i must have seen a different film!!

As Good As It Gets

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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.

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.

A husband has to take justice in his own hands, reluctantly at first, in the end comes to see the necessity. His wife has been brutalized by nasty gang-bangers in their own home, their little son torn to pieces; so we're made to feel for the necessity, we pore with interest over the ugly world where but for some dumb turn of chance it could happen to us and we'd be helpless to reason our way out of it in much the same way.It's a Death Wish scenario of course, almost a replica. The city must look believably grimy, they do it here. It's from the same filmmaker who had done Maniac a few years prior, he films here the same bleak New York, a meaningless violence roams the streets. The man must look stoic in the face of what he must do without enjoyment, they find one in Forester. The crime, the system that fails to do anything about it, these all upset in the usual way.So it works in a small way, leaving us to think that necessity is some kind of insight, it never is, but sheer determination carries it. The violence we've witnessed haunts and wants an outlet where it takes shape. Fred Williamson delivers a few seething speeches on how this is justice. It's okay.

Even though the original "Death Wish" dates from 1974 already, the popularity of "vigilante" movies only truly skyrocketed during the late 70's and especially during the early 1980's. This shouldn't come too much as a surprise because the early 80's were a glorious period for all kinds of cheap and gritty exploitation cinema. Vigilantes and neighborhood watches are themes that all too easily lend themselves for gratuitous violence, sleaze, controversy and provocative footage. Some movies nevertheless still attempted to narrate a more intelligent and engaging story, like for example Lewis Teague's "Fighting Back", but most contemporary vigilante flicks are simply an excuse to show as much extreme violence as humanly possible, like parts II and III of the "Death Wish" series, "Tenement: Game of Survival" and "The Exterminator". This particular vigilante movie – with the most basic yet straightforward title imaginable – situates itself somewhat between the two categories. "Vigilante" contains several sequences that depict harsh and exploitative violence, yet surprisingly enough it also attempts to bring a proper story and detailed character drawings. I deliberately use the words "surprisingly enough", because the director – William Lustig – isn't exactly known for subtlety or adequate storytelling. The man became infamous thanks to "Maniac" a few years earlier and that film is now, 30 years later, still one of the most prototypic examples of cruel and disturbing exploitation cinema. Therefore I must admit being impressed with the plot and the atmosphere of despair William Lustig tries to generate. Eddie Marino is an earnest factory worker and lives with his wife and young son in one of New York City's grittiest and gang-infested neighborhoods. His friend and co-worker Nick often insists for Eddie to join the neighborhood vigilante squad, because the Puerto Rican gang is becoming more and more powerful while the police appears less and less in the streets, but he refuses because he truly believes in the country's juridical system. Even when Eddie's wife is found stabbed and his little boy murdered, he still has faith that he US court and the honorable judge will righteously punish the culprit. But the honorable judge is corrupt and the whole system is rotten, as the guilty gang members are acquitted and Eddie himself has to go to jail for 30 days for assaulting the judge. Whilst in jail, the idea of joining Nick's vigilante squad suddenly becomes all the more appealing. This may perhaps disappoint some die-hard exploitation fanatics, but admittedly "Vigilante" is a lot less graphic or sickening than – say – the "Death Wish" sequels for example. The assault on Marino's household is rather nasty and so are a handful of other scenes, but clearly the emphasis of the film remains on Eddie's emotional and mental journey. Lustig does a terrific job in depicting New York's suburbs as menacing ghettos where danger lurks behind every corner and literally nobody can be trusted. He should know, of course, as Lustig himself grew up in The Bronx. Robert Foster is excellent is his lead role as the tormented Eddie Romero, but the most memorable roles can be found in the supportive cast. Fred Williamson, as the founder and commander of the vigilante squad, is deliciously deranged and actually a lot more dangerous and fanatic than most of the gang members. Veteran actor Woody Strode briefly appears as a fatigue but inspiring inmate, Vincent Beck is terrific as the corrupt judge and my absolute favorite supportive character is Joe "Maniac" Spinell's sleazy and loathsome attorney Eisenberg. He shamelessly defends the assailants and knows exactly how to manipulate a court and obtain minimum punishments for heavy criminals.