Trivia for
Death Wish (1974) More at IMDbPro »

• The role of Paul Kersey was originally intended for Steve McQueen, who turned it down.
  
  
• Frank Sinatra was offered the role of Paul Kersey, but backed out.
  
  
• The name "Paul Kersey" for the Charles Bronson character was the actual name of one of the extras hired for the movie. He allowed the use of his name in exchange for his appearing in all possible scenes requiring an extra.
  
  
• Filming during production was so cold, that crew members complained of the water of their eyes freezing. These weather conditions forced them to wear face masks.
  
  
• Dino De Laurentiis and Paramount originally wanted to call the film "The Sidewalk Vigilante" because they thought a movie with "Death" in the title was a deterrent and would put audiences off.
  
  
• Body Count: 11 (Ten killed by Paul)
  
  
• Although the film was released in 1974, according to info in the movie Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), the movie is set in 1976.
  
  
• According to writer Brian Garfield, Sidney Lumet was set to direct the film with Jack Lemmon playing Paul Kersey (presumably to be more in line with the "everyman" character in the book) and Henry Fonda as the police chief. After Lumet chose to direct Serpico (1973) instead, both Lemmon and Fonda dropped out. At one point the movie was also set to be shot in black-and-white.
  
  
• After finishing The Stone Killer (1973), Charles Bronson and Michael Winner wanted to make another film together, and were discussing further projects. "What do we do next?" asked Bronson. "The best script I've got is 'Death Wish'. It's about a man whose wife and daughter are mugged and he goes out and shoots muggers," said Winner. "I'd like to do that," Bronson said. "The film?" asked Winner. Bronson replied, "No . . . shoot muggers."
  
  
• Michael Winner was anxious before production because he was waiting for Charles Bronson to tell him he wanted Jill Ireland to play his wife in the movie, despite Winner's feeling she was unsuitable for the part. Finally he said to Bronson, "Charlie, do you want Jill to play your wife in 'Death Wish'?" Bronson replied, "No. I don't want her humiliated and messed around by these actors who play muggers. You know the sort of person we want? Someone who looks like Hope Lange." Lange was an attractive, blonde, all-American "girl next door" type who had starred in the TV series "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" (1968) and "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" (1971). Winner said, "Well, Charlie, the person who looks most like Hope Lange is Hope Lange. So I'll get her." And he did.
  
  
• The opening scene with Kersey photographing his wife in Hawaii was added to the script by Michael Winner himself. After Kersey's wife is murdered and his daughter raped, he gets the photographs back from the developer after he comes back from Tucson and been given a gun by the architect. It's the emotional impact of the photographs that makes him go out and kill his first mugger.
  
  
• Film debut of Jeff Goldblum.
  
  
• After the success of Dirty Harry (1971), Clint Eastwood was offered the role of Paul Kersey but declined, feeling he would be poorly cast. He also thought that Gregory Peck would have been right for the part.
  
  
• The time line of the "Death Wish" films gets slightly confused. In Death Wish II (1982), when policeman Ochoa is speaking with Jill Ireland's character, he says Kersey "killed nine people in New York City four years ago". In Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), Officer Reiner, in a scene after the corpse of Officer Nozaki is found, speaks with a superior and says that Mrs. Kersey died in 1975, while his daughter died in 1981. The presence of Excalibur (1981) on a theater marquee towards the end of "Death Wish II" supports the placement of the events of that film in 1981. If one accepts Ochoa's placement of Kersey's New York rampage as four years prior to 1981, that would push much of the events of the original Death Wish (1974) to 1977.
  
  
• Vincent Gardeniaand Olympia Dukakis appear in a squad room scene together in this film. They later appeared in Moonstruck (1987) as husband and wife.
  
  
• When Ames Jainchill meets Paul Kersey in his office he says, "I don't know who said it, but someone once said 'Don't look back because something might be gaining on you'." That quote is attributed to Leroy 'Satchel' Paige.
  
  
• The handgun that was given to Paul Kersey as a gift by Ames Jainchill which Paul uses to kill the Vigilantes, is a nickle plated Colt New Police Positive, caliber .32, made by Colt Manufacturing Company from 1908-1995.
  
  

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