Such a frustrating disappointment

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Eddie Marino (Forster) is a blue-collar guy who goes to his factory job, then goes to the local dive bar with his friends (Nick, Burke, and Ramon - Williamson, Bright and Carberry, respectively), then comes home to his loving wife (Alda) and son. His simple life is interrupted when a vicious street gang led by the evil Rico (Colon) and Prago (Blakely) invade his home and assault his wife and son. Feeling defenseless against everyone from small-time drug pushers on up, Nick forms a vigilante group because the court system is a corrupt failure and isn't protecting its citizens. Now crime is running wild so everyday citizens must stand up and fight. Eddie is initially resistant to the idea, but after seeing shyster lawyers like Eisenberg (Spinell) pull the rug out from under good-faith lawyers like his own, Mary Fletcher (Lynley), Eddie snaps and is sent to jail for contempt. It's while he's inside that he meets Rake (Strode)...but when he gets out, he decides to join Nick's group after all and it's then that the truth that he initially denied comes out: if you want justice, you have to do it yourself.Why, oh why aren't there more movies like Vigilante? We will never stop pining for them. Just about everything about Vigilante is awesome. From the second you see the font the opening credits are in, you know the movie is going to be good. The cast is amazing: it's one of Fred Williamson's best - he puts a lot of energy into it and gets all the best lines. Plus he's just so cool. There are moments when he breaks through the top of the coolness thermometer. Joe Spinell is perfectly cast as the sleazy lawyer. He has a small but integral role, as does Steve James. Come to think of it, same for Woody Strode. Robert Forster is always worth watching. Jay Chattaway's music is superb and ties it all together.Revenge movies are one of our favorite things to watch, and the gritty NYC locations of the 80's are simply mesmerizing. The post-Death Wish (1974) cycle of The Exterminator (1980), Vigilante, and The Protector (1985), and, to a certain extent, Exterminator 2 (1984) give an excellent picture of the New York City of the day. It's simply fascinating, not to mention addictive to watch - if you know any other movies like these, please write in a comment to suggest them! The Anchor Bay DVD is excellent, with a beautiful widescreen transfer that looks great, and some nice extras. There's not much more to say, really...for a great movie from a never-to-be-duplicated time period, with a top-notch cast that's fast-paced and entertaining from start to finish, with a great message...Vigilante rules! What more could you want? If you haven't already, just buy the DVD today! For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Kinda sad to see Forster's roots in a flick like this.The script is terribly heavy handed and the direction may have tried to compensate, but failed. You might demur that it is, after all, a little action flick snack, but the film won't let you get away with that: You can't have it both ways.It obviously attempts to cop some fire from the "hard" reality of urban crime. You can't make a feint toward that end, then trivialize it with lousy scenario work, acting, and direction, and then expect to hide behind a defensive claim that the viewer made the mistake of taking it too seriously.It's a fine example of a flick that fails to manage its "tone" correctly. It feels like a movie made by grown-up teenaged boys.Interesting comparison: Check out Forester in Jackie Brown. Thank the Good Load Aboff, Forster got to work out in a flick that set its sights on a story and stealthily took great strides of scenario, acting, and direction to make that story blossom like a fine and beautiful flower in our minds.Anyway... who is going to watch Vigilante now? I would highly recommend it for a film class, for subsequent group analysis to try to nail down the contours of its failure to deliver something artistically meritorious.

Director William Lustig followed up his classic "Maniac" with this equally potent thriller. Robert Forster offers an interesting, low key portrayal of Eddie Marino, a blue collar guy whose wife and son are savagely attacked by loathsome punks. When Eddie realizes that he cannot rely on the "justice" system - including a crooked defense attorney ("Maniac" star Joe Spinell, in an amusing cameo) and an incompetent judge (Vincent Beck), he finally takes a friend, Nick (Fred "The Hammer" Williamson), up on his offer to help clean up the streets. The tone is set up very well right away, as The Hammer addresses us all and delivers a monologue bemoaning the level of crime and violence in the modern world. One can indeed see that he and his associates, Ramon (Joseph Carberry) and Burke (Richard Bright), himself a former cop, don't necessarily ENJOY what they do, but see it as being necessary, stressing the basic human right to not have to live in fear. And Lustig and company pull no punches when it comes to the depravity of our antagonists' crimes, not being afraid to cross the line of what might constitute good taste. At the very least, the movie is decent, reasonably gripping entertainment that explores that oft visited theme of what the average person is capable of doing once they've finally been pushed too far. As in "Maniac", the use of the various NYC locations is excellent, and there are some great chase sequences and scenes of strong violence. The widescreen photography (it's cool that this movie was shot in the Panavision aspect ratio) is impressive; the haunting and catchy main theme by composer Jay Chattaway may very well stick in the viewer's head a while after the movie has ended. The good supporting cast is also a big help, featuring such performers as Rutanya Alda as Eddie's wife Vickie, Don Blakely as despicable lowlife Prago, salsa music legend Willie Colon as gang leader Rico, Carol Lynley as the ineffective district attorney, the awesome Woody Strode as imposing convict Rake, Frank Pesce as drug dealing scum "Blueboy", Peter Savage (to whom the movie is dedicated) as big shot gangster Mr. Stokes, and busy 80's action movie regular Steve James as Patrolman Gibbons. (Keep an eye out for the walk on by Lustig as he exits an elevator.) The Hammer is especially fun to watch in one of his best ever roles; overall, "Vigilante" is good of its kind and packs a pretty mean punch. Seven out of 10.

The eighties were the nadir of the seventh art.The ideology which was rampant at the time really sucked.Better than the average Bronson material,someone says.Not better,a shoestring budget when "death wish" and other despicable stuff had huge ones.That's no excuse for botching such a harrowing subject.It' s unforgivable that a child's death is only a detail in a story of violence.Robert Foster's performance is monolithic,in the grand tradition of the tough guys of this dreadful era.How can we believe that this man has lost his dear little boy and that his wife has been savagely tortured?And the trial!the judge and the lawyers (the good and the evil) are cardboard characters.The story is full of implausibilities:Foster gets a two-year jail sentence(the jail sequences are pure routine),and when he's released,his wife is still in the hospital!The unfortunate prisoner is just out of jail,and presto!he meets his criminals! A movie from the doomed eighties.