ThiefHott
Too much of everything
Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
moonspinner55
Mutant alligator--30-40 feet in length--was once flushed down the toilet as a baby, and for the last 12 years has been surviving in the Missouri sewers on the discarded pet carcasses from a pharmaceutical laboratory injecting their animal subjects with an experimental synthetic form of testosterone. Homicide detective Robert Forster, besieged with unanswerable questions from the media after severed limbs begin popping up in the water canals, investigates. Half black-humored thriller in the wake of "Jaws", scored with what appears to be a "Jaws" parody soundtrack (or it could be an homage, though it's most likely just a rip-off). Forster gives a seasoned, well-rounded performance, though I'm not sure his dramatic weight and conviction is what screenwriter John Sayles had in mind here. Is the movie just a quickie product made to cash-in on the 'freakish animal' fad or a project taken seriously by those involved? Certainly Sayles' environmental message is meant to give us pause--and Forster's burnt-out detective is an instantly identifiable characterization--but all this in the service of a picture about a hungry alligator on a feeding frenzy? *1/2 from ****
Leofwine_draca
John Sayles was a man responsible for writing some of the funniest, most affectionate monster movie follow-ups to JAWS. THE HOWLING is a mega-successful, universally-loved werewolf movie and PIRANHA one of the most purely entertaining B-movies of all time. ALLIGATOR is much the same as PIRANHA, a slightly silly, overblown B-movie with a large canvas, exquisite attention to detail and finely drawn characters.Usually with these monster movies you have to wait an age before the action begins but not so here. Things open in the thick of it as we're drawn into a murky conspiracy involving a pet shop owner selling dogs to an unscrupulous scientist at a research institute. The bad news is that he disposes of the genetically-engineered bodies in the local sewer system, where an alligator has been feeding on them for the past twelve years. Now the alligator is a huge, hulking monster ready to chow down on human flesh.Into this mess is thrown permanently bemused cop Robert Forster (VIGILANTE) in what is my favourite performance of his to date. He delivers a wry comic turn as the cop in way over his head, struggling to cope with stodgy superiors, an attractive female scientist sidekick and a receding hairline to boot. Robin Riker makes an impact as the love interest, far from the usual irritating sidekick we see in these films: she's feisty, strong-willed and more than a match for Forster.There are a couple of notable turns from veteran performers, including an ancient Dean Jagger (X THE UNKNOWN) as the murky figure behind the conspiracy and a scenery-chewing Henry Silva, clearly relishing his role as an over-the-top big game hunter who's determined to track down the beast. Watching Silva gather together a trio of 'gang bangers' to act as his native bearers was a highlight for me. The rest of the film is of the usual type: monster attacks, the authorities attempting to retaliate, then a pulse-pounding climax. Sayles shows a refreshingly realistic mean spirit here (a kid gets chewed after jumping in his swimming pool) and there are severed limbs galore.Director Lewis Teague should also be applauded for keeping his film lean and mean with a great pacing and some very well staged alligator attacks. These come in the form of full-size models plus a regular-sized alligator wrecking miniature scenery. I found the alligator scenes to be delivered with aplomb, especially the grisly attack on the wedding party at the climax which really delivers the outrageous goods. The sewer-based climax, with a sweaty Forster going up against the critter with a backpack full of dynamite, is very well handled too. You guessed it, I loved this movie, it's everything I could want from a B-movie monster flick. A sequel, ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION, followed ten years later...
OllieSuave-007
This is a typical 80s B-movie, a story where Chicago is terrorized by a larger-than-life alligator, who as a baby was flushed down the toilet and grew to over 36 feet long over the years by feeding on discarded lab animals injected with growth hormones.Robert Forster plays cop David Madison, who is leading the charge to track down and destroy the reptile, and Robin Riker plays reptile expert Dr. Marisa Kendall, who teams up with Madison in the hunt. The two have decent acting and good on-screen chemistry, and they carried the movie over the more campy supporting cast members (Michael Gazzo's Chief Clark character sounded like he smokes 20 packs a day and Dean Jagger's Slade character doesn't know the meaning of speaking clearly).There are plenty of alligator action (the special and visual effects for it were quite good), chomping its way through those unfortunate enough to get caught in his path, and plenty of spills and screams as the creature makes its way out of the sewers and into lakes and swimming pools. But, the plot went all over the place from the middle of the movie towards the end. Alligator scenes shifted back and forth quickly to scenes with Forster and Kendall courting, which I thought takes away the tension and thrills of the film. The cop's investigation scenes are interrupted by the unnecessary subplot with the Brock character (Henry Silva), which deviated from the story's momentum. He didn't have much screen time to serve an elaborate role in the movie.Overall, it's basically a monster-on-the-loose movie, with plenty of action, but limited suspense.Grade C-
thesar-2
In the second half of the 1970s, and beginning of the 1980s, whenever a movie that blatantly ripped off Jaws never fully upset me for two reasons: I loved When Animals Attack movies of that era and they only made me appreciate the masterpiece Jaws was all the more.To be fair, 1980's Alligator isn't a complete duplicate of 1975's Jaws. Alligator had its own ideas, settings and some clever ideas, but for the most part, it was the A-B-C of the When Animals Attack genre that Jaws pretty much shot to popularity.I'm no expert, but kids, or well, anyone, having a baby gator as a pet? Really? But, anyways, a child brings home said baby alligator and, rightfully – or not, per this movie's plot – the dad flushes the little man-eater down the toilet. Twelve years later, baby's grown up, way up…or, more accurately out?The movie goes through the typical in-the-shadows death here, questions there, cop from the beginning who asks all the right questions slowly becomes the sole hero, more shadowy deaths, finally people believe said hero and the beast emerges into the light for more terror.While not that bad, and sometimes scary, it's an effective way to get your 80s When Animals Attack fix. But, I must say this: I'm a fan of Robert Forster – Jackie Brown's one of my favorite movies and he was born in my hometown (irrelevant, but still) – but, damn, please put back on your shirt you take off too many times here. You might have inadvertently given Harrison Ford, in his later years and roles, the wrong idea about when it's okay to bare a bland chest…It's never okay when the camera's rolling.* * * Final thoughts: I honestly remember this movie, but I'm equally honest that I don't remember if I had seen it all the way through before. I absolutely remember the eerie opening when the dad flushes the baby gator – and in perfect 1980s, that one act terrifies me because the phrase "Oh, this can't be good" fits the mood. And I slightly remember the effective limo scene attack towards the ending. I had never, nor since, been afraid of alligators, but this movie certainly made an argument for me to be.
