CAN entertainment reflect deeper currents within society? In many cases the answer is probably “no”; the popularity of Midsomer Murders, mentioned here last week, probably doesn’t mean its fans expect to be horribly done to death if they venture beyond the borders of urbanity.

However, some entertainment may reflect more disturbing trends within our communal thought processes. Let’s take two motion pictures, set in different countries and with more than 30 years separating them: Death Wish and Harry Brown.

London-set Harry Brown came out last year in a welter of publicity, due mainly to its star being the grand old man of British cinema, Sir Michael Caine. Death Wish was made in the early 1970s and set in New York, then seen as the crime capital of the world, and was very much an American film, though directed by our very own Michael Winner, now perhaps better known as a restaurant critic and star of TV ads.

Despite their separation in time and space, the two works share some common themes. Both are essentially wish-fulfilment, vigilante movies. The heroes are motivated by revenge, acquiring guns to fight back against the criminals and thugs who have ruined their lives.

Charles Bronson, who plays the avenger in Death Wish, is a former liberal transformed by an horrific attack on his family, while Caine’s character is an old soldier appalled by the murder of a friend by young thugs. Though in both films the forces of law and order eventually lumber into view, in neither story is the vigilante called to account; in both movies they are seen to have made a difference, to have in some sense “won”. Both plots make an explicit connection between what we might call low-level “yobbery” and more serious crime.

The latter point found an echo in a recent national debate when Sir Denis O’Connor, chief inspector of constabulary, declared police had retreated from the streets and failed to deal with antisocial behaviour. Some officers, he suggested, didn’t see it as “proper” crime and didn’t afford it a high priority.

Once upon a time his comments would have had police chiefs grinding their teeth and pointing to rafts of stats proving what a great job they were doing. Some may still have done that privately, but in public they had the sense to broadly agree with Sir Denis. It’s heartening the police take public fears over antisocial behaviour seriously – indeed, in North Yorkshire we have a senior officer responsible for “reassurance and response”, among other things – but it’s not before time.

It’s clear from the public reaction to Sir Denis’s comments that many people feel our streets are sliding inexorably into anarchy and crime, and both the police and the legal system are failing to do anything much about it. If a respectable citizen stands up to yobs they risk not only injury but prosecution, goes the cry.

The scary thing to me is that this is virtually the toxic combination of opinion that made Death Wish such a success in 1970s America. However, Americans seem to have moved on somewhat. New York has largely lost its dreadful reputation, though I suspect the massed ranks of security staff in downtown Manhattan may have simply pushed the crime elsewhere.

Our police have long suggested the debate is largely about perception of a threat more than reality; the good news is they now seem to taking the need to address that perception seriously.

It’s obvious we need is a change in culture to make it clear bad behaviour isn’t acceptable or penalty-free, but how to achieve it? Our prison population is already at a record high, and demonising all teenagers certainly offends my notions of natural justice. Ensuring the police aren’t leaving the streets to the yobs is a start; the courts need to make it clear they’re on the same side. We’re getting some reassurance; now we need to see what the response is.