Michael Winner - American Films

American Films

Hannibal Brooks drew notice in Hollywood and Winner soon received opportunities to direct for American markets. Winner's first American film was Lawman (1971) starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Duvall.

The turning point came in 1972, as he first directed Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers, a prequel to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, then made his earliest efforts with box office star Charles Bronson in Chato's Land, recounting a mixed race American Indian fighting with Whites, and The Mechanic, a thriller in which professional assassins are depicted. The following year, Winner booked Lancaster again for the espionage drama Scorpio and reprised Bronson in The Stone Killer, in collaboration with Dino de Laurentiis.

In 1974, Winner and Bronson collaborated on Death Wish, a film that defined the subsequent careers of both men. Based on a novel by Brian Garfield and adapted to the screen by Wendell Mayes, Death Wish was originally planned for director Sidney Lumet under contract with United Artists. The commitment of Lumet to another film and UA's questioning of its subject matter led to an eventual production by Dino De Laurentiis through Paramount Pictures. Death Wish tracks Paul Kersey, a liberal New York architect who becomes a gun-wielding vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter is raped. With a script adjusted to Bronson's persona, the film generated major controversy during its screenings and was one of the year's highest grossers.

Following the release of Death Wish, Winner became primarily known as an action film director. Most of his attempts to branch into other genres failed at the box office. In 1975 Winner directed Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (released 1976), an animal comedy starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, and Milton Berle. Also of modest success was his horror film The Sentinel (1977), the remake of Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep (1978), and the organized crime thriller Firepower (1979) with Sophia Loren.

By the early 1980s, Winner found himself in great need of a successful film and accepted Charles Bronson's request to film Death Wish II, a sequel to the 1974 hit. Bronson had already signed a lucrative deal with Cannon Films, independent producer of exploitation fare and marginal art house titles. The sequel, co-starring Bronson's wife Jill Ireland, is considered a rehash of Death Wish with violence raised to more graphic levels.

As with fellow British director J. Lee Thompson, Cannon Films became Winner's mainstay during the 1980s. His reputation was already on the decline before releasing two failures, a remake of The Wicked Lady (1983) with Faye Dunaway and the generic thriller Scream for Help (1984). Winner made a final splash, however, with Death Wish 3 in 1985, which was set in New York City but filmed mostly in London for budgetary reasons.

Winner's output dissipated after Death Wish 3. He directed adaptations of the Alan Ayckbourn musical play A Chorus of Disapproval with Anthony Hopkins and the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death in 1988. After Cannon Films entered bankruptcy, Winner confined himself to British productions with the Michael Caine and Roger Moore farce Bullseye! (1990), Dirty Weekend (1993) starring Lia Williams, and Parting Shots (1999).