Gator

Rating:
Summary: Sequel to "White Lightning" slams on the brakes.
Review: "White Lightning" was a fast action film that starred Burt Reynolds as ex moonshiner Gator McCluskey packing a vengeful justice. However, the character seems to have lost much of it's credibility in this sequel called "Gator". Lauren Hutton adds a little bit of flavor to the plot as Aggie, a news reporter that catches Gator's eyes (and mine too no less.) The biggest weakness in "Gator" is the extreme cruelty shown by the film's villian. The brutish acts of his new enemy, Bama McCall (played by Jerry Reed), lull the audience into a big distaste for anything the movie has to offer. For example, the scene of a drug addicted 15 year old girl lying on a bed, and obviously forced into prostitution by McCall was about enough for me to turn off the video. Despite many elements of deprevatation in the film, I thought one positive side were the comic antics of the cat loving lady, Mrs. Cavanaugh (played by Alice Ghostley). Her cats, named Red and Silver Bell, practically go everywhere with her, even when she helped break into the county records office! I laughed at the scene in which she tried to impress Irving Greenfield (played by Jack Weston), by stating, "You know, I'm gonna change Red's name to Mr. Greenfield 'cause he's so sweet." Greenfield replied with an emotionless "Geee, that's terrific." This movie has some good moments, but it is a definite let down if you see the prequel first.

Rating:
Summary: Badly directed, unfocused mess
Review: After his success in "White Lightning," Burt Reynolds decided to make his directing debut with the sequel "Gator." While Reynolds would eventually prove to be a competent director with "The End" and the excellent "Sharky's Machine," he blew it with this unfocused mess. A clumsy mixture of light comedy and violent action, with ridiculous characters and a midsection that moves like molasses, "Gator" would have derailed the career of a lesser star, but Reynolds was so big in the '70's that this film represents merely a mild career bump between early '70's highlights like "Deliverance" and "The Longest Yard" and late '70's triumphs "Smokey and the Bandit" and especially "Starting Over."

The problems are numerous: To begin with, the script is poorly constructed. It begins with an exciting boat chase as moonshiner Reynolds eludes authorities and then doesn't offer any further action sequences to top it off later in the film. Further, several characters are played strictly for laughs throughout the film and then killed off in the most violent ways imaginable. While violent deaths in serious action fare can be cathartic to the audience, (especially that of a heinous villain like Scorpio in "Dirty Harry") here it is jarring and disturbing. And Reynolds the director shows no clue whatsoever as to how to end a scene, letting some ad-libbed schtick (especially his own) run on forever until it ceases being funny and simply becomes annoying. And while the supporting cast (Jack Weston, Lauren Hutton, Burton Gilliam, Alice Ghostly) is impressive, nobody gives anything close to their best performances for their friend, er director, who doesn't exactly encourage anybody to stretch. But don't miss the first five minutes, which contains the single worst performance in the history of film: talk show host Merv Griffin (!) as a bigoted, ambitious good-ole-boy governor with presidential aspirations (!!!)

Actually the only good thing about "Gator" is the performance of Jerry Reed as the villain "Bama" McCall. Best known as Reynolds' sidekick in the "Bandit" series, Reed is cast perfectly against type and creates a memorably heinous villain. Watch his performance here and you'll understand why some of us think if his career hadn't evaporated in the early '80's he could have developed into an excellent character actor. And his title song (played over the opening credits) is also a highlight--a bouncy and fun romp in the "Amos Moses" tradition--that sets just the right tone for what should have followed: a well-paced and slightly mean action comedy, which was clearly what was intended but was ruined by amateurish adlibbing and ham-fisted attempts at comedy.

Burt Reynolds is a frustrating figure in movie history: extremely talented when guided by good directors (John Boorman, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Aldrich and "Boogie Nights"'s P.T. Anderson) but frustratingly self-destructive and ill-served by the typical B-level hacks and yes-men that he surrounded himself with. "Gator" is a perfect example of everything that was wrong with a superstar career that flamed out spectacularly in the mid '80's. If he had trusted his talent and picked his projects more wisely, who knows what might have been?

Incidentally, the DVD is presented in pan-and-scan instead of widescreen, which matters since the film was filmed in Panavision and suffers greatly when cut up for fullscreen presentations. Why Reynolds films, no matter what studio releases them, seem to be exclusively presented on DVD in pan-and-scan is beyond me. Even weak films like this should be seen in their original format. That's why this DVD rates * instead of **. Thanks for nothing MGM/UA.

Rating:
Summary: Badly directed, unfocused mess
Review: After his success in "White Lightning," Burt Reynolds decided to make his directing debut with the sequel "Gator." While Reynolds would eventually prove to be a competent director with "The End" and the excellent "Sharky's Machine," he blew it with this unfocused mess. A clumsy mixture of light comedy and violent action, with ridiculous characters and a midsection that moves like molasses, "Gator" would have derailed the career of a lesser star, but Reynolds was so big in the '70's that this film represents merely a mild career bump between early '70's highlights like "Deliverance" and "The Longest Yard" and late '70's triumphs "Smokey and the Bandit" and especially "Starting Over."

The problems are numerous: To begin with, the script is poorly constructed. It begins with an exciting boat chase as moonshiner Reynolds eludes authorities and then doesn't offer any further action sequences to top it off later in the film. Further, several characters are played strictly for laughs throughout the film and then killed off in the most violent ways imaginable. While violent deaths in serious action fare can be cathartic to the audience, (especially that of a heinous villain like Scorpio in "Dirty Harry") here it is jarring and disturbing. And Reynolds the director shows no clue whatsoever as to how to end a scene, letting some ad-libbed schtick (especially his own) run on forever until it ceases being funny and simply becomes annoying. And while the supporting cast (Jack Weston, Lauren Hutton, Burton Gilliam, Alice Ghostly) is impressive, nobody gives anything close to their best performances for their friend, er director, who doesn't exactly encourage anybody to stretch. But don't miss the first five minutes, which contains the single worst performance in the history of film: talk show host Merv Griffin (!) as a bigoted, ambitious good-ole-boy governor with presidential aspirations (!!!)

Actually the only good thing about "Gator" is the performance of Jerry Reed as the villain "Bama" McCall. Best known as Reynolds' sidekick in the "Bandit" series, Reed is cast perfectly against type and creates a memorably heinous villain. Watch his performance here and you'll understand why some of us think if his career hadn't evaporated in the early '80's he could have developed into an excellent character actor. And his title song (played over the opening credits) is also a highlight--a bouncy and fun romp in the "Amos Moses" tradition--that sets just the right tone for what should have followed: a well-paced and slightly mean action comedy, which was clearly what was intended but was ruined by amateurish adlibbing and ham-fisted attempts at comedy.

Burt Reynolds is a frustrating figure in movie history: extremely talented when guided by good directors (John Boorman, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Aldrich and "Boogie Nights"'s P.T. Anderson) but frustratingly self-destructive and ill-served by the typical B-level hacks and yes-men that he surrounded himself with. "Gator" is a perfect example of everything that was wrong with a superstar career that flamed out spectacularly in the mid '80's. If he had trusted his talent and picked his projects more wisely, who knows what might have been?

Incidentally, the DVD is presented in pan-and-scan instead of widescreen, which matters since the film was filmed in Panavision and suffers greatly when cut up for fullscreen presentations. Why Reynolds films, no matter what studio releases them, seem to be exclusively presented on DVD in pan-and-scan is beyond me. Even weak films like this should be seen in their original format. That's why this DVD rates * instead of **. Thanks for nothing MGM/UA.

Rating:
Summary: Badly directed, unfocused mess
Review: After his success in "White Lightning," Burt Reynolds decided to make his directing debut with the sequel "Gator." While Reynolds would eventually prove to be a competent director with "The End" and the excellent "Sharky's Machine," he blew it with this unfocused mess. A clumsy mixture of light comedy and violent action, with ridiculous characters and a midsection that moves like molasses, "Gator" would have derailed the career of a lesser star, but Reynolds was so big in the '70's that this film represents merely a mild career bump between early '70's highlights like "Deliverance" and "The Longest Yard" and late '70's triumphs "Smokey and the Bandit" and especially "Starting Over."

The problems are numerous: To begin with, the script is poorly constructed. It begins with an exciting boat chase as moonshiner Reynolds eludes authorities and then doesn't offer any further action sequences to top it off later in the film. Further, several characters are played strictly for laughs throughout the film and then killed off in the most violent ways imaginable. While violent deaths in serious action fare can be cathartic to the audience, (especially that of a heinous villain like Scorpio in "Dirty Harry") here it is jarring and disturbing. And Reynolds the director shows no clue whatsoever as to how to end a scene, letting some ad-libbed schtick (especially his own) run on forever until it ceases being funny and simply becomes annoying. And while the supporting cast (Jack Weston, Lauren Hutton, Burton Gilliam, Alice Ghostly) is impressive, nobody gives anything close to their best performances for their friend, er director, who doesn't exactly encourage anybody to stretch. But don't miss the first five minutes, which contains the single worst performance in the history of film: talk show host Merv Griffin (!) as a bigoted, ambitious good-ole-boy governor with presidential aspirations (!!!)

Actually the only good thing about "Gator" is the performance of Jerry Reed as the villain "Bama" McCall. Best known as Reynolds' sidekick in the "Bandit" series, Reed is cast perfectly against type and creates a memorably heinous villain. Watch his performance here and you'll understand why some of us think if his career hadn't evaporated in the early '80's he could have developed into an excellent character actor. And his title song (played over the opening credits) is also a highlight--a bouncy and fun romp in the "Amos Moses" tradition--that sets just the right tone for what should have followed: a well-paced and slightly mean action comedy, which was clearly what was intended but was ruined by amateurish adlibbing and ham-fisted attempts at comedy.

Burt Reynolds is a frustrating figure in movie history: extremely talented when guided by good directors (John Boorman, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Aldrich and "Boogie Nights"'s P.T. Anderson) but frustratingly self-destructive and ill-served by the typical B-level hacks and yes-men that he surrounded himself with. "Gator" is a perfect example of everything that was wrong with a superstar career that flamed out spectacularly in the mid '80's. If he had trusted his talent and picked his projects more wisely, who knows what might have been?

Incidentally, the DVD is presented in pan-and-scan instead of widescreen, which matters since the film was filmed in Panavision and suffers greatly when cut up for fullscreen presentations. Why Reynolds films, no matter what studio releases them, seem to be exclusively presented on DVD in pan-and-scan is beyond me. Even weak films like this should be seen in their original format. That's why this DVD rates * instead of **. Thanks for nothing MGM/UA.

Rating:
Summary: TCM to the Rescue: Widescreen "Gator"
Review: Gator fans, forget the long-overdue-but-mightily-disappointing DVD. Lucky cable subscribers need to look no further than Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for a 2.35:1 presentation of Gator (the ENTIRE film, not just the opening/closing credits a la the DVD). Plus, as anyone who watches knows, TCM also means uncut and commerical-free. I was fortunate enough to catch a 4:30am TCM-premiere of Gator on Thursday 9/23/04. Unfortunately, the film began ten minutes later than advertised so, of course, my VCR timer shut off with still several minutes to go. Oh well. No choice but to keep an eye out for the next airing which, unfortunately, won't be for at least another two months (if then, even). Still, give me a widescreeen VHS over a full-frame DVD any day---of any film.

Rating:
Summary: Gotta Get GATOR!
Review: Gator is pure guilty pleasure. Burt Reynolds directed and stared in this 1976 follow up to the excellent WHITE LIGHTNING. This time the feds don't want Gator for running moonshine, but to go undercover to get evidence on his boyhood pal Bama McCall (Jerry Reed). Lots of action , fighting, boat chases and Reynolds signature style. The movie gets 5 stars but not the DVD. The transfer is incredible compared to the old VHS tape, but sadly the DVD is only FULL FRAME the movie was shot in SCOPE, so most of the picture is cropped off. It would have been nice to have a commentary track from at least Burt Reynolds, since this was his first directorial debut.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the movie, not the format
Review: I have always enjoyed Burt Reynolds movies and "Gator" is no exception. Oh sure, don't expect any of Burt's offerings to be placed in nomination for any awards, but they are extremely entertaining and always action oriented.

I'm however saddened that the powers-to-be have again chosen to put yet another Burt Reynolds DVD movie out in that dreaded "full screen" format. I just don't understand the rational for some of his best movies like "Sharky's Machine" and "Hooper" and now "Gator" to be released like this. To me, it is akin to buying a "Rolls Royce" with a VW engine.

You will thoroughly enjoy the movie if don't have any preference as to it's format, but I will never again knowingly purchase a DVD in full screen format when it should be in it's theatrically released format, because for me, that is one of the important reasons I am buying DVD's in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the movie, not the format
Review: I have always enjoyed Burt Reynolds movies and "Gator" is no exception. Oh sure, don't expect any of Burt's offerings to be placed in nomination for any awards, but they are extremely entertaining and always action oriented.

I'm however saddened that the powers-to-be have again chosen to put yet another Burt Reynolds DVD movie out in that dreaded "full screen" format. I just don't understand the rational for some of his best movies like "Sharky's Machine" and "Hooper" and now "Gator" to be released like this. To me, it is akin to buying a "Rolls Royce" with a VW engine.

You will thoroughly enjoy the movie if don't have any preference as to it's format, but I will never again knowingly purchase a DVD in full screen format when it should be in it's theatrically released format, because for me, that is one of the important reasons I am buying DVD's in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Gator finds love and revenge
Review: Maybe Gator lacks some of the flair found in "White Lightning", but it more than makes up for that with a little more fleshing out of the characters. Probably one of Lauren Hutton's best roles. Jack Weston is gnarly old gumshoe, who is instantly likeable. Alice Ghostley plays a lovable character and Jerry Reed plays one of his two best villain roles ever. This is not an academy award winner, but it isn't meant to be. Good ol' Burt puts on as good an escapist movie, with lots of action as anyone. Sit down with some popcorn and enjoy this one. It's FUN!

Rating:
Summary: This review is for "Floridians" only.
Review: Once upon a time, "Buddy" Reynolds, star footballer for Florida State was recuperating from an injury at home in Riviera Beach and attending Palm Beach Junior College to keep up with his studies. The head of the English department, Watson B. Duncan III, saw him one day on campus and asked him to read for a role in a play that P.B.J.C. was doing. According to Duncan, this was the beginning of Burt Reynolds' acting career. Years later, Burt honored his beloved teacher (Duncan was beloved by all who knew him) by having him play the press secretary to the Governor in his movie "Gator." The movie is a fun movie. All are having a great time. The cast is a hoot. Easy going Jerry Reed plays the heavy, Burt, the hero (of course), and the rest of the ensemble is a delight. This is light fair with a moral and it is a lot of fun to view.