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....

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

At first, no one believed. But now, no one will ever forget!

---

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

---

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

The final cinema film of Dean Jagger.

---

Goofs

The Cadillac limousine switches from a 1971 Fleetwood 75 to a 1966 Fleetwood 75 sedan when Ramon crushes the limo.

---

Connections

Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 3: Exploitation Explosion (2008)

User Reviews

Robert Forster before "Jackie Brown", John Sayles before "Lone Star", and other stuff

Fun, satirical horror flick reminding us of the dangers of flushing our aquatic pets down the toilet. In this case, a flushed alligator ends up in the sewer, where he gets exposed to a chemical and grows to behemoth size and moves above ground to look for people too stupid to pay attention to their surroundings. When will these dopey characters ever learn?! What I noticed when watching the movie was the presence of Robert Forster some years after "Medium Cool" and many years before "Jackie Brown". I guess that he had to do something in between. And it may be surprising that John Sayles was involved with these sorts of movies early in his career, but I consider it perfectly justified; there were far worse movies with which he could have been involved.

Anyway, it's a nice way to pass time. The sequel was lower but not dreadfully terrible.

I wonder whether or not Sue Lyon (the ABC/NBC reporter) was the same Sue Lyon who played Lolita.