Review of Vigilante (1983) by Phil H — 14 Feb 2015

I bought this film back in the days of laser discs and I remember listening to the commentary track and was most fascinated with director William Lustig's encyclopedic knowledge of American and European exploitation films.

It made sense that he ended up currating many of these films through his associations with various video distributers like Elite, Roan Group and now Blue Underground, where he's relasing grindhouse classics as if they were part of the Criterion Collection.

But I digress. In "Vigilante" Lustig takes his love of exploitation, particularly Italian exploitation films like those by Fernando Di Lio, and made a vigilante film of his own. Robert Forster's family is brutally killed by street trash and when a corrupt lawyer, played by the great Joe Spinell, gets the killer of his son off scot free, Forster flies into a rage in court and is sent to prison.

There are some typical exploitation flick prison fights and sexual assaults, though prisoner Woody Strode helps Forster out before he is assaulted in a shower. Once released, Forster hooks up with Fred Williamson who runs a group of citizens who comb the streets dealing out vigilante justice to street slime like, Frank Pesce.

The vilence in the film is mean and nasty in a way that you don't get in mainstream films, which is what makes exploitations flicks so fun to watch. There films don't follow the usual "rules" of Hollywood pictures and aren't afraid to go somewhere that most films fear to treat.

I've always felt that is why exploitation films are so enjoyable. Anything is possible in these films and you really don't know what to expect, which in the best exploitation films creates real suspense and doesn't always lead audiences to a predictable and inevitable conclusion.

The underrated film composer Jay Chattaway provides the film with a solid score. While this revenge film isn't the most original, it has a great cast, the villains are sneeringly despicable (making their violent demise all the more enjoyable), the action is exciting (particularly some of the car chases) and the grimy, gritty pre-Giuliani New York before he was cleaned up is a whole lot of fun if you're a fan of these sorts of films.