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IMDbPro

Vigilante

  • 19821982
  • RR
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
18,204
1,010
Vic Noto in Vigilante (1982)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:41
3 Videos
83 Photos
ActionCrimeThriller
After his wife and son got brutalized by a street gang, and a corrupt criminal justice system puts the perpetrators back on the street, a NYC factory worker teams up with a vigilante group t... Read allAfter his wife and son got brutalized by a street gang, and a corrupt criminal justice system puts the perpetrators back on the street, a NYC factory worker teams up with a vigilante group to find some measure of bloody justice.After his wife and son got brutalized by a street gang, and a corrupt criminal justice system puts the perpetrators back on the street, a NYC factory worker teams up with a vigilante group to find some measure of bloody justice.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
18,204
1,010
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • William Lustig
    • Writer
      • Richard Vetere
    • Stars
      • Robert Forster
      • Fred Williamson
      • Richard Bright
    Top credits
    • Director
      • William Lustig
    • Writer
      • Richard Vetere
    • Stars
      • Robert Forster
      • Fred Williamson
      • Richard Bright
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 60User reviews
    • 67Critic reviews

    Videos3

    Vigilante
    Trailer 1:41
    Vigilante
    Vigilante
    Trailer 1:09
    Vigilante
    Vigilante
    Trailer 0:30
    Vigilante

    Photos83

    1 sheet movie poster
    Vigilante (1982)
    Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Vigilante (1982)
    Robert Forster and Fred Williamson in Vigilante (1982)
    Hyla Marrow in Vigilante (1982)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Robert Forster
    Robert Forster
    • Eddie Marino
    Fred Williamson
    Fred Williamson
    • Nick
    Richard Bright
    Richard Bright
    • Burke
    Rutanya Alda
    Rutanya Alda
    • Vickie Marino
    Don Blakely
    Don Blakely
    • Prago
    Joseph Carberry
    Joseph Carberry
    • Ramon
    Willie Colón
    Willie Colón
    • Rico
    • (as Willie Colon)
    Joe Spinell
    Joe Spinell
    • Eisenberg
    Carol Lynley
    Carol Lynley
    • Assistant D.A. Mary Fletcher
    Woody Strode
    Woody Strode
    • Rake
    Vincent Beck
    Vincent Beck
    • Judge Sinclair
    Bo Rucker
    • Horace
    Frank Pesce
    Frank Pesce
    • Blueboy
    Steve James
    Steve James
    • Ptl. Gibbons
    • (as Steve W. James)
    Randy Jurgensen
    Randy Jurgensen
    • Det. Russo
    Henry Judd Baker
    Henry Judd Baker
    • Quinn
    Dante Joseph
    • Scott Marino
    Vincent Russo
    • Rubin
    • Director
      • William Lustig
    • Writer
      • Richard Vetere
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Joe Spinell, who played the title character in William Lustig's Maniac, was cast in the small role of the corrupt lawyer Eisenberg. During the filming of the courtroom scene, Lustig recalled that Spinell's escalating alcohol and drug abuse was becoming a problem as Spinell would often show up late for filming and often drunk or stoned or both which slowed production. One morning, Spinell did not show up at all which led Lustig to shut down filming for half the day while his producer partner, Andrew Garroni, had to go looking for Spinell on the streets from various bars to hotels where he might be. The scene where Eisenberg arrives late in the courtroom after speaking with Prago was filmed in late afternoon on that day that Spinell did not show up that morning for filming.
    • Goofs
      Prago's stunt driving double during the car chase is Caucasian but Prago is African-American.
    • Quotes

      [first lines]

      Nick: Hey, I don't know about you guys, but me... I've had it up to here. There are some 40-odd homicides a day on our streets. There are over two million illegal guns in this city. Man, that's enough guns to invade a whole damn country with. They shoot a cop in our city without thinking twice about it. Aw, come on. You guys ride the subway. How much more of this grief are we gonna stand for? How many more locks we gotta put on our goddamn doors? Now, we ain't got the police, the prosecutors, the courts or the prisons. I mean, it's over. The books don't balance. We are a statistic. Now, I'm tellin' ya, when you can't go to the corner store and buy a pack of cigarettes after dark... because you know the punks and scum are out there on the streets when the sun goes down, and our own government can't protect its own people, then I say this, pal: you got a moral obligation, the right of self-preservation. Now, you can run, you can hide, or you can start to live like human beings again. This is our Waterloo, baby! You want your city back? You gotta take it. Dig it? Take it!

    • Alternate versions
      The film was cut by MPAA before the film was released in 1983, for graphic violence and in particular the pier scene where crooked politician and his lookout are killed with blood splatter lasting a bit longer and also the scene where the two patrol cops in their car are ambushed and killed underneath the underpass which filled with more blood splatter. This is the version that appeared on home video on the Vestron Home Video label and cable television.
    • Connections
      Featured in Assassin(s) (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      Vigilante
      (Willie Colón (as Willie Colon))

      Arranged by Hector Garrido

      Produced by Willie Colón (as Willie Colon)

      Executive Producer Jerry Masucci

    User reviews60

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    The law plays second fiddle.
    Director William Lustig's stirring low-cost vigilante picture is something a little more than your exploitative gung-ho revenge story, as while the material is lank and far-fetched its still implodes with some minor goods. Honestly the first time I came across it, I was left under whelmed and this can be attributed to the direction it went. The story has two sub-plots running, which would eventually come together, but the focus on one over the other really destroyed what could have a lasting impression. On one side of the coin has a small group of local vigilante's led by Nick (an inspired Fred Williamson) cleaning up punks that the law doesn't seem to want to touch and on the other side of the coin follows that of Eddie Marino (Robert Forster), a working class New Yorker coming home to find his wife has been brutally beaten and toddler killed. He's approached by Nick to join their cause, but refuses to let the justice system hand out the law, but after those who were responsible for the attack is left off with nothing but a slap on the wrists. It sees Eddie take it upon himself to hand out the punishment.

    The constant shifts in the story seemed to get in the way of cooking any real sort of emotional hold. The cult actors do the best with what they got. Robert Forster's streamlined, if cold approach works and Fred Williamson's full-blooded bad-ass portrayal is nothing that's unexpected. Don Blakely and Willie Colon make for great, nasty pair of thugs. Also in the line-up are Richard Bright, Rutanya Alda, Joseph Carberry, Steve James and Carol Lynley. In brief, but welcoming inclusions are Woody Strode and Joe Spinell as a scummy lawyer.

    The material is quite heavy-handed in what it's got to say on a flawed justice system, as Williamson spits out speeches about not living in fear and eventually the line between right and wrong is blurred. In the end don't read too much in to it. Lustig's pacing is on the spot and direction suitably controlled, as while not overly explicit it manages to have a brutal and gritty pulse. There are some intense interplays, and a disturbing moment or two, but in the end it's not particularly gripping like I would have hoped. It's quite underplayed in that department. Jay Chattaway's thumping score has a blaring sting and harrowing cloud that effectively balances the moods.
    helpful•3
    0
    • lost-in-limbo
    • Dec 26, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 4, 1983 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Streetfighters
    • Filming locations
      • Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • Magnum Motion Pictures Inc.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $5,091,888
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,588,464
      • Mar 6, 1983
    • Gross worldwide
      • $5,091,888
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Atmos
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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