Alligator (1980)

A baby alligator is flushed down a Chicago toilet and survives by eating discarded laboratory rats injected with growth hormones. The small reptile 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 | toilet | sewer | baby alligator | knocking on a window | 

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Taglines:

It's 36 feet long, weighs 2000 pounds, lives 50 feet below the city. Nobody knows it's down there except the people it eats.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

El cocodrilo mortal

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alligator

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 86 min (theatrical cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joe Dante was offered to direct the film.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Gutchel: How about cats? I got plenty of cats. I also got a parrot I'd like to get rid of.

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Alternate Versions

One or more extra scenes are said to be included in old TV versions of the movie. In one extra scene, a woman is outside hanging up clothes while her baby is with her. When her phone rings, she goes inside to answer, leaving the baby out in the yard. When a loud crashing sound is heard off screen, the woman gets off the phone and goes back outside. She sees that her back yard is in mess, part of the fence is smashed and flattened, the laundry basket she left out is overturned and she becomes hysterical when she realizes that her baby is missing. She approaches an upturned laundry basket and turns it over and finds the baby. The scene then cuts away. The alligator doesn't attack either the baby or the mother.

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Connections

Featured in Terror in the Aisles (1984)

User Reviews

Once Upon A Time In (Under) Chicago

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 ...