Vigilante 4K 1982 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

After thugs attack his wife and kill the son of New York worker Eddie Marino, he joins a secret illegal group of punitive ex-policemen. They pursue and kill criminals who have previously gotten away with everything because of court connivance.

Review 4K Movie

During the eighties, the decade-old DEATH WISH template was alive and kicking ass. Not like the Charles Bronson classic invented the revenge theme, but when it came to law without order and giving the streets back to the people, for VIGILANTE it was the more, the merrier...

Robert Forster stars as, like Bronson, an average family man who winds up seeking revenge, but unlike Chuck he's far from alone. Fred Williamson leads a group of working class tough guys including THE GODFATHER bodyguard Richard Bright and SHORT EYES scene-stealer Joe Carberry, who were beating up muggers/rapists before our hero got into the swing of things...

And that's after an ultra-violent child death sequence (edited out of most VHS versions) as ultra-violent MANIAC director William Lustig (using Joe Spinell as a slimy lawyer) holds very little back in an action flick juggling between two equally important elements...

Whether it's Forster's prison stint following a courtroom outrage after the nefarious STREET GANG (the original title) got off with his son's murder, or Williamson and company taking out connected pimps and pushers, VIGILANTE throws everything into the pot, and almost entirely succeeds...

By the last act, when Forster takes over, leaving Fred's group riding proverbial shotgun and then backseat, it becomes a high octane programmer limping towards a conclusion. Before that, VIGILANTE feels like there's no end in sight with something new around every edgy street corner...

Also featuring Frank Pesce as a drug dealer; Vincent Beck as a crooked, paid-off judge; the late Carol Lynley as a put-upon district attorney; Richard Bright's real-life wife Rutanya Alda as Foster's better half, standing up to gang leader Willie Colon, who provides an awesome guitar/keyboard opening track; and his main hit man played by Don Blakely, who's not the only gritty cult veteran on board since VIGILANTE involves the who's-who of crime-exploitation tough guys that, throughout their careers, have played on both sides of the law. And always bad ass.