Alligator (1980)

Little Ramon is all grown-up, 20 September 2007

A young girl brings a baby alligator home to Chicago from Florida. Her father doesn't care about Ramon the alligator and promptly flushes him down the toilet. After 12 years of a diet that includes the waste from a growth hormone lab, little Ramon is all grown-up. In fact, he's now a 36 foot mutant giant of an alligator. When people start going missing and random body parts start showing up, the police correctly suspect that something is going on in Chicago's sewer system. A disgraced cop named David Madison (Robert Forster) and reptile expert Marisa Kendall (Robin Riker) team up to track down the killer before more lives are lost.

I think I've asked this before, but I'll do it again – how many "Man vs. Nature" movies did the success of Jaws inspire? Almost every animal I can think of took its turn stalking and killing man. Some of these Jaws-inspired movies, like Piranha for example, are at the very least entertaining movies. Others, like Devil Fish, are complete garbage. Alligator falls into the "entertaining" category with me. That shouldn't come as a surprise as the script was written by John Sayles, who was also responsible for Piranha. Sure, Alligator might not be the kind of movie to win an award or change the world, but it is a very fun way to spend about 90 minutes. Part of the reason is that Alligator doesn't try to pretend to be anything other than it is – a simple story that attempts to cash-in on the success of Jaws. Everything from the similar music cues to the POV alligator shots as it attacks its prey to the way the alligator comes busting out of the sewer is eerily similar and reminiscent of Jaws. But can you really blame the people behind Alligator?" It worked with a shark – why not an alligator?

But Alligator has more going for it than its unabashed Jaws inspiration that other similar movies often lack. Two that I'll mention are the acting and the special effects. Both Robert Forster and Robin Riker give nice performances. Forster, in particular, plays his character with a sense of reality often missing in these kinds of movies. I particularly appreciated the very human and real touches like mentioning his receding hairline. Nicely done! As for the special effects, the alligator looks as good as a mechanical alligator in 1980 could look. It's obvious that efforts were made to present a realistic creature. Lesser movies would have probably done it "on the cheap" and the end result wouldn't have been nearly as pleasing. Again, nicely done!

7/10