VENGEANCE IS OURS
From pulp fiction to politics a thirst for retribution drives both culture and policy
Went to see ‘The Beekeeper’ recently, attracted by actor star Jason Statham and the track record of writer-director David Ayer, who wrote ‘Training Day’ and has directed several Los Angeles set neo-noirs. Living as a beekeeper in New England, Statham’s character is befriended by a retired care giver played by Phylica Rashad, who’s savings and charity are wiped out by a heartless date mining operation. Despondent, she kills herself. Statham, who is much more than a beekeeper, seeks bloody revenge for his fallen friend, slaughtering on line sharks a path of destructionthat takes the him to unexpected places.
The premise of this film took me back to Charles Bronson’s 1974 smash ‘Death Wish,’ a vigilante blockbuster that captured the fear of big cities and, New York in particular, that was integral to that period’s American pop culture. Bronson’s wife is murdered and daughter sexually assaulted in his upper West Side apartment by young men who follow them home from the supermarket. If muggers were an early ‘70s cinematic bugaboo, on line scammers, preying on the technologically ignorant and the elderly, are perfect ‘20s villains. What links ‘The Beekeeper’ and ‘Death Wish’ is a thirst for revenge, for righteous retribution, that made them both hits.
This yearning in pulp fiction has a long history. In reading the biography, Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction by Max Allen Collins and James L. Trayor, you can see the tenants of revenge storytelling in the bestselling novels featuring World War II vet turned PI, Mike Hammer. In his historic run of six books between 1947 and 1952 (I, the Jury, My Gun is Quick, Vengence is Mine, One Lonely Night, The Big Kill, Kiss Me Deadly), Spillane defined much post-war storytelling, creating a formula that’s a go to from Hollywood to Hong Kong.
Allen and Trayor boil it down to:
A- the “socko” beginning.
B- the slam-bang closing chapter
C- the mentally twisted adversary
D- rich but corrupt businessperson or representative of society’s elite
E- sexual situations that invite negative judgement from readers.
Spillane’s novels were so impactful, they ignited the market for original paperback fiction, spawning TV series and films (The 1955, Robert Alrich directed Kiss Me Deadly, is the best of the bunch), while making Spillane a celebrity who appeared in movies and beer commercials.
The vengeance DNA that connects Hammer, ‘Death Wish,’ and ‘The Beekeeper’ is more than an action flick device. For all its visual artistry the sci-fi epic ‘Dune 2’ still driven by a son’s need to avenge his late father.
MICKEY SPILLANE 1950s
The enduring popularity of these narratives speaks to a appetite for revenge that drives everything from drug sentencing to the death penalty. The mess in the Middle East, the war in Ukrane, and the United States’ response to any military fatalities are all rooted in a primal desire for score settling. In fact the entire planet is trapped in a cycle of revenge for historical grievence that inspires lethal actions. The campaign of a current Presidential candidate is driven by a vow of revenge that is rooted in voting scandal as fictional as anything David Ayer and Mickey Spillane concocted. However, while entertaing on screen, real world rhetoric can result in serious violence. The Capitol attack on January 6th 2021 was a revenge fantasy come to life.
‘The Beekeeper’ has made $151 million worldwide with $86 million of that tickets sold overseas. A sequel is already being talked about. In an age of non-movie stars, Statham puts butts in seats on a global basis as an embodiment retribution. Meanwhile, the flow of films, books, and real life military campaigns motivated by revenge is unending.
Mickey Spillanbe said ‘Vengeance Is Mine.’ I think vengeance is ours.