Review of Gator (1976) by Ola G — 15 Oct 2009

The moonshine runner Gator McKlusky (Burt Reynolds) is back in the Glades, taking care of his daughter after his prison sentence. The government official Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston) is on the trail of Gator and eventually he catches him. Greenfield forces Gator to help him get evidence against Gators old friend, Bama McCall (Jerry Reed), an organized crime kingpin with no scruples. During Gators investigations, he finds all sorts of seedy things, but he finds as well true attraction to the local news reporter, Aggie Maybank (Lauren Hutton).

I saw the first Gator movie "White Lightning" last year, and I was not that impressed, despite the fact that Burt Reynolds is one of my old favourite actors. But, I think that "Gator" is even less impressive. This is a mish mash of action, comedy, love and drama coming from a script with holes bigger than a swiss cheese. I think that Mr. Reynolds took upon himself a tad bit much when he directed this movie as well. His first I believe. And it is quite clear that he was a rookie as a director at this point, compared to later on when he was doing a great job with for example "Sharkys Machine". Strange angles, weird handheld shots and ugly close ups plus some very so so acting in general. "Gator" is just a mess and not that entertaining. Ok, Reynolds is never really bad, Jerry Reed was for sure an interesting character (I did not know about his true career as a musician until now, and I must say wow!) and I have always felt that Lauren Hutton has something special. But, this trio can not really save 'Gator". My biggest satisfaction from this movie was Jerry Reeds title song "Gator". Just bloody brilliant!!!