-car ride, where he is electrocuted. Next, Paul gets a note and a phone call from publisher Nathan White, who tells him that he knows about the death of JoJo. Nathan explains to Kersey that his daughter had died of an overdose, so he wants to hire Kersey to wipe out the drug trade in LA -- and in particular to target Ed Zacharias and Jack Romero, rival drug kingpins who are the city's two main drug suppliers. Kersey asks for a few days to think about it, and accepts Nathan's offer. Nathan supplies Kersey with weapons and information so he can go after Zacharias and Romero.

"" (1994)

Kersey's secret identity as the vigilante was effectively blown in Death Wish 4, as Officer Reiner of the LAPD, less sympathetic than Richard Shriker, discovered it. Shriker stated he would arrest Kersey as the latter walked away. In any event, as revealed in Death Wish V (though no direct reference to Reiner's discovery of Kersey's identity) Kersey entered the Witness Protection Program and assumed the alias Paul Stewart in New York City after meeting with the District Attorney of New York. Seven years would pass before Kersey's peace again became interrupted. New York's garment district has turns into Dodge City when mobster Tommy O'Shea muscles in on the fashion trade of his ex-wife Olivia Regent. Olivia is engaged to Paul Kersey, who provides a sense of security for herself and her daughter Chelsea. Olivia isn't impressed when Tommy tortures her manager, Big Al, so Tommy hires an enforcer named Freddie Flakes, a master of disguise. Freddie dons women's clothing to follow Olivia into a ladies' room, where he smashes her face into a mirror, causing permanent disfigurement. In the offices of D.A. Tony Hoyle and his associate Hector Vasquez, Paul and Olivia vow to see to it that Tommy is prosecuted. Later, Freddie and two of his men disguise themselves as cops, infiltrate Olivia's apartment, and shoot her dead. Kersey follows Tommy's thug Chickie Paconi to the Paconi family bistro, where Kersey kills him by lacing his canoli with cyanide. Next, Paul tricks Freddie out of his home and blows him up with a rigged ball. After dispatching the corrupt Hector Vasquez with a gun concealed in a doll, Kersey discovers that Hoyle is in cahoots with Tommy. Using Chelsea as bait, Tommy lures Paul to Olivia's factory for a confrontation.

Remake

Sylvester Stallone announced that he will be directing and starring in his "Death Wish" remake of the 1974 classic. Stallone quoted:

“I’d like to get your feedback on the idea of remaking DEATHWISH with a slightly different slant”, Sly begins, “Instead of the Charles Bronson character being an architect; my version would have him as a very good cop who had incredible success without ever using his gun. So when the attack on his family happens, he’s really thrown into a moral dilemma in proceeding to carry out his revenge.” [cite web|url=http://www.moviehole.net/news/20061220_stallone_in_death_wish_remake.html|title=Stallone in "Death Wish" remake?|publisher= [http://www.moviehole.net/ MovieHole.net] |accessdate=2006-12-20] [cite news|title=Stallone tapped for Death Wish remake|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2205587,00.html|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=2007-11-05]

On December 20, 2006, Stallone officially announced that he will not be making the "Death Wish" remake; but there are still more crew and ideas on making the new remake to the 1974 classic movie. [cite news|first=Clint|last=Morris|authorlink=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Morris|title=Stallone in Death Wish remake? Updated!|url=http://www.moviehole.net/news/20061220_stallone_in_death_wish_remake.html|publisher=Moviehole|date=2008-06-08|accessdate=2006-12-20|quote=Upon listening to the talkback responses on AICN, many who turned their nose at the idea of a remake, Stallone tells the site today that he will NOT be doing the movie. Yep, he listened to the fans!]

In other media

* Paul Kersey had appeared on the episode "Killer Geeks" on the action/adventure B-movie show "Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater". He was also portrayed by Charles Bronson. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1113253/|title=Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater - "Killer Geeks"|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=1995-04-11]
* Paul Kersey is said to have appeared in the parody movie "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1".

References

External links

*imdb character|id=0013722|name=Paul Kersey