Alligator (1980)

A baby alligator is flushed down a Chicago toilet and survives by eating discarded lab rats, injected with growth hormones. The small animal grows gigantic, escapes the city sewers, and goes on a rampage.

Director:

Lewis Teague

Writers:

John Sayles (screenplay), John Sayles (story),

Stars:

Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Forster	...	David
Robin Riker	...	Marisa
Michael V. Gazzo	...	Chief Clark (as Michael Gazzo)
Dean Jagger	...	Slade
Sydney Lassick	...	Gutchel (as Sidney Lassick)
Jack Carter	...	Mayor
Perry Lang	...	Kelly
Henry Silva	...	Brock
Bart Braverman	...	Kemp
John Lisbon Wood	...	Mad Bomber
James Ingersoll	...	Helms
Robert Doyle	...	Bill
Patti Jerome	...	Madeline
Angel Tompkins	...	Newswoman
Sue Lyon	...	ABC Newswoman

Storyline

Ramon the alligator is flushed down the toilet as a baby and grows into a gargantuan monster by eating the corpses of laboratory animals who have undergone dubious hormone experiments, thus providing all the ecological and social subtext that one could possibly wish for, even if one doesn't normally go for films about giant alligators eating people left, right, and center--which is the inevitable and tragic result of Ramon's decision that the outside world looks rather more interesting than the sewers....

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Plot Keywords:

alligator | sewer | creature feature | chewing tobacco | urban legend | 

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Taglines:

It lives 50 feet beneath the city. It's 36 feet long. It weighs 2,000 pounds...And it's about to break out!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Fera

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alligator Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Forster improvised the jokes in regard to his receding hairline, which a delighted John Sayles wrote into the script during shooting for the other characters.

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Goofs

In the first shot of the alligators eye, the whole crew is reflected in it.

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Connections

Referenced in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

User Reviews

Jaws goes to suburbia

This is the movie that Lake Placid wanted to be.

After the massive wave (pun intended) of underwater horrors that Jaws had created, Alligator is the best in my opinion. Sure there were a number of others that deserve recognition (Piranha, Jaws 2, Orca), but Alligator swallows them all up.

The reason is that its both sharply witty and frightening at the same time (which is a hard thing to achieve). The acting is good, with Robert Forster ringing the alarm bells about an over-sized gator living in the sewers. Our poor old gator was flushed down a toilet as a baby (you'd be a bit mad too...) and after feasting on some dumped lab animals grows to over 30 feet and is ready for some human munchies.

As for the effects, they're done really well. Direction is very good and the script is way above average for this type of fare.

TTKK's Bottomline - Alligator does for swimming pools (and suburbia) what Jaws done for the beach. Highly recommended for those looking for aquatic thrills.