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I’ve always liked this witty and intense monster movie from 1980,
surely the finest killer gator flick ever, and a clear triumph of inspiration
and enthusiasm over a low budget.
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ALLIGATOR
appears to have been conceived as one of the innumerable JAWS wannabes that
appeared in the wake of that Steven Spielberg blockbuster, but it was created
by two extremely skilled moviemakers: writer John Sayles and director Lewis
Teague.
John
Sayles is one of America’s most respected independent filmmakers (with
acclaimed films like MATEWAN, LONE STAR and PASSION FISH to his credit), but
back in 1980 he was a prolific genre screenwriter.
His writing credits included PIRAHNA (another above-average JAWS
knock-off), THE HOWLING, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS and THE LADY IN RED for
ALLIGATOR’S director Lewis Teague.
THE
LADY IN RED, executive produced by Roger Corman, was Teague’s directorial
debut, and ALLIGATOR his extremely accomplished sophomore effort.
For it he reportedly solicited advice from JAWS editor Verna Fields, and
used it well. Subsequent Teague
projects include the Stephen King adapted CUJO and CAT’S EYE, along with THE
JEWEL OF THE NILE and NAVY SEALS.
ALLIGATOR
was incidentally based on an urban legend popular in the seventies positing
that alligators sold as kids’ pets during the previous decade were flushed
down toilets by outraged parents, consigning the critters to city sewers--where
they allegedly remain!
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Back
in the sixties young Marisa is given a baby alligator as a pet.
Her a-hole father, however, doesn’t want the thing in the house and
flushes it down the toilet. The
gator ends up in the city sewers, where it ingests mounds of experimental
hormones secreted by a local animal experimentation clinic--which cause it to
grow into a forty foot monstrosity!
David
is a distraught police inspector investigating a rash of sewer killings.
He gets far more than he bargained for upon spotting the giant
alligator, which promptly chomps David’s rookie partner.
The
police set up a vast search party to comb the sewers.
This inspires the gator to burst up through a city sidewalk and rampage
through the city, devouring a cop, a young boy and a fisherman before making
its way to a posh wedding party held by the corrupt head of the research clinic
responsible for the gator’s condition--and who’s dispatched in the nastiest
and most memorable of all the film’s killings.
David
in the meantime starts up a relationship with the now grown-up Marisa
(completely unaware that it’s her pet alligator causing all the strife).
The two concoct a plan to put an end to the gator’s deadly doings--but
is it too late???
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In
a film like this one tone is all-important.
Any movie about a killer alligator is likely to be goofy from the
get-go, yet it doesn’t pay to be too silly (as proven by the more recent LAKE
PLACID). Lewis Teague keeps the
proceedings reasonably light, but with moments of seriousness and some
delightfully over-the-top gator carnage.
John
Sayles’ script contains all the elements that made him one of the top names
in the business, including solid characterizations, a well-rounded narrative
and quite a few imaginative touches (such as making the female lead the
unwitting instigator of the madness--it might have been interesting, come to
think of it, to somehow make the character aware of that fact, but oh well...).
Credit
must also go to the excellent cast, rounded out with sharp supporting players
like Henry Silva, playwright/actor Michael Gazzo, LOLITA’s Sue Lyon and the
underrated Robin Riker. And then there’s the great Robert Forster in the lead,
whose gruff, world-weary presence--on display in films like MEDIUM COOL, JACKIE
BROWN and many others--has never been better utilized.
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ALLIGATOR
BLC
Director: Lewis Teague
Producer: Brandon Chase
Screenplay: John Sayles
Cinematography: Joseph Mangine
Editing: Larry Bock, Ronald Medico
Cast: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael Gazzo, Jack Carter, Dean Jagger,
Henry Silva, Sidney Lassick, Perry Lang, Sue Lyon, Bart Braverman, John Lisbon
Wood, James Ingersoll, Robert Doyle, Patti Jerome, Angel Tompkins
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