Gator
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Movie Reviews of Gator
Movie Review: ***1/2 stars. not that bad.
Summary: 3 Stars
i think it's pretty incredible how much the ratings have changed throughout the years,hence the PG rating.this movie would be PG-13 today and you still wouldn't be able to have the rawness generated by this movie's and the era's film style.this is a reminder of why '70's cinema is so influential as opposed to todays overly polished style.i was suprised to see that Reynolds directed this film and he doesn't do that bad of a job.the stunts are incredible! i wonder if any of the stunt people died making this film because alot of the stunts are unreal. you sure don't see that nowadays. the always good jerry reed also stars and plays a great bad guy.a young lauren hutton stars and acts pretty good as well does reynolds.i guess why i give this only 3 1/2 stars is because it's not that great of a film.there were some things that suprised me besides the stunts and reynolds acting,which i won't mention here.but the love lines in the film and the ending are what especially made me decide upon my rating.these two elements could have been better,as well as the choice of song at the end.thought they should have used another Reed song instead.overall this is a better movie than i had expected and recommend seeing it at least once.Reynolds and Reed fans should like it just fine.Movie Review: For love of 70's only. For love of 70's.
Summary: 3 Stars
Ever the champion for 70's movies, I loved the look back at the era this flick provided. I love Jerry Reed. Don't really care what he's doing, just enjoy his presence. Annnndddd that's about all the good I can say regarding this powerhouse display of no talent.
Burt is pushing the laid-back, oddball "Burt" laugh wayyyy too much, to the point of nausea. The lead investigator displays emotional reactions and facial expressions that are dramatically unnecessary. It's like he had emotive Turret's.
Plot's as simple as they come but then, that's to be forgiven as most plots were birthed in the 70's and are now merely rehashed in newer versions. It's a saving grace for 70's films. The action sequences are just...sigh.
Let's just say, if you feel about the 70's like I do, then rent. If not, you'll probably have a better time with whatever uncompleted house chores you may have.
Movie Review: This is a pretty bad movie folks.
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought my copy of this movie at the pawn shop and paid $3, and that may have been too much considering how bad the movie really is. It's hard to know where to begin and it's late and I'm tired. I can say that Jerry Reed played a pretty good and sleazy Bama McCall. His henchman, the GIANT was also a treat as was SMILEY. What was pretty bad in the movie was the awful plot. The romance between Burt and Lauren Hutten seemed like an afterthought and it simply made me nauseated. And how shocking it was that the Government man from New York was KILLED along with the lady who worked in the Dunston Court house. Both of those characters were FUN and comedic and they both went on to DIE HORRIBLE DEATHS, one by double barrel sawed off shotgun and the other by FIRE. Burt Reynolds DIRECTED this movie and as a story the plot switched from ACTION to COMEDY to ROMANCE and to HORRIFIC ACTION. And to close out this AWFUL movie we have to see Lauren Hutton driving away to the BIG CITY to take her new job as BOBBY GOLDSBORO sings some God Awful song in the background. The other song, the opening song, was performed by Jerry Reed. This song is PLODDING but at least is isn't awful. Mind you, that song could never be played on the radio, but the song worked in utilitarion fashion to open the movie. And as for STUNTS, this movie is REPLETE with LOTS of FAKE GLASS and STYOFOAM buildings. One boat began to fall apart before Burt drove his boat over it and Burt also drove his speed boat through an OBVIOUS styrofoam house. This movie is ALL OVER THE PLACE. It tries to be too many things. We left the Okefenokee Swamp and at the end of the movie we were at the BEACH. This movie is basically the SEQUEL to White Lightning, a movie that I consider EXCELLENT. This movie tries to continue the ADVENTURES of GATOR MCCLUSKY. This movie is as bad as BURT'S NEW HAIRPIECE. Burt looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in this movie as compared to White Lightning. In two places I saw Burt's TOUPEE falling back, once when he was running to the court house and the other time was when he was laying down on the beach with Lauren Hutton. This movie was PAINFUL at best. I'm so SORRY. I wanted to LIKE this movie but it is simply DREADFUL and PAINFUL to WATCH.
Movie Review: Badly directed, unfocused mess
Summary: 1 Stars
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.
Movie Review: TCM to the Rescue: Widescreen "Gator"
Summary: 1 Stars
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.