Vigilante

1982
R
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

4.7K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:41

3 Videos

99+ Photos

Action Crime Thriller

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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

4.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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 reviews69

Review

Featured review

8/10

A moving & motivational film with No Loose Ends

A rough, raw film with The Best opening scene/speech of all films I have seen. You gotta see it. Fred (with a manly beard) Williamson rebuking and motivating the apathetic and down-trodden souls. Man with a vision - a man of action.

The things I like about this movie are the raw realism - one can identify with the pain and suffering and initial reluctance on the part of the lead actor to join with the visionary vigilantes - until something happens to them personally.

The corruption and unrighteous judgments in the court system are legendary and this facet of life in America is not left out - to this film's credit and a rebuke to so many other movies that leave loose ends hanging around to do more damage.

A classic vigilante movie, actually better than Death Wish I think. Add it to your collection.