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Illustration : Unknown |
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The Vigilante |
William Lustig | US | 1982 |
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William Lustig
was probably accused of playing it a little safe after the hugely
controversial Maniac,
but it would be inaccurate to dismiss Vigilante
as just a Death
Wish
(1974) clone. Arguably Lustig’s
best work, he made a film that the average man from the savage streets
of early 80s New York could relate to. This is New York at is most ugly
— a city on the edge of the crack epidemic. This is the New
York of 1982: corrupt, dirty and definitely not Disney friendly. Robert Forster
plays Eddie Marino, an Italian-American who believes in America. Tucked
away in suburbia with his wife and young son, he works hard and lives
for quality time with his family. Approached by Nick (Fred
Williamson)
to join his vigilante group, Marino dismisses them: ‘What? We gonna
start beating guys because of the way they part their hair?’ When his wife confronts a gang of hoodlums terrorizing an older man, you know it is going to end badly. Taking refuge at home, she calls the police, who dismiss her cry for help. Suddenly the gang come bursting through the door. Eddie’s wife is near-fatally stabbed and in one of the most brutal scenes in the movie his son is blasted to death with a shotgun. The distressed Marino wants justice, and as he believes in America, he leaves the wheels of legal justice to turn. But, what Eddie does not bank on, is the law being no better than the thugs who killed his son and maimed his wife. Enter Joe Spinell as Einsberg — as corrupt a lawyer as you could imagine. The gang’s leader Rico (played by salsa legend Willie Cólon, who also provided some of the soundtrack), pays some substantial kickback money to secure his freedom, which Judge Sinclair (Vincent Beck) happily obliges. Enraged at the lenient suspended sentence, Marino vents his outrage at the court, getting 30 days for contempt. Whilst serving his jail sentence, Marino meets Rake (Woody Strode), who convinces him to re-assess his stance on the American justice system. So, after release, Eddie decides to take Nick up on his offer: he joins the gang becoming judge, jury and executioner. No suspended sentences: the price you pay for wronging the innocent is death. After pulling the trigger for the first time, he tries (and fails) to rebuild his relationship with his wife; all she wants to do is forget, but with her husband still in her life, she feels she can never move on. This rejection only motivates Marino more in dealing with those who have destroyed his and others’ lives. He becomes more dangerous, because as of now, he has nothing to lose…
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The true beauty of the movie lies in the
canvas that the
movie is shot on. New York City comes across in many movies as a
character in its own right, and in Vigilante this is no different.
Complementing this is Jay
Chattaway’s
notable
synthesiser score, which punctuates and paces the movie in a very
subtle way. Writer Richard
Vetere
supplies some very
memorable dialogue: Fred
Williamson’s
impassioned
speech imploring those who want to take the streets back is endlessly
quotable ‘This
is our
Waterloo, baby! You want your city back? You gotta take it. Dig it?
Take it!’ aka : Vigilante cast : Robert Forster, Fred Williamson,
Richard Bright, Rutanya Alda, Don Blakely, Joseph Carberry, Willie
Colon, Joe Spinell, Carol Lynley, Woody Strode, Vincent Beck, Bo
Rucker, Frank Pesce, Steve W. James, Randy Jurgensen, Henry Judd Baker,
Dante Joseph, Vincent Russo, Donna Patti, Peter Savage, Mike Miller,
Hyla Marrow, Frank Gio
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