Vigilante

1983 "There's only one way to stop them..."
6.5| 1h30m| R| en| More Info
Released: 16 September 1983 Released
Producted By: Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

New York City factory worker Eddie Marino is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. When a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, he goes berserk and vows revenge.

Genre

Action, Crime

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Vigilante (1983) is now streaming with subscription on AMC+

Director

William Lustig

Production Companies

Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.

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Vigilante Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Lightdeossk Captivating movie !
Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
calvinnme This is a gritty low budget crime drama from director William Lustig. Robert Forster stars as your average working joe with a wife and small son. After a gang of criminals brutally attack his wife and murder his child, and then the ringleader is let go with a suspended sentence, he vows to get revenge himself. He's in luck, because his three work buddies have been operating their own vigilante squad in secret, kidnapping and beating (and worse) criminals that the law can't or won't touch.Very violent, and set in NYC before it was cleaned up, this film panders to an audience angry and hungry for law and order, as did many films of the 70s and 80s. It's cheaply manipulative in that way, which is why it's dismissed by most critics. But it has held a healthy cult following over the years. Fred Williamson is enthusiastic as the leader of the vigilante squad, which also includes Richard Bright. Rutanya Alda plays the wife, Joe Spinell shows up as a sleazy defense lawyer and with a young Steve James as a patrol cop. Carol Lynley plays the harried Assistant District Attorney, and Woody Strode shows up as a tough old convict.
LeonLouisRicci Cult Director William Lustig's Follow Up to Acclaimed B-Horror-Movie, Maniac (1980) is Another Welcomed Power to the People, Cathartic, Revenge Flick. Unpretentiously Titled, this One Delivers What it is Selling in No Uncertain Terms.With Iconic Performances by Robert Forster and Fred Williamson, and a Gaggle of Gang Movie Favorites, Including Joe Spinell as a Sleazy, Slimeball Lawyer. It has Lustig's Trademark Ultra-Violence and Striking Sound Stings, and is One of Genre's Best.The Director Takes All the Clichés of This Type of Thing and Makes it His Own. It is a Film, that Once Viewed Rises Above Expectations and Becomes a Never To Be Forgotten Experience. Lustig Knew Very Well that One of the Movie's Most Lasting Scenes Would Not Pass the Ratings Board with an "R" if Shown in Any Detail. But the Talented Director Made it a Lasting and Disturbing Scene Standing Out in a Genre that is Remarkable from its Exploitation Brethren.This is Top-Shelf Stuff and Stands Above the Pantheon and is a Classic that is Must Viewing and Essential as a Quintessential Effort. If You Want to Get and Eye and Earful of What Constitutes This Type of Thing Don't Hesitate to Check it Out and Be Amazed at its Style and Singularity.
Red-Barracuda A vigilante group take it upon themselves to administer tough justice. An ordinary Joe called Eddie Marino disapproves but later changes his mind after a gang murder his son and assault his wife and then are subsequently let off by the courts.This William Lustig flick is a direct descendant of Death Wish and the Italian Poliziotteschis. It's a film that actively promotes vigilantism but in a similar way to how Dirty Harry promoted police brutality, no one should really take this too seriously. It's an exploitation crime thriller pure and simple, even if like the other vigilante movies from the time it clearly tapped into something relevant. Crime in urban cities was particularly terrible at the time and the law were not awfully effective in dealing with it. It does have to be admitted that the streets of New York featured in Vigilante look seriously nasty. This was a mean city alright.This is a pretty well made film of its type. The scope photography is pretty handsome. It also boasts a really good cast including Robert Forster, Fred Williamson and Woody Strode. The story is direct and simple with a decent enough pay off. There are absolutely no surprises here at all but sometimes more of the same is okay.
Scarecrow-88 William Lustig's follow-up to MANIAC concerns a blue-collar worker (Robert Forster) whose wife and child are attacked by a gang of punks (right out of John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13), with a crooked judge allowing one of them (the one who knifed the wife) off without time served. Instead, Forster is sentenced to 30 days in prison (Rikers, presented as if Hell behind bars) for trying to strangle the judge (and rightfully so) while his co-workers (led by Fred "The Hammer" Williamson) have formed a vigilante trio after the head honcho behind the drugs trafficking to teenagers on his street. When Forster gets out of prison he wants revenge on those who have wronged him, joining up with Williamson and his men.This movie is essentially Lustig's DEATH WISH; Forster stepping into the Bronson Paul Kersey role. Williamson is one cool customer, though, and the New York locations offer flavor, grit, and color heightening the action scenes and adding potency to the subject matter. While not exactly a nightmarish wasteland as the city Bronson must contend with in DEATH WISH III, New York City sure seems dangerous enough through Lustig's lens. Nothing original and Forster, while getting revenge on the main culprits behind his loss (his son is shot-gun blast with the killer chased by Forster in Lustig's own French Connection street car chase, Forster's wife leaving him because of her trauma), doesn't necessarily get as even on the entire group of the Headhunters as Kersey did in DEATH WISH II. The film features plenty of use of blood squibs as one scene shows the Headhunters gang opening fire (with machine guns) on a patrol car, blowing away two policemen, with Williamson shot-gun blasting a wealthy drug supplier masquerading as an Italian businessman. Woody Strode has a cameo as a prisoner in Rikers who saves Forster from a shower room rape, certain to elicit applause—he leaves more of an impression with a few minutes than many do with two hours. Williamson's charisma alone adds value to this movie, even if it does cover familiar ground. Joe Spinell has another memorable supporting part as an oily attorney who seems to be in cahoots with the judge, both willing to use the courts to get scumbags off if they can afford them.