The Forgotten Charles Bronson Action Flick You Can See On Amazon

Every decade of film has its own prototypical action star. With only rare exception, whenever you saw one of them on screen, you could be sure a gun would be fired at some point and someone, other than that star, would end up dead. For the 2010s, it was Liam Neeson. For the 1990s, it was Bruce Willis. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, however, Charles Bronson was one of the primary progenitors of this archetypical role. 

Throughout the course of his long career, Bronson starred in a number of shoot 'em up-style movies. Though Bronson appeared in a wide variety of film roles in the 1950s and 1960s, it wasn't until "Death Wish" that Bronson truly solidified his abilities as the leading man of an action film. The 1974 film is set on the streets of a crime-infested New York City and portrays the vigilante actions of architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson). After his wife is murdered and his daughter is assaulted, Kersey executes a revenge plot and quickly descends on the criminal underworld of America's largest city with no plans to offer any criminal an ounce of mercy. 

The success of the first film helped to spawn an entire franchise of sequels, which were released in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1994 (Bronson's last theatrical appearance) (via IMDb). The last film in the series, released in 2018, was directed by Eli Roth and saw Bruce Willis take over the role once portrayed by Bronson (via IMDb). Now, viewers can check out the original film that started it all.

The first entry in the "Death Wish" franchise is available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video in a variety of formats. For those who subscribe to Cinemax through Amazon, the film is available for streaming now. If you are not yet subscribed to Cinemax, a 7-day free trial to the premium service is also available through Amazon. 

If you aren't interested in a longterm subscription, however, Amazon offers four different methods to rent/purchase the iconic action film. If you want to make sure that you have permanent access to the 1974 film at the highest quality possible, be prepared to fork over $12.99. However, if a lower resolution is acceptable to you, Amazon offers a standard definition version for only $4.99. Rental options are also available at $3.99 for high definition or $2.99 for standard definition.

Additionally, many of the "Death Wish" sequels (including the Bruce Willis-led 2018 reboot) are available for purchase on Amazon, with the third and fifth entries in the franchise available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers for free.