{"id":21910,"date":"2020-12-30T15:14:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T23:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21910"},"modified":"2020-12-30T15:14:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T23:14:40","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-vigilante-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21910","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: VIGILANTE (1982)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blue Underground Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD\/Bu-ray set is currently\navailable.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Genre fans will know William Lustig as a plucky New York-based\nindependent filmmaker who self-financed and created several cult flicks during\nthe 1980s, including Maniac<\/em> (1980), Maniac Cop<\/em> (1988), Maniac\nCop 2<\/em> (1990), Uncle Sam<\/em> (1996) as well as several other titles. He\u2019s\nalso helped out the film industry in many other capacities. This includes founding\nBlue Underground, a wonderful video distribution company that restores and\nreleases all kinds of hard-to-find genre pictures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, Blue Underground has put out several magnificent\n4K editions of movies like Zombie<\/em>, The New York Ripper<\/em>, Daughters\nof Darkness<\/em> and The House by the Cemetery<\/em>. All of them feature new high-definition\ndiscs that come with equally stunning Blu-rays. Earlier in the year, Lustig\nwent back into his own catalog and put out an authoritative 4K\/Blu-ray of Maniac<\/em>.\nNow, he\u2019s moved on to releasing a new, upgraded edition of his follow-up\u2026 a\npunchy, low-budget action opus called Vigilante<\/em> (1982). This 4K restoration\ncomes from the original 35mm camera negative. Simply put, the results are\nstunning to behold. In fact, it should be noted that the still on display don\u2019t\nreally capture just how good the movie now appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in an era where crime was rampant on New York streets,\nthis tale follows a pair of factory workers who initially deal with the chaos\non the streets in different ways. Eddie Marino (Robert Forster) is a family man\nwho keeps his head down and tries to avoid trouble. His co-worker Nick (Fred\nWilliamson) is far more frustrated by the state of his neighborhood, forming a\nvigilante squad to dole out justice when the law doesn\u2019t provide it. Eddie\ninitially questions his friend\u2019s extreme tactics. However, when Eddie\u2019s wife is\nattacked and his child is murdered by a vicious street gang, the man gets an\ninside look at a flawed criminal system. After being imprisoned for lashing out\nduring the trial and more tragedy follows, he decides to seek vengeance on the\ncrooks responsible and enlists Nick and his vigilante squad to help.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is B-movie exploitation pulp from beginning to end and,\non that level, is quite effective. Lustig himself mentions in the extras for\nthis disc that Vigilante<\/em> was his attempt to produce a \u201cworking class Death\nWish<\/em>\u201d, albeit on a very limited budget. The director ends up performing the\njob with remarkable skill. The movie follows two paths, one detailing the experiences\nof an average guy reacting to horrific events and a second following the\nvigilante leader. We watch their separate paths before they converge together. What\noccurs onscreen is at times brutal to watch (this was the intent), but the exceptional\ncast and impressive New York on-location photography creates a gritty atmosphere\nthat many Death Wish<\/em>-knock offs lack. The fantastic and very memorable score\nalso helps tremendously in creating a palpable mood and atmosphere. Truth be\ntold, this flick is every bit as effective as its inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It certainly isn\u2019t a movie that could be made today, but\nwhen you put this feature on, you can\u2019t help but be impressed by what you see, often\nliterally. The finale, which features a couple of violent confrontations and a\nlengthy car chase through the streets, is as pulse-pounding (if not more so) than\nany studio picture out there. If you enjoy films in the Charles Bronson mold,\nthen you won\u2019t go wrong checking out this effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And the transfer for the release is flat-out stunning in\nappearance. Every exterior looks sharp and clean, to the point where you can\nsee each store front to the little bits of garbage blowing around in the\nstreets. Despite this being a movie with limited funding, this is one of the\nbest-looking discs recent discs to come on the market. Even from a historical\nperspective, it\u2019s incredible to the see the city boroughs with a much less\npolished and more abrasive appearance, which suits the story incredibly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The extras are also informative. The first is a track\nrecorded in 2010 featuring William Lustig and co-producer Andrew Garroni. They\ndetail how they got the movie made on a very limited budget. Naturally, their\nstories are great, noting that it was a seemingly impossible task given the available\nresources. The two state that the movie really only got completed only through\ntheir enthusiasm. They mention initially telling equipment rental houses and\nfilm stock suppliers that they wanted to test their goods in advance of the\nshoot. After getting everything for a day for free, they flew Fred Williamson in\nand created the opening sequence (which they then used to sell the movie to\nforeign markets at film festival). Lustig and Garroni also discuss about how they\ndeferred paying various suppliers in order to finish the feature and how they would\nmanage to talk collectors into letting them continue shooting until the project\nwas completed and sold in order to pay them back. All of their wild tales are a\nblast to listen to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second track with Lustig and stars Robert Forster, Fred\nWilliamson and Fred Pesce details the actual shooting and stories about various\ncast members and shooting in the city without permits. Again, there are some\nnoteworthy facts relayed. Apparently, they had limited resources for the car\nchase. So, much of the time the man driving both cars in the chase is actually the\nsame person (apparently, the crew filmed him racing his route in one car and\nthen the same path in the second). It ends up looking pretty seamless. This is\nanother amusing track filled with great stories. And there is a new third commentary\nwith a pair of film historians who impart even more information and behind-the-scenes\ndetails, as well as even more information about the cast and crew. All three audio\nextras contain nonstop facts that will serve as an inspiration to anyone hoping\nto get out there and make their own film under the radar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The release also includes newly recorded interviews with the\nfilm\u2019s writer, co-stars, the first AD and many other crew members. It\u2019s entertaining,\nas is a recent interview with the film\u2019s composer, Jay Chattaway, who goes over\nhis process for creating the music. He makes a number of interesting points,\nstating that filmmakers today are so insistent on using temp tracks that to\nsome degree influence the director and composer and stifles creativity. Chattaway\nsays he simply talked to the director and watched the movie, noting some of the\nwestern elements. Then, came up with a guitar-heavy score which Lustig approved\nthat serves the film brilliantly. The composer also notes that the original\nmasters are lost and until they are able to find the source material, they won\u2019t\nbe able to release this score to the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, you\u2019ll see that original promo, as well as seemingly\nevery trailer, TV spot or piece of publicity there created for the movie. Since\nLustig was involved himself with his own company on this release, just about\nevery extra available element is present on this Blu-ray set. And the disc\ncomes with a collectable booklet with an essay on the film and a nifty 3D\nlenticular cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a fan of William Lustig or genre pictures in\ngeneral, this 4K Ultra HD\/Blu-ray release of Vigilante<\/em> is absolutely incredible.\nIt\u2019s a slick exploitation flick with an excellent cast and a memorable score.\nAnd the image quality on display is so good that it also serves as historical\ndocument of the city and the era in which it was produced. Blue Underground have\ndelivered another winning disc that comes highly recommended from this reviewer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blue Underground Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD\/Bu-ray set is currently available. Genre fans will know William Lustig as a plucky New York-based independent filmmaker who self-financed and created several cult flicks during the 1980s, including Maniac (1980), Maniac Cop (1988), Maniac Cop 2 (1990), Uncle Sam (1996) as well as several other titles. He\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114,697,2923,2928,3202,5518,7207,7898,16931,17159,22825,23784,23785,23787,24319],"class_list":["post-21910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-114","tag-action","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blue-underground","tag-death-wish","tag-exploitation","tag-fred-williamson","tag-revenge","tag-robert-forster","tag-thriller","tag-vigilante","tag-vigilante-blu-ray-review","tag-vigilante-review","tag-william-lustig"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}