Alligator (film)
Encyclopedia
Alligator is a 1980 monster movie
, directed by Lewis Teague with a screenplay by John Sayles
. It stars Robert Forster
, Robin Riker
, and Michael V. Gazzo
. It follows the attempts of a police officer named David Madison and a reptile expert named Marisa Kendall to stop a deadly giant alligator that is killing humans in the sewers of Chicago.
The film received praise from critics for its intentional satirizing and, in 1991, an apparent sequel was released, titled Alligator II: The Mutation. Despite the title, this film shared no characters or actors with the original, and the plot was essentially a retread of the first film.
while on vacation with her family at a tourist trap
in Florida
. After the family returns home to Chicago
, the alligator, named Ramón by the girl, is promptly flushed down the family's toilet by her surly, animal-phobic father and ends up in the city's sewers
. Twelve years go by, during which the alligator not only survives, but eventually feeds on covertly discarded pet corpses that are spiked with an experimental growth formula, causing him to grow into a 36 feet (11 m)-long behemoth
with an almost impenetrable hide.
The alligator begins picking off humans in the sewer, and the resulting flow of body parts draws in world-weary police officer David Madison who, after a horribly botched case in St. Louis
, has gained a reputation for being lethally unlucky for his assigned partners. As David works on this new case, his boss Chief Clark brings him into contact with reptile expert Marisa Kendall, the girl who bought the alligator years earlier. The two of them edge into a prickly romantic relationship, and during a visit to Marisa's house, David bonds with her motormouthed mother.
David's reputation as a partner-killer is "confirmed" when the gator snags the young cop who accompanies David into the sewer searching for clues. No one believes David's story, partly due to a lack of a body, and partly because of Slade, the influential local tycoon who sponsored the illegal growth experiments and therefore does not want the truth to come out. This changes when obnoxious tabloid reporter Thomas Kemp (ironically, one of the banes of David's existence) goes snooping in the sewers and supplies graphic and indisputable photographic evidence of the beast at the cost of his own life. The story quickly garners public attention, and a city-wide hunt for the monster is called for. An attempt by the police to flush out Ramón comes up empty, and David is put on suspension, but then the gator literally smashes his own way out of the sewers and comes to the surface, first killing another police officer, then a young boy who gets tossed into a swimming pool during a party.
The ensuing hunt turns into a media circus, including the hiring of pompous big-game hunter Colonel Brock to track the animal. Once again, the effort fails: Brock is killed, the police trip over each other in confusion and Ramón goes on a rampage through a high-society wedding party; among his victims are Slade and the mayor. With only Marisa to help him, David finally lures the alligator into a trap back in the sewers and destroys the beast with a massive charge of explosives, barely escaping with his own life. As the film ends with David and Marisa walking away after the explosion, a drain in the sewer spits out another baby alligator, carrying the promise that the cycle will be repeated all over again...
. Although commentary on the Lions Gate Entertainment
DVD gives the location as Chicago, the police vehicles in the film appear to have Missouri
license plates. When the young Marisa returns home with her family from their vacation in Florida, they pass a sign that reads "Welcome to Missouri." Later, the voice of a newscaster identifies Marisa as "a native of our city," implying the location is a city in Missouri other than St. Louis.
, it has regularly received praise from critics for its (intentional) satirizing and wit, lack of pretension, and the performances of the human stars. Screenwriter Sayles also penned the script for Piranha, another well-received tongue-in-cheek horror film of the era.
Vincent Canby
of the New York Times praised the film, saying, "The film's suspense is frequently as genuine as its wit and its fond awareness of the clichés it's using."
Film critic Roger Ebert
was not a fan of the movie, suggesting that it would be best to "flush this movie down the toilet to see if it also grows into something big and fearsome."
The film is rated M in New Zealand and it contains violence and offensive language.
sequel of Alligator (1980).
gave it a 14%, IMDB gave it 3.2/10.
released the film on DVD for the first time in the USA. The disc features a new 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer in the original 1.78:1 ratio and a new Dolby Digital 5.1-channel sound mix in addition to the original mono mix. The included extras are a commentary track with director Lewis Teague and star Robert Forster, a featurette titled Alligator Author in which screenwriter John Sayles discusses the differences between his original story and the final screenplay, and the original theatrical trailer. The film had previously been available on dvd in other territories, including a version released in the UK in February 2003 by Anchor Bay Entertainment (now Starz). This release features an optional DTS sound mix, includes the 1991 sequel Alligator II: The Mutation on a second disc, and includes the same Teague-Forster commentary found on the recent Lions Gate US release.
Monster movie
Monster movie is a name commonly given to movies, which centre on the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters...
, directed by Lewis Teague with a screenplay by John Sayles
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
. It stars Robert Forster
Robert Forster
Robert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...
, Robin Riker
Robin Riker
Robin Riker is an American actress. She has guest-starred in a number of notable television series, including The Rockford Files, M*A*S*H, The A-Team, Airwolf, Murder, She Wrote, Sliders, Malcolm in the Middle, Pyramid, Six Feet Under, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch among other...
, and Michael V. Gazzo
Michael V. Gazzo
Michael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American Broadway playwright who later in life became a film and television actor....
. It follows the attempts of a police officer named David Madison and a reptile expert named Marisa Kendall to stop a deadly giant alligator that is killing humans in the sewers of Chicago.
The film received praise from critics for its intentional satirizing and, in 1991, an apparent sequel was released, titled Alligator II: The Mutation. Despite the title, this film shared no characters or actors with the original, and the plot was essentially a retread of the first film.
Plot
A teenage girl purchases a baby american alligatorAmerican Alligator
The American alligator , sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator, is a reptile endemic only to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two living species of alligator, in the genus Alligator, within the family Alligatoridae...
while on vacation with her family at a tourist trap
Tourist trap
A tourist trap is an establishment, or group of establishments, that has been created with the aim of attracting tourists and their money...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. After the family returns home to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the alligator, named Ramón by the girl, is promptly flushed down the family's toilet by her surly, animal-phobic father and ends up in the city's sewers
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
. Twelve years go by, during which the alligator not only survives, but eventually feeds on covertly discarded pet corpses that are spiked with an experimental growth formula, causing him to grow into a 36 feet (11 m)-long behemoth
Behemoth
Behemoth is a mythological beast mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.-Plural as singular:...
with an almost impenetrable hide.
The alligator begins picking off humans in the sewer, and the resulting flow of body parts draws in world-weary police officer David Madison who, after a horribly botched case in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, has gained a reputation for being lethally unlucky for his assigned partners. As David works on this new case, his boss Chief Clark brings him into contact with reptile expert Marisa Kendall, the girl who bought the alligator years earlier. The two of them edge into a prickly romantic relationship, and during a visit to Marisa's house, David bonds with her motormouthed mother.
David's reputation as a partner-killer is "confirmed" when the gator snags the young cop who accompanies David into the sewer searching for clues. No one believes David's story, partly due to a lack of a body, and partly because of Slade, the influential local tycoon who sponsored the illegal growth experiments and therefore does not want the truth to come out. This changes when obnoxious tabloid reporter Thomas Kemp (ironically, one of the banes of David's existence) goes snooping in the sewers and supplies graphic and indisputable photographic evidence of the beast at the cost of his own life. The story quickly garners public attention, and a city-wide hunt for the monster is called for. An attempt by the police to flush out Ramón comes up empty, and David is put on suspension, but then the gator literally smashes his own way out of the sewers and comes to the surface, first killing another police officer, then a young boy who gets tossed into a swimming pool during a party.
The ensuing hunt turns into a media circus, including the hiring of pompous big-game hunter Colonel Brock to track the animal. Once again, the effort fails: Brock is killed, the police trip over each other in confusion and Ramón goes on a rampage through a high-society wedding party; among his victims are Slade and the mayor. With only Marisa to help him, David finally lures the alligator into a trap back in the sewers and destroys the beast with a massive charge of explosives, barely escaping with his own life. As the film ends with David and Marisa walking away after the explosion, a drain in the sewer spits out another baby alligator, carrying the promise that the cycle will be repeated all over again...
Cast
- Robert ForsterRobert ForsterRobert Forster is an American actor, best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool, and as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, the latter of which gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.- Early life :Forster was born Robert Wallace...
as David Madison - Robin RikerRobin RikerRobin Riker is an American actress. She has guest-starred in a number of notable television series, including The Rockford Files, M*A*S*H, The A-Team, Airwolf, Murder, She Wrote, Sliders, Malcolm in the Middle, Pyramid, Six Feet Under, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch among other...
as Marisa Kendall - Michael V. GazzoMichael V. GazzoMichael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American Broadway playwright who later in life became a film and television actor....
as Chief Clark - Dean JaggerDean JaggerDean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
as Slade - Sydney Lassick as Luke Gutchel
- Jack CarterJack Carter (actor)Jack Carter was an American actor in the early twentieth century. He is most famous for having starred as Macbeth in Orson Welles' Voodoo Macbeth.-References:...
as Mayor - Perry LangPerry LangPerry Lang is an American director, writer and actor.He has directed episodes of television series such as Arli$$, ER, Millennium, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Fantasy Island, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, Army Wives, The Twilight Zone, Alias, Las Vegas, Jack & Bobby and...
as Officer Jim Kelly - Henry Silva as Col. Brock
- Bart BravermanBart BravermanBartley Louis "Bart" Braverman is an actor who is well known for guest starring on many shows. He is probably best known today for his Match Game appearances...
as Thomas Kemp - John Lisbon Wood as Mad Bomber
- James Ingersoll as Arthur Helms
- Robert Doyle as Bill Kendall
- Patti Jerome as Mrs. Madeline Kendall
- Angel TompkinsAngel TompkinsAngel Tompkins is an American actress and Golden Globe nominee, who appeared in several films and television shows.-Career:...
as Newswoman - Sue LyonSue Lyon- Lolita :Sue Lyon was 14 years old when she was cast in the role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze, the sexually charged adolescent and the object of an older man's obsessions in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film, Lolita. She was chosen for the role partly because her curvy figure suggested an older adolescent...
as ABC Newswoman - Robert HammondRobert Hammond (disambiguation)Robert Hammond is the name of:*Robert Hammond *Robert Hammond *Robert Hammond , Australian hockey player and Olympic gold medalist...
as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Location
Filming took place in and around Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Although commentary on the Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
DVD gives the location as Chicago, the police vehicles in the film appear to have Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
license plates. When the young Marisa returns home with her family from their vacation in Florida, they pass a sign that reads "Welcome to Missouri." Later, the voice of a newscaster identifies Marisa as "a native of our city," implying the location is a city in Missouri other than St. Louis.
Reception
While the film is both low-budget and derivative of the formula established by the 1975 film JawsJaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, it has regularly received praise from critics for its (intentional) satirizing and wit, lack of pretension, and the performances of the human stars. Screenwriter Sayles also penned the script for Piranha, another well-received tongue-in-cheek horror film of the era.
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times praised the film, saying, "The film's suspense is frequently as genuine as its wit and its fond awareness of the clichés it's using."
Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
was not a fan of the movie, suggesting that it would be best to "flush this movie down the toilet to see if it also grows into something big and fearsome."
The film is rated M in New Zealand and it contains violence and offensive language.
Sequel
Alligator II: The Mutation is a 1991 direct-to-videoDirect-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
sequel of Alligator (1980).
Plot
Deep in the sewers beneath the city of Regent Park, another baby alligator feeds on the experimental animals discarded by future Chemicals Corporation. Nourished by toxic growth hormones and other mutating chemicals, the gator grows immense in size and voracious appetite - now it must kill to survive ! It is a classic confrontation between man and beast - until the bloody, terrifying end!Reception
Upon its release on video, it met negative reception with critics comparing it to the first/original. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave it a 14%, IMDB gave it 3.2/10.
Video releases
On September 18, 2007, Lions Gate EntertainmentLions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
released the film on DVD for the first time in the USA. The disc features a new 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer in the original 1.78:1 ratio and a new Dolby Digital 5.1-channel sound mix in addition to the original mono mix. The included extras are a commentary track with director Lewis Teague and star Robert Forster, a featurette titled Alligator Author in which screenwriter John Sayles discusses the differences between his original story and the final screenplay, and the original theatrical trailer. The film had previously been available on dvd in other territories, including a version released in the UK in February 2003 by Anchor Bay Entertainment (now Starz). This release features an optional DTS sound mix, includes the 1991 sequel Alligator II: The Mutation on a second disc, and includes the same Teague-Forster commentary found on the recent Lions Gate US release.