After New York architect Bronson’s family is brutally violated, his internal ken shifts him to nocturnally prowl the streets dispensing vigilante justice. Bronson’s fourth movie with Michael Winner led to career-defining success, as their film of Brian Garfield’s novel mainlined 1970s urban anxieties, spawning copycat movies aplenty and resonating uneasily ever after in the American psyche. Arthur Ornitz’s cinematography and Herbie Hancock’s wildly expressionist score stoke the tension.