THE PUNISHER (Mark Goldblatt, 1989)

[Jox]

Rare production announcement advert in "Variety", August 31, 1988



(Sadly it's being sold on eBay for over $100 and the seller wouldn't lower the price even though it's been on there for more than a year)

[Jox]

The Cinematic DNA of The Batman (by Tom of course!)
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2022/03/ ... he-batman/

With sunken eyes and a detachment from his soul, Dolph Lundgren’s portrayal of Frank Castle in The Punisher was undervalued upon release. In time the film, and indeed Lundgren, have found plenty of reappraisal. For the opening third of The Batman particularly, Pattinson plays Wayne as a vapour. He’s a husk of a man drifting on the fumes of vengeful instinct. He loiters in the dark underbelly of a crime ridden world, targeting perpetrators. He stalks the city on his motorbike, riding through dark alleys, desolate roads and through tunnels. He has no life but this, to the point his demeanour becomes near vacant, almost devoid of a soul he once had. In The Batman where the arc skews from Lundgren’s Punisher, is that some hope and humility is found thanks to his encounters with Selena Kyle, Alfred, and to a lesser extent Gordon. Additionally the films resolution is about the futility of vengeance, whereas Dolph’s Punisher hasn’t escaped that thirst quite yet. Additionally, our villain roster perfectly balance between slimy mobsters (a great Jeroen Krabbe), and the more outlandish (in Punishers case, a female Yakuza boss, played with theatrical verve by Kim Miyori).

[Jox]

Free screening June 21 at the Rock Island Public House (RIPH), Blue Island, IL
https://rockislandpublichouse.com/

[Jox]

Long before the internet era, a couple cuts of THE PUNISHER workprint leaked as VHS bootlegs you could notably find in conventions.

By August 1990, the film had already come out in France, Germany, and Japan but not in the US, Andy Mangels reviewed one of the latest workprint cuts (March '89) in the magazine "Amazing Heroes" (issue #182)...

[Jox]

THE PUNISHER on magazine covers (chronological order from December 1988 to June 1990)

[Jox]

There were 3 VHS editions released in France between 1990 and 1992 through the then renown label Delta Vidéo.



P.S.: Note that the French theatrical and home video releases were the uncut unrated version (as the R-rated US cuts were made after it had already come out in France).

[Jox]

Me in front of a video store and what was inside the display window (summer '90)

[Jox]

Why Dolph Lundgren Should Return as The Punisher
https://movieweb.com/why-dolph-lundgren ... -punisher/

[Jox]

Rare find
A contact sheet with shots of Dolph trying out the Harley that was customized for him...

[Jox]

[Jox]

Japan video retail promotional poster (with a color scheme change)

[Jox]

The initial script drafts of THE PUNISHER '89 showed the antihero fighting the Yakuza by blade instead of with machine guns during the final showdown (inspired by SHOGUN ASSASSIN / LONE WOLF AND CUB)...

Original writer Boaz Yakin summed up this concept by saying, “My thought at the time was, how lame for your hero to shoot a bunch of people armed with swords, when you could be directing a great sword-fight in a modern context?”

[Jox]

Outtake sourced from the behind the scenes gag reel

[Jox]

Rare publicity transparencies

[Jox]

WORKPRINT / FINAL VERSION