George Dickerson | 80's Movie Guide

Taglines: The biggest Death Wish ever! Death Wish 4: The Crackdown movie synopsis. Erica Sheldon (Dana Barron), the teenage daughter of Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz), Paul Kersey's current girlfriend, goes with boyfriend Randy Viscovich (Jesse Dabson) to an arcade to meet up with a man named JoJo Ross (Héctor Mercado) and another buddy, Jesse Winters (Tim Russ). JoJo offers her crack cocaine, and Erica dies from an overdose. Having seen Erica accept a cigarette from Randy while in his car the previous night, Paul suspects Randy was involved with Erica's death, so he follows him to the arcade. Randy confronts JoJo and threatens to go to the police. JoJo murders Randy to prevent this. Paul promptly shoots JoJo, who falls onto the roof of the bumper-car ride and is fatally electrocuted. At home, Paul receives a call from secretive tabloid publisher Nathan White (John P. Ryan). Nathan says that because his daughter became addicted to drugs and eventually died of an overdose, he wants to hire Paul to wipe out the drug trade in LA. There are two major gangs competing for the local drug supply: one led by Ed Zacharias (Perry Lopez), the other by brothers Jack (Mike Moroff) and Tony Romero (Dan Ferro). Kersey accepts and Nathan supplies him with weapons and information. LA detectives Sid Reiner (George Dickerson) and Phil Nozaki (Soon-Tek Oh) investigate the arcade deaths. Paul infiltrates Zacharias's manor. After bugging a phone, he witnesses Zacharias murder a colleague who has stolen a big deal of cocaine from the cartel's South American connection. Zacharias discovers and captures Paul and orders him to help carry out the dead body. A hired hitman, Al Arroyo, helps Paul hide the corpse in the trunk of a car. Paul kills Arroyo with the car's trunk cover in self-defense. Paul proceeds to kill three of Ed Zacharias's favored hitmen at a restaurant with a bomb concealed in a wine bottle. He kills drug dealer Max Green (Tom Everett), leader of Romeros' street dealers, disguised as a sex video trader. He confronts the Romeros's top hitman Frank Bauggs (David Wolos-Fonteno) in order to find out more about their cartel, but a fight ensues and Bauggs falls off his apartment to his death. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is an American 1987 action crime film, and the fourth installment in the Death Wish film series. The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and features Charles Bronson, who reprises his leading role as Paul Kersey. In the film, Kersey is once again forced to become a vigilante after his girlfriend's daughter dies of a drug overdose. He is recruited by tabloid owner Nathan White (John P. Ryan) to take down various crime figures of the Los Angeles drug trade. Michael Winner, who directed the first three films in the series, was replaced by J. Lee Thompson. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown had a substantially lower budget and a more limited release than its predecessors. It was released in North America on November 6, 1987. The Bollywood film Mohra is an unofficial remake of the film. The movie marks the seventh collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson (following 1976's St. Ives, 1977's The White Buffalo, 1980s Caboblanco, 1983's 10 to Midnight, 1984's The Evil That Men Do, and 1986's Murphy's Law). Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) Directed by: J. Lee Thompson Starring: Charles Bronson, Kay Lenz, John P. Ryan, Dana Barron, Perry Lopez, Soon-Tek Oh, George Dickerson, Peter Sherayko, Michael Russo Screenplay by: Gail Morgan Hickman Cinematography by: Gideon Porath Film Editing by: Peter Lee-Thompson Set Decoration by: Mark Haskins Art Direction by: Whitney Brooke Wheeler Music by: John Bisharat, Paul McCallum, Valentine McCallum Distributed by: Cannon Film Distributors Release Date: November 6, 1987