- The Punisher (1989 film)
Infobox Film
name = The Punisher
image_size =
caption = Film poster
director =Mark Goldblatt
producer = Robert GuralnickSimon Heath Mace Neufeld
writer =Robert Mark Kamen Boaz Yakin
narrator =
starring =Dolph Lundgren Louis Gossett, Jr. Kim Miyori
music =Dennis Dreith
cinematography = Ian Baker
editing = Stephanie Flack
Tim Wellburn
distributor =
released =
runtime = 92 min.
country =Australia United States
language =
budget = $9,000,000Fact|date=May 2008
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:39669
imdb_id = 0098141"The Punisher" is a 1989 film starring
Dolph Lundgren asFrank Castle , directed byMark Goldblatt from a screenplay byBoaz Yakin . It is based on theMarvel Comics ' character The Punisher. The film changes many details of the comic book origin and the main character does not wear the trademark "skull". In the comic book, Castle's wife was named Maria; they had a son named Frank Junior and a daughter named Lisa. Maria, Frank Jr. and Lisa were all killed by gunfire after witnessing the execution of an informant. In the film, Frank's wife was named Julie, they had two daughters, Annie and Felice. Julie, Felice and Annie were all killed in a car bomb explosion meant for Castle. In the comic book, Frank Castle was a former U.S. Marine captain. In the movie, he was changed to a police detective.It was filmed in
Sydney ,Australia and also featuredLouis Gossett, Jr. ,Jeroen Krabbé ,Kim Miyori , Nancy Everhard andBarry Otto .The film was not released in the
United States asNew World Pictures , the film's planned American distributor went bankrupt shortly before the film's release and the film was releaseddirect-to-video . The film is planned to have its first American theatrical release at the Escapism Film Festival inDurham, North Carolina onOctober 15 ,2008 . DirectorMark Goldblatt is planned to attend.Plot
Five years after his family was murdered in a mob hit,
police officer Frank Castle, who was believed dead, has become a vigilante known as "The Punisher". Living in thesewer s and waging a one-man war againstorganized crime , his only friend is an old alcoholic named Shake. Meanwhile, theMafia , headed by Gianni Franco, begins a violent turf war with theYakuza , led by Lady Tanaka. The Yakuza kidnaps the Mafia's children and holds them forransom in order to bring the American underworld under their control.Shake pleads with the Punisher to save the children, who are likely to be sold into childhood slavery no matter what their criminal parents do. While he is able to save most of the children, the Mafia leader's son is taken away to the Yakuza headquarters. Furthermore, the Punisher is taken into custody by the police, only to be freed by Franco's men. Franco persuades the Punisher to help him save his son, and stop the
Japan ese criminal underworld from taking root in America.Franco and the Punisher raid the Yakuza headquarters, fight and kill all the thugs and ninjas, including Lady Tanaka. Upon being reunited with his son, Franco betrays the Punisher in an effort to kill him, but the Punisher wins the duel, kills Franco and vanishes from the scene, as the police arrive, warning Franco's son not to follow the sins of his father.
Cast
oundtrack
A full orchestral score was composed and conducted by
Dennis Dreith at theWarner Bros. soundstage in Burbank, California. A CD of thesoundtrack was not released until 2005. The CD includes several interviews with the director and the composer, as well as the complete multi-track stereo recording. The DVD release only contains a monaural (single track) soundtrack.External links
* [http://marvel.com/movies/The_Punisher The Punisher on Marvel.com]
*imdb title|id=0098141|title=The Punisher (1989)
*shh|id=punisher|title=The Punisher Movies
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