Death Wish / Death Wish 2

This 1974 Charles Bronson vehicle has a score by Herbie Hancock. Bronson, 'Paul Kersey," plays an architect whose wife and daughter are attacked in their NYC apt. He is a conscientious objector an "bleeding heart liberal" turned vigilante, killing muggers with a few elegant shots.

A few years later, Bronson is living in L.A.. After another crime, in which his house keeper and daughter are killed, he becomes a vigilante once again, hunting down the criminals and shooting some other muggers too.

These low-brow revenge dramas are my guilty pleasure these days. I can't recommend death wish 3 and 4 though.

Gratuitously Flattering Character Detail

There ought to be a better name for this; a character has multiple talents or positive traits not necessary for the plot. In Clint Eastwood's "Absolute Power," for example, the burglar Luther (played by Eastwood himself) is a Harvard Graduate, a war hero, and an expert draughtsman. Maybe we could call it the "vanity package." (Especially when a director also stars in his own movie.) You know Eastwood the director would always give Eastwood the character good taste in jazz and a good SAT score. I can imagine a lower level producer telling the scriptwriter: "Hey, the boss wants a better vanity package."

In some ways, it's just Hollywoodization. It's just as easy to put the word Harvard in the script than Cornell. Easier, in fact. Interior decor can be overly elegant, except when it is meant to be deliberately run-down and seedy.