Alligator (1980) Reviews

• Great movie. A creature-feature done right.

  billybrown412002-02-28

  What a classic. I will admit that the main reason I watch so many horror movies is mainly because I can make fun of them. I bought Alligator from a video store that was going out of business. I vaguely remembered the scene where the alligator crashes the birthday party from when I was a little kid. Anyway, I remembered enough to pick it up, so I was expecting another movie that I could sit there and trash, but once I saw John Sayles's name in the writing credits, I assumed that I would be in for something more. Instead of getting a movie that I could laugh at, I got one that laughs at itself for being a horror movie (about 16 years before that was cool). The script is super-sharp, with witty lines and the direction is tight. We also get a great, charismatic Robert Forster playing the role of the burn-out cop and Henry Silva makes a HILARIOUS cameo as a hunter. I don't know if his performance was intentionally bad or if he was just trying to be that bad, but either way, it worked. I loved his character and the funny noises that he makes. I'm sure it had to be intentional. John Sayles has done some great horror scripts. Just check out Piranah and The Howling (the first one). He scores another knockout with Alligator and it put Lake Placid to shame. What that movie seemed to try so hard at (making a "parody" of sorts) Alligator pulls off with ease. The special-effects (of course they're dated by now) are actually really well-done for the time and, in many ways, a helluva lot more convincing than most of the CGI crap that we're force-fed today. If you can find this movie, I highly reccommend it. No, it's not scary, but it is very entertaining and a good time all the way through.

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• Once Upon A Time In (Under) Chicago

  RetroRoger2004-11-25

  The best Corman monster flick Roger never made. This great B-movie unspools like a Sergio Leone revenge tale. Big mean Daddy flushes daughter's baby gator, Ramon, down the toilet. Sixteen years later, Ramon has grown up to be a 36-foot mutated maneater stalking the mean sewers of the Windy City. Daughter has grown up to become a 5'-4" herpetologist for the Chicago Zoo. You can just hear the haunting whistle of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack as the showdown looms. This monster flick's pedigree is a purebred B, written by Corman alumnus John Sayles (fresh from 1978's 'Piranha', on his way to 1981's 'The Howling') and directed by veteran Lewis Teague, who cut his directing and editing teeth on such Corman classics as 'The Lady In Red', 'Cockfighter', 'Crazy Mama', and the immortal 'Death Race 2000'. Casting for 'Alligator' was made in Cult Heaven, with Tarantino-fave Robert Forster as the bad-luck cop who gets between the girl and her gator. Future 'Stepmonster' Robin Riker makes her movie debut as the reptile expert. '50s sci-fi veteran Dean Jagger (looking, swear-to-God, like the dancing octogenarian in the Six Flags commercials) plays the dastardly industrialist who kills puppies and inadvertently creates the monster. Henry Silva seems to have fun skewering his cinema psycho persona. Even Hollywood tough-guy Mike Mazurki makes a cameo as the villain's gatekeeper. Injokes abound, with winks and nudges to infamous sewer rats Harry Lime and Ed Norton. Romantic foreplay includes heartfelt talks about male pattern baldness. The gator seems to have a Jones for men in blue. And Chicago can only be saved by the time-honored, foolproof solution of trapping oneself in an enclosed space with the monster and a timebomb. After 24 years, we rabid fans are still waiting for the obvious sewer creature clash, 'Ramon vs. C.H.U.D.' Keep dreaming ...

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• A fun, entertaining film!

  youroldpaljim2001-10-20

  When this film turned up on T.V. I was prepared for the worst. Much to my surprise this was a good thrilling monster movie with just the right amount of tongue and cheek to make the far fetched premise acceptable; ie the idea that an alligator this big could slip in and out of the sewers with out being detected. Robert Forster as the detective out to track down the killer gator gives a good performance. ,real stand out is Henry Silva as the military man sent to destroy the monster gator. He plays him like a broad stereotype of a general from some Latin American dictatorship. FYI: If you think the idea of a 36 foot plus alligator is impossible, there is a fossil skull on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York of an extinct crocodile. The skull is over five feet long. Image that such monsters once did roam the earth!

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• Alligator is punk rock

  Yukster_uk2001-03-31

  This film has a superbly paced story and much style. It is great entertainment matched with wry comment from writer John Sayles: witness the rich old man who locks his posh car, allows his friend to get eaten and is then pounded flat by the monster. This could so easily have been boring and run-of-the-mill. Although accomplished on a low budget, the film makers put in much effort and created something unique.

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• Alligator is a GIANT classic

  Rautus2007-05-02

  First there was Jaws then Piranha both great movies and then in 1980 there was a giant Alligator film written by John Sayles who wrote Piranha and The Howling, using the urban legend of Alligators flushed down into the sewers and becoming giant due to the stuff in there they made a great B-movie with an Alligator twice it's normal size. Sometimes it's just a real Alligator in a small set to make it look big and other times it's a big rubber Alligator but that's what makes it fun. The atmosphere is creepy when in the sewers especially since the Alligator is prowling around ready to jump out and get them. The main characters are likable and the acting is good. Alligator is a classic B-Movie that's great and fun to watch. 10/10

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