Vigilante (1982)

It's a given that in a vigilante movie, the bad guys have to be utterly irredeemable scumbags in order to maintain audience sympathy for the protagonists as they slaughter them without mercy in the film's second half.  Director/producer William Lustig certainly doesn't skimp in this respect - the street gang raising everybody's ire in his Vigilante (1982) really are a bunch of complete degenerates.  In between their usual harassment of the elderly, stabbings, beatings, robberies, home invasions and rapes, one of them even finds time to blow away a small child with a double barrelled shotgun.  You just know that the child's father, hitherto law-abiding blue collar worker Robert Forster, is going to be sent so far over the edge by this that he's going to end up joining buddy Fred Williamson's vigilante band.  Indeed, in terms of content, the film is strictly by the book as far as films about street justice go: all the familiar tropes are there - greasy bent lawyers and corrupt judges ensuring that the gang's leader gets off Scot free, the hero finding himself on the wrong side of the law and ending up behind bars for contempt after an angry courtroom outburst and the escalating cycle of violence as he starts to take his revenge.  What sets Vigilante apart from a thousand other low budget revenge movies, though, is its treatment of the subject matter.  When Forster's character winds up in prison, still refusing to countenance Williamson's approach to justice, the plot splits into two strands, one following Forster's brutal prison experiences, the other Williamson and co as they try to eliminate a neighbourhood drug problem by tracking down and eliminating the kingpin financing it.  

Naturally, Forster's experiences inside - fighting off various violent inmates who operate with the collusion of the guards - ultimately desensitise him toward the use of violence as a legitimate means of defence.  In parallel, the ruthless beatings handed out by Willamson's group in their quest for information, culminating in the gunning down of a local Mafia figure, underline just how desensitised to violence that they have become on the outside, thanks to their constant exposure to violent crime.  The message is clear - even if the criminals are caught and sent to jail, their experience there will ensure that they come out hardened violent offenders, but if you stay outside, even as a law-abiding citizen, the daily experience of modern urban violent crime will turn you into a violent bastard as well.  A bleak perspective emphasised by subsequent plot developments, with Forster's revenge killing of the gang leader (assisted by Williamson's vigilantes), results in collateral damage, as Williamson guns down a gun-toting prostitute at the scene and the rest of the gang, wrongly believing that corrupt cops had killed their leader in a shakedown gone wrong, instigate a series of police killings.  Sickened by the fact that he has killed a man, who, it turns out wasn't the one who pulled the trigger on his infant son, Forster prepares to leave town.  On his way out, though, he spots the gang member who was responsible for the murder, resulting in a series of chases on foot and by car, culminating in Forster finding that having killed once, killing again isn't as difficult, especially when fueled by rage.  The film ends with him completely desensitised and cold bloodedly taking out others he blames for creating the situation, starting with the crooked judge.

The message, once again, is clear: the whole system is rotten to the core and the only hope of changing anything is to tear it down.  Not, perhaps, a terribly original message, but one that Vigilante expounds surprisingly well.  Lustig wisely avoids anything too graphic - the child's murder, for instance, isn't shown in any detail, likewise the attack and sexual assault on his mother - but his depiction of the violence, in large part through implication, is nonetheless disturbing and effective.  That said, while he avoids he graphic, the film still has plenty of satisfying action, from Williamson chasing a drug dealer on foot around a derelict site, to the climactic car chase, which is extremely well staged and very exciting.  Despite a low budget, the film has good production values, with Lustig making excellent use of his New York settings - all run down urban neighbourhoods, derelict buildings and abandoned industrial facilities, with Winter shooting making them look even bleaker.  The whole thing has a terrific, gritty look, with grey being the dominant colour, with the entire city seeming inhospitable: any public building, be it a court, a hospital or a prison, feels equally impersonal and unwelcoming.  

The script, by Richard Vetere, handles the whole question of the legitimacy of vigilantism well, with Williamson's group initially presented to the audience as simply part of the community, offering the sort of protection to vulnerable citizens that the police and justice system seemingly cannot.  But as we witness more of their activities and their ruthless and violent pursuit of those behind the local drug trade, their actions start seeming far more questionable, sinister even, as it becomes clear that their motivations might not be altogether altruistic, as they all too often seem to be getting a kick from their use of violence.  Obviously, the more violence they use, the more desensitised to it they become, so it has to be escalated each time in order to get that kick.  Forster, of course, follows a similar course as he navigates prison life, finding that, just as on the streets, there are no safe places - a brutal fight in the showers driving home the point as a naked Forster has to face a pair of vicious thugs. Interestingly, the script presents its plot not as a detailed narrative, but rather as a series of set-pieces - the home invasion, the court room sequences, the prison scenario, etc - with the sort of detailed expository linking scenes you'd expect largely missing.  The result is a fast-paced, staccato rhythm, but never confusing, as, despite the lack of detailed exposition, it is always clear where the film is going.

As with many of his other films, Lustig doesn't let a lack of budget prevent him from putting together a pretty decent cast who can more than do the subject matter justice.  Robert Forster, an actor hugely underrated for much of his career, gives a powerful performance in the lead, his character left both shell-shocked and bewildered by the violence that has been visited, out of the blue, upon his family, clinging to the idea that following the rules will bring him justice.  Fred Williamson makes for a great and highly convincing urban vigilante, hardened by the constant violence he sees around him.  Rutanya Alder is somewhat underused as Forster's wife, who unwittingly sparks off events by standing up to the gang leader at a gas station, but nonetheless gives a good performance in her scenes.  Willie Colon and Don Blakely as the two main gang members give suitably scuzzy performances, delivering a pair of truly hateful characters.  Carol Lynley has an extended cameo as a crusading Assistant DA ultimately defeated by the system, while the great Joe Spinell has a small, but memorable role as a slimy and corrupt lawyer.  Woody Strode is an old prison lag who helps Forster, Richard Bright is one of Williamson's vigilantes and Vincent Beck the dodgy Judge.  All give memorable performances that greatly enhance the film.  I've never yet seen a William Lustig film that I didn't enjoy and Vigilante is no exception.  It moves briskly, has good dialogue and performances, develops its plot with clarity and logic and delivers the goods in terms of action and incident.  Most notably, it doesn't fall into the usual traps that bedevil too many other vigilante movies: it neither appears to endorse the actions of its protagonists, nor does it lecture its audience on the evils of taking the law into one's own hands, instead opting to allow them to make up their own minds.