PAUL KERSEY
The Story of Death Wish and Paul Kersey
In Chicago, Kersey is doing well, he has met Jill and they are in a strong relationship heading towards marriage. After walking in on his maid and daughter being raped and the daughter later being killed, he goes back to his vigilante habit of killing all five of the men who he witnessed do this. The final one of the five is particulary difficult to kill because he's been convicted on unrelated charges. His fiancee finds out about he's a vigilante and leaves him right away, driving away right as he drives to the house after killing the last one in a mental instituation. After that he wanders about dejectedly possible stopping in Kansas City where he may have killed 4 gang members and possibly 3 mugger/rapists in a return to Chicago so he's pretty much a pro by this time.
Paul Kersey decides to move back to New York and to visit an old friend, when he calls his friend the phone is disconnected, Paul hurries to the apartment in the projects and finds his friend badly beaton and tells Paul to "Take care of my stuff until I get back" and he dies. The police break in and find Paul and arrest him. He gives a fake named to the police chief as Paul Kimbal, he tells Paul, "It ain't Kimbal, it's Kersey, Paul Kersey the vigilante. The cheif makes a deal with Kersey to help clean up a crime ridden area and he won't throw him in jail, and the deal is he is to keep the chief informed all the way. Police have to work with the system, vigilantes don't and he kills more than in any other time in his life. He takes on the whole gang and wipes them out.
Paul Kersey dismisses the other two hoods, but approaches the one he knows. He sees a cross on his chain and asks,
"Do you believe in Jesus?" "Yes I do" he responds.
"Well your going to meet him" Kersey says before shooting him point blank.
Paul Kersey is an design engineer with a New York development firm, He is blatanly characterized as a "Bleeding-Heart Liberal" when it comes to crime, but after street thugs ransack his apartment, murder his newly-wed, and rape his daughter, he seeks revenge on the criminals who plague the town and leave the citizens in fear. As the police continue to display their incompitence in preventing crime, Kersey arouses public support for vigilantism when he gets a gun and uses it on criminals the police aren't stopping. Inevitably, he gets to preoccupied woth his hatred of criminals for his own good, and the police catch on to his actions. He is almost caught, but escapes to Chicage despite loads of evidence against him.
