Vigilante

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Fred Williamson and William Lustig films. You put these two together and it is a sure classic. Robert Forster plays an apprehensive protagonist. His character starts out questioning the morals of the group of vigilantes led by Williamson, but soon after the plot's unfolding conflict with a local gang he begins to reconsider. Although the story seems very played out for revenge flicks of this time, Vigilante gives a fresh feel by mixing urban action films and spaghetti westerns. William Lustig even said at one point that this movie was meant to be a nod to the Italian revenge films. 

Another notable part of this film that really stands out is the music. It has a very spaghetti western sound to it. It sounded almost like some of the later scores that Ennio Morricone and John Carpenter worked together on. Unfortunately the soundtrack is very hard to come by. Fania records put out a record with the songs by Willie Colón (who also plays the gang leader in the film) and Hector Lavoe but nothing from the score is on this album. I was hoping with the recent Blu-ray release of the movie from Blue Underground someone would release it but no such luck. Maybe someday...

This is still one of my favorite revenge movies and if you haven's seen it... hunt a copy down now!


I have a copy of the Italian "sequel" to Vigilante, Street Law (starring Django himself, Franco Nero) coming next week. Maybe I will do a follow up review.

Check out the trailer for Vigilante!