THAT ’70s SHOW:

Shot:

A feeling of constant and imminent menace pervaded the country, and especially its big cities. The 1974 movie, Death Wish, captures the mood of dread. Charles Bronson plays a New York architect, a self-described “bleeding-heart liberal,” whose wife is murdered and whose daughter is raped by three thugs who force their way into the family’s apartment. The police do not catch the killers. They do not much try. They fill out forms, make some routine inquiries—and then forget about it. As a precinct captain explains, the city is suffering thirty murders a week. How could anyone investigate them all? A friend gives Bronson a gun, and he begins to prowl the streets and subways at night. Never has Manhattan looked more terrifying. The wind is chill; the streets are empty; the few law-abiding pedestrians pull their collars up around their ears, and hear and see nothing. At first by accident, then deliberately, Bronson tempts muggers to attack him. It seldom takes him long. The criminals are lurking everywhere. They approach their victims in total arrogance, without even a glance over their shoulder for the police. They know the police aren’t coming. And in fact, the only police action we see in the movie is a furious manhunt to capture Bronson, the vigilante killer.

—David Frum, How We Got Here: The 70s The Decade That Brought You Modern Life — For Better Or Worse.

Chaser: EU Gun Control: After Terrorism And Sex Assaults, European Union Cracks Down On Firearms Ownership.

Hangover: “Alain Ghozland, 73, a French Jewish politician from outside of Paris, was found dead in his apartment on Tuesday, with his body showing multiple lacerations that appeared to be stab wounds, according to reports.”