I've got The Nightcomers (1971) to watch later this year. It's weird if Winner wasn't known for Death Wish who knows what he would have directed as his 60s films like I'll Never Forget What's'isname are really more in the style of Kitchen Sink dramas. I wouldn't say he is a great director, but Bronson's monotone acting (who can be a great actor) and endless sequels to Death Wish really gave him a bad reputation, coupled with the fact he had the reputation of being a diva on and off set. His restaurant reviews are occasionally hilarious if you are into his acerbic humour and he was one of the few people to argue against Mary Whitehouse and film censorship for most his career. Along with his friend Ken Russell sorely missed in a slew of mediocre directors that copy Pulp Fiction, Woody Allen or Richard Curtis ad-nauseum.
My favourite quote: "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross station" - No wonder he wasn't knighted.
I always liked Michael Winner's 60s and especially 70s output, but Death Wish just left a bad taste in my mouth. Probably due to the savage abuse of Mrs. Muir by the home invasion thugs.
Rated 6/10Michael Winner's Dirty Weekend is his take on films like Ms. 45 as well as a middle finger to the critics who complained about sexual violence in his earlier box office smash, Death Wish.
Dirty Weekend is rarely talked about even among fans of British crime films\Britsploitation. It is cheap, it is nasty and despite Winner's reputation as a bad director (he's not) it's actually well paced and there's some decent performances especially from Lia Williams, the housewife next door turned vigilante. Production wise it has a bit of a TV Movie feel, which is a shame. For some reason it kept me gripped for the running time, maybe because I wondered what I would see next. It does feature graphic violence and sexual assault, nobody seriously believed this is a feminist film; it's exploitation, but that sits great with me.
It's nowhere near in the same league as Death Wish which has an explosive scene on a subway train easily one of the most memorable of the tough crime films of the 70s. By comparison the show stopper in Dirty Weekend is a nasty forced oral sex scene (simulated) with vomiting. See what I mean? Ms. 45 by comparison is dark and gritty, but much more even in its tone; Dirty Weekend is a bit uneven; part seaside postcard, part brutal rape revenge film - even the film's title is an innuendo.
See it if you like this sort of thing, but it's far from a great film. Version I saw was an uncut bootleg VHS, not sure how the DVD from Universal is. Death Wish had a remake in 2018, I can't see this relative obscurity getting the Hollywood treatment.