Mar 07 2009
“Alligator” (1980) ***
Preview
Starring: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick, Jack Carter, Perry Lang, Henry Silva, Bart Braverman, James Ingersoll, Robert Doyle, and Patti Jerome.
Directed by: Lewis Teague.
Story:
A teenage girl purchases a baby alligator during vacation with her family in Florida. After returning to Chicago, Ramon the alligator (that’s what she names it) gets flushed down the toilet by her father who is an animal phobic of sorts. The baby alligator ends up in the city’s sewers. Twelve years later, the alligator has survived and has recently begun feeding on covertly discarded corpses of other pets that were the guinea pigs for an experimental growth formula. As a result, the gator is now approximately 30-40 feet long.
When the gator begins picking off humans, it grabs the attention of police officer David Madison who seems to have a bad reputation for losing his assigned partners after a botched case in St. Louis. Madison soon meets reptile expert Marisa Kendall, who turns out to be the teenage girl from the beginning; when the gator soon reaches the surface of the city for new territory, they must team up to track down and kill the alligator before it causes any further harm.
Characters:
*David Madison (Robert Forster): A police officer with a bad stroke of luck for losing all the partners that he’s assigned, whether it’s a botched case from his past or from an alligator.
*Marisa Kendall (Robin Riker): The gorgeous eye candy, err, reptile expert whose father is responsible for the alligator ending up in the sewer in the first place.
*Chief Clark (Michael V. Gazzo): Madison’s supervisor who could also pass for Lil’ Wayne’s father if he keeps up that voice.
*Slade (Dean Jagger): The local tycoon who is also responsible for the alligator as he is the one secretly disposing of pets who were the results of his growth experiments.
*Col. Brock (Henry Silva): A big game animal hunter who is hired to track and kill the animal.
*Thomas Kemp (Bart Braverman): A nosy tabloid reporter who gets a little too deep in the sewer for his own good.
*Bill Kendall (Robert Doyle): Marisa’s animal phobic father who flushed the alleged alligator down the toilet in the beginning.
*Mrs. Madeline Kendall (Patti Jerome): Marisa’s mother who loves to talk non-stop.
Overall:
I had no idea that a “Jaws” clone existed until I watched “Alligator”. Roy Schieder is replaced by Robert Forster, the shark by an alligator, and the water by a city/sewer environment. The film is pretty much predictable, I really don’t have to tell you what happens when and where, just watch “Jaws”. However, the film’s intentional humor and wit does work, but it certainly reeks of low budget cliche-ness all throughout. Some parts are just boring, take the opening sequence and the first act for instance.
The film does get interesting when the creature decides to come up to the city surface for new territory, providing a full-length shot of the alligator that looks like it’s eerily out of one of today’s big special effects shots. “Jaws” is simply a better and far more interesting film to watch than this trite, “Alligator” is nowhere near being special. The final shot of the movie has to be the most cliche of them all. Who knows, maybe the film might turn into something scary if it was flushed down the toilet as well.
Rating: ***
