The New York Gang War Built in London—and Redubbed by U.S. Airmen

Bizarre & Myths4/5 wildness

The New York Gang War Built in London—and Redubbed by U.S. Airmen

Death Wish 3 / 1980s

Although Death Wish 3 presents itself as a ferocious New York street war, Cannon Films moved much of the production to London in May 1985 to reduce costs. Brixton stood in for the film's gang-controlled East New York neighborhood, while the old Lambeth Hospital became the police station. The substitution was complicated by the fact that many of the supposed New York police officers and gang members were actually British extras. To make the illusion work, Michael Winner reportedly recruited U.S. Air Force personnel stationed at High Wycombe Air Station to record New York-accented dialogue for the extras during post-production. The result was an unusually elaborate patchwork: Brooklyn and Queens locations, London streets and Victorian buildings, British performers, and American military voices were assembled into one supposedly continuous New York battlefield. The production trick is documented rather than an urban legend, even though the finished film's geography is famously implausible.