Alligator.

Review #2616: Alligator.

Cast: 

Robert Forster (Detective David Madison), Robin Riker (Dr. Marisa Kendall; Leslie Brown as young Marisa), Michael V. Gazzo (Chief Clark), Dean Jagger (Slade), Sydney Lassick (Luke Gutchel), Jack Carter (Mayor Ladue), Perry Lang (Officer Jim Kell), Henry Silva (Colonel Brock), Bart Braverman (Thomas Kemp), James Ingersoll (Arthur Helms), Royce D. Applegate (Callan), and Angel Tompkins (Newswoman) Directed by Lewis Teague.

Review: 

It wouldn't be a proper time to enjoy horror without at least one creature feature, particularly in the era of everyone seemingly trying to get in on Jaws (1975). For all of the movies involving bears, whales, spiders, and piranhas, it probably isn't surprising that there had to be one involving alligators and the old urban legend about them being around in sewers (you hear a few people say every now and then that they found one) that Brandon Chase apparently was inspired to jump on the idea-wagon as a producer. Lewis Teague had all of two films as a director when he was hired with Dirty O'Neil (1974) and The Lady in Red (1979), with the screenwriter for the latter film being John Sayles (who you might remember as the co-writer of Piranha [1978]). Teague hired Sayles to deliver re-writes to the script, namely because the original draft apparently had the title creature thrive on beer from a sewer near a brewery; as such, Sayles received co-credit for the story with Frank Ray Perilli while Sayles did the screenplay. A 36-foot alligator was made out of rubber with a frame of aluminum for which two men could get in to carry the weight and move. Of course, a real alligator moves low to the ground that look a bit different from the test of the actual suit, so Teague elected to try and treat it less of a scary film and one filled with some wit, which had to basically double up for the fact that they couldn't use the creature as much as they wanted (or, in some cases, using a real gator on miniatures). Filmed around the Los Angeles area to double for a setting in the Missouri area, the movie made a bit of money for the time and Teague would end up doing a few other movies involving pets with Cujo (1983) and Cat's Eye (1985). Incidentally, when Quentin Tarantino was doing preparation for casting with Jackie Brown (1997), the type of character that Forster had played in Alligator helped stir him into casting Forster.

Sure, the movie doesn't have the fortitude to really get many fearful moments out of an really large alligator (in this case one enhanced by eating disposed animals that had growth formula in them) eating people with such a ravenous bloodlust, but it is damn fun to watch play out. You've got a well-paced runtime (91 minutes), a fairly game cast that plays it casual without going for all of the obvious jokes, what's not to like? It actually does feel like a companion to Piranha, namely with how higher-ups try to react to the bubbling developments of man-made horrors with subterfuge that at least ends the way you would hope would happen in the real world: being punished for doing so. Of course, with the gator, it just happens to go all across the city, whether that involves the streets or the suburbs or the high-rise to really show that it's an equal opportunity eater. It eats politicians, kids, and cops all the same. Forster and Riker do in fact make a capable duo together, mainly because each are fairly competent for their jobs even in the face of absurdity, whether that involves dubious history with partners for a cop or the doubts of being taken seriously as, well, a scientist. Forster has a weary type of casual nature that is inviting from the get-go, a man who reflects on his balding hair (as suggested by Forster himself) and moves along to the beat of his own drum for wiseass charm. Things can try to shake him (smarmy reporters, sneaky alligators), but he just moves along without looking like he wants to be anywhere else or just crack all the jokes. There are a few pitch-black moments involving the mayhem of alligator-on-people, mainly with the climax because if you're going to have something to culminate the endgame, you might as well involve a whole party to see the fruits of man-made labor before trying to suggest the idea that the nightmare isn't all the way over. Entertaining without straining itself in a monster mash with charm, Alligator is a movie fit for all seasons.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

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