Charles Bronson starred in a number of Western and war movie classics throughout the first half of his career, but he successfully reinvented himself as a vigilant, no-nonsense leading man with the help of Cannon Films—a movie house largely known for exploitation thrillers. Bronson's most notable role in this era, and his career at large, was undoubtedly Paul Kersey in the Death Wish films. Death Wishwas the hit that propelled Bronson's career for the next couple of decades, and nearly everything he made after was in some way derivative of it.