Customer Reviews

Vigilante [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let's get one thing straight. VIGILANTE is not the type of movie that will satisfy those who dislike violent genre films.
It is, however, the kind of picture that will thrill any fan of DEATH WISH, ROLLING THUNDER, THE EXTERMINATOR or any other '70s / early '80s revenge flick that has vigilantism as its main theme.
The acting in VIGILANTE is of a high quality, superb even for an exploitation film. In particular, Robert Forster shines as an everyday working Joe driven to the brink by grief and circumstance. Fred Williamson was never better (and is unlikely to be), while Joe Spinnell steals your attention in his two scenes.
Anchor Bay's DVD release of the film is nothing short of miraculous. The movie has been lovingly restored via George Lucas' THX process and the widescreen presentation looks superb. But the jewel in the crown is the audio commentary. Director William Lustig and the three actors have a whale of a time recounting the film's shoot, and so does the listener.

This is one of those action flicks that punches you right in the stomach. The villians in this movie are so darned nasty, you actually feel physically sick watching them do their dirty deeds. (I did, at least.) This just makes it that much sweeter, though, when Fred Williamson and Robert Forster step to the scene and start whooping tail. Vengence at its finest. If you've got the stomach for serious action and some good old fashioned justice, this flick is for you. Leonard Maltin is a punk.

Is there anything more cinematically gratifying than seeing a pack of rabid, sadistic street punks getting exactly what they deserve on the alter of vigilante street justice? Probably, but I doubt many will argue the viscerally animalistic appeal of seeing some particular heinous thugs getting their heads handed to them vigilante style...which brings me to this film, Vigilante (1983), a relative late comer in the genre (who many believe started off with the very popular 1974 film Death Wish, starring Charles Bronson). Co-produced and directed by William Lustig (Maniac, Maniac Cop), who, incidentally, worked as an apprentice editor on the film Death Wish, Vigilante stars Robert Forster (Alligator, Jackie Brown) and exploitation film veteran Fred `The Hammer' Williamson (Mr. Mean, 1990: The Bronx Warriors). Also appearing is Rutanya Alda (The Deer Hunter), Richard Bright (The Godfather: Part III), Don Blakely (Brubaker), Joe Spinell (Forbidden Zone, Maniac), Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure), Frank Pesce (Midnight Run), Steve James (The Exterminator), and legendary actor Woody Strode (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), who was pushing 70 at the time this movie was made, and looked about as fit as most men half his age.

As the film, touted as the `unrated director's cut', begins we see Fred Williamson's character (later we learn his name is Nick), laying it down for a group of people (and the audience) about how punks have taken over the streets. One gets a sense that he's `mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore'..."If you want your city back, you gotta take it! Dig it?!" Next we witness a woman suffering an attack as she returns home to her apartment building, then later we see the same thug on a street corner bragging about how lame the `system' is and how he'll never do any real time, which is about when Nick and a couple of other fellow pull up in a boogie van, unceremoniously snatch the perpetrator off the street (he was identified by a neighbor of the woman), and speed away (later we found out he got the beating, but good). After this we see scenes of Eddie Marino (Forrester), his wife Vickie, and their young son in a park, and they seem like a happy enough family, enjoying a modest existence...that is until a few days later when Vickie gets on the wrong side of some street punks, who end up following her home committing various acts of vile, unrestrained nastiness. The leader of the gang is caught and brought to trial, but due to criminally inept and corrupt system, the malicious mug gets off with probation, to which Eddie flies off the proverbial handle and gets himself thrown into jail under contempt of court charges (talk about adding insult to injury). Anyway, Eddie gets out, hooks up with Nick and his vigilante posse for some much needed retributory, skull-cracking violence and mayhem (it's so wrong, but it feels good).

While there are some very striking similarities to the film Death Wish, Vigilante, which was shot on location in New York, giving it a gritty sense of authenticity, surpasses that film in the aspect of graphic violence, but is it better? Hard for me to say, but it is just as enjoyable, despite a few perceived flaws. Robert Forrester presents a strong character, but he didn't seem all that put out after his family was brutalized...perhaps this is how is was meant to be, as he virtually exploded in court when the gang leader got off with a slap on the bum...still, it seemed odd, the lack of emotion give what happened (maybe it was a state of shock). It is interesting to watch his nearly unbelievably naïve character transform into a vengeance filled, borderline psychotic in a relatively short period of time. As far as Williamson goes, well, his character is pretty much the same as just about anything I've seen him in...is that bad? Not really, as I suppose a lot of that has to do with typecasting, but at least he's had plenty of opportunities to get it down, and can pound punks with the best of them. There are some great supporting roles especially from Joe Spinell, who plays the sleazy defense attorney (he has little screen time, but makes an impression), and Woody Strode, a convict who helps Eddie preserve the sanctity of his Hershey highway while in prison (there's a great sequence in here with Strode dishing out a serious hurting on two punks half his age). There's plenty of escalating violence in this film once things get moving, some of it quite graphic and visceral...there was even one scene this seriously desensitized viewer found quite shocking...I won't tell you which one (but if you've seen the film, you probably know what I'm talking about. The story bounces back and forth between the characters of Eddie and Nick, basically two sides of the coin, until Eddie realizes the only way he's going to get what he wants is through Nick's hands on approach to dealing with street crime. There's some superficial claptrap about the morality of street justice, but I hardly thought the film was interested in getting hot and heavy on the philosophical aspects, especially in terms of how the poorly legal system was portrayed (lazy, ineffectual, corrupt), its inclusion more related to something to drive the plot, rather than a focal point within the film...by the way, that trial was a complete joke, and that prosecutor, played by Ms. Lynley, was about the most useless I've ever seen...no wonder the gang leader, who had 22 prior arrests, had never been convicted...oh, she'd say it was because witnesses were too intimidated to come forth, but if that were true, the case would've never gone to trial in the first place as there wouldn't have been enough evidence (I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on TV)...I suppose if the judges were corrupt, she could make an argument for her inability to actually prosecute criminals, but watching her in the courtroom I got the sense she was just really sucky at her job. Overall the story is slightly uneven and a little superficial, but the pacing is tight and the film doesn't wear out its welcome keeping a lean running time (just under 90 minutes, but it felt shorter). The ending felt odd and abrupt, and left a few questions unanswered...I couldn't help feel that perhaps this was the intent, but then I wonder if I'm giving the story more credit in that aspect than it deserves as it tended to simplify a number of elements within the storyline, going for the easy, stereotypical view (especially of the lackadaisical justice system), rather than delving into the real issues that result in perceived injustices (or is it injusti? I can't recall).

Anchor Bay Entertainment provides an excellent widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, picture on this DVD, along with better than expected audio, available in Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 or Dolby Digital 6.1 DTS: ES. Special features are numerous including a commentary track with director Lustig, and actors Robert Forrester, Fred Williamson, and Frank Pesce. Also included are 7 theatrical trailers (including international ones), 4 radio spots, 4 TV spots, a promotional reel used to help initially finance the film, a still gallery, and 5X7 reproduction of the original theatrical poster art. All in all, a superior release of a decent film.

Cookieman108

In the early 80's, there was a sprout of revenge/vigilante films released in America and Italy. I mean we had Death Wish 2, The Exterminator, Rolling Thunder and much much more. Vigilante actually comes out being one of the better of the group. We get the same basic story. A man gets his son murdered and his wife cut up by thugs so he sets out for a "Death Wish" to take them down. Like all the other revenge epics at the time, this is pretty good trashy entertainment. We get extreme violence and some great action, plus a great cheesy performance by Fred Williamson (should we expect anything different?). If you like Death Wish style films, then you must own this piece of low-budget american entertainment. The DVD release of Vigilante is also great. First of all we get the unrated/uncut version of the classic. On top of that we get a superb commentary with the director and almost the entire cast. Also thrown on is every trailer for the film throughout the world, even trailers that portray this film under different titles. Real Awsome! A great DVD package!

This movie is sweet - and all of the other awesome reviews have explained all the different ways why. What blows me away is the quality! This audio and video quality is amazing. Blue Underground has done it again! I highly recommend this movie if you don't have it in your collection already...

This is a review of the Blue Underground Blu-Ray release of VIGILANTE.

Forster steals the show here. I purchased this having already been a fan of William Lustig's 'Maniac Cop' series and also having been a fan of the original 'Death Wish'. This movie is the perfect combination of Lustig's saavy B-movie direction and the shocking but gratifying Death Wish-style revenge thriller. This is an unbelievable transfer that exploitation fans will love. Blue Underground delivers the goods, I guess it's good to be the boss!

Vigilante films are like skanky, chain smoking trailer trash chicks-I can't resist either one. Vigilante flicks are just so much fun(though they certainly aren't all great). There's nothing like watching the average Joe(or Jane as it where) pushed to the limit and unleashing deadly fury on scumbag criminals. In reality it may be against the law, but it's all something we wish we'd see more of in the world. Hell, some of us may wish we could do it. But at least we can dream-And we have the movies!
So, director William Lustig(you know, the Maniac and Maniac Cop guy) takes on the genre with Robert Forester in the "Bronson" role. Forester's co-workers are actually a gang of vigilantes by night and ride around in a van looking for punks to stomp into the ground. Their leader is none other than....(drumroll).....Fred "The Hammer" Williamson! Oh how I love that man. Forester doesn't totally approve of their methods until one day when he's away from home and a gang of thugs kill his son and nearly kill his wife.. This is a rather brutal scene because one member of the gang rather pointlessly blasts the child with a shotgun in cold blood! Of course going through legal channels doesn't help matters and Forester is the one who ends up going to jail for contempt after he(understandably) throws a tantrum in the courtroom. Here's where most folks have complaints about the film. A decent amount of screen time is given to seeing Forester in jail, and it really doesn't seem to have any relation to the rest of the plot and seems more like a time filler than anything. I didn't mind it though, it was interesting enough to keep me watching. Plus, Woody Strode is one of his fellow inmates.
But once he's out of prison, he wants revenge! So who better to go to than Fred Williamson and his vigilante gang?
Cool movie. Could have been a bit better, but a pretty cool movie. Forester doesn't go into buttkicking mode til the final act of the film, so don't expect an action extravaganza. And although Forester is a good actor, it might have helped if he looked the least bit sad or upset by his kid being murdered and his wife nearly murdered. And Fred Williamson? Well, he's "The Hammer", what can I say?
Well worth the time.

I was suprised how much i liked it. I think it was good. I think Fred Williamson was very good and the best
character in the film. He got charisma. He had several lines in the film which i liked. When he said "Save some
for me, Burke", i couldn`t help but to smile. I must say i liked that dark Synthesizer music that was used to
great effect. This was a good purchase.

Picture Quality: 4.5/5

I was impressed with the picture quality, which i think was pretty sharp and detailed. The colours and such
looked clear and strong on my flat screen. I satisfied with it. I didn`t notice any use of noise reduction, which i
was glad i didn`t see.

Audio Quality: 4/5

I was less impressed by the DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1. I think the some of the gunshot effects could have had
more bass. Like for example when Fred used a shotgun. It didn`t have a lot of bass. Strange thing, when he
used a somekind of Revolver, it had more bass than that shotgun!. Hm. Also one other problem i had with this
audio track, was that i feel the music was mixed too loud and the dialog too low. I often had to turn the volume
down when i heard the music. When there was dialog scenes i had to turn the volume up.

I think people doing this remix should have corrected these problems. I did find it annoying. The music sounded
pretty good and clear in the Center speaker. I heard some good bass coming from my subwoofer when the
Synthesizer music was used. The Rear speakers was mostly used for good effect, like for example, i heard: of
course music there, gunshots, people in prison shouting and cars crashing. So, i think the people in charge of
making this audio track could have done a better job. Except for the problems i mentioned, i think it was good,
but not very good.

Film: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Academy Award nominee Robert Forster teams up with cult icon Fred Williamson and a team of other men to dish out street justice on the vicious attackers of Forster's family.

"Vigilante" I used to hate. Barely 10 minutes in and I just didn't feel like finishing it. And I call myself a fan of vigilante cinema. Luckily I gave this sucker another chance, and I loved it. The opening attack on Forster's family was pretty intense, and the vengeance dished out by the vigilante squad later, though a bit quick, is still pretty satisfying. Our good guys are well-written (moral conflicts come into play), while our bad guys are a bit underwritten on the other hand, though adequately hatable characters. My only other complaint is that Forster isn't given a lot to do in the movie; his vengeance is rather crammed into the last half hour or so. But hey, everything else is just right; "good" guys, "bad" guys, not to mention violence and action that gets pretty brutal when called for, gritty cinematography courtesy of genre vet James Lemmo, and a thunderous and menacing electronic score from the underrated Jay Chattaway. Aside from a few minor questionable moments, a well-spent grindhouse time.

My husban got this and he thinks that it is a grate action movie and better than all of the Death Wish movies.