{"id":26630,"date":"2023-07-03T23:48:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T06:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26630"},"modified":"2023-07-03T23:48:45","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T06:48:45","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-fighting-back-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26630","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: FIGHTING BACK (1982)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video will be\nreleased on July 4th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since its beginnings, American action cinema has often\npresented proactive individualist heroes who ignore the advice of authorities\nand use unusual (and sometimes illegal) methods to stop crime. Westerns are\nfull of these kinds of protagonists, as are vigilante films. While this\nsubgenre might seem recent, it actually has been around from the beginnings of\ncinema. Of course, modern vigilante titles hit a big period of popularity\nduring the 1970s and early 80s, thanks to titles like Straw Dogs, Dirty\nHarry, Shaft, Death Wish<\/em> and Walking Tall<\/em>, to name but a few. Fighting\nBack<\/em> was a picture from Paramount (who were also responsible for the Death\nWish<\/em> and Death Wish II<\/em>) that followed the above successes, arriving\nfrom Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. Now, Arrow Video is debuting this\npicture on Blu-ray with a sharp new transfer and some nifty bonus\nfeatures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia native and Italian-American delicatessen\nstore-owner John D\u2019Angelo (Tom Skerritt) is concerned about the level of crime\nthat is overtaking his neighborhood. His wife Lisa (Patti LuPone) suggests the\nfamily move, but a frustrated John feels like it\u2019s the felons who should be run\nout of town. Best friend\/cop Vince Morelli (Michael Sarrazin) says his hands\nare tied and that there\u2019s little authorities can do. After his wife suffers a\nmiscarriage from a violent incident and his own mother (Gina DeAngeles) and son\n(Jonathan Adam Sherman) are terrorized during a store robbery, John decides to\ntake action. He forms a Peoples Neighborhood Patrol with neighbors. As\nexpected, the lead is less-than-subtle, attempting to use brutal force to stop\nhoods. In the process, he becomes a public hero and is convinced to run for\ncouncil. In the meantime, violence escalates between himself and main foe\nEldorado (Pete Richardson) that ultimately causes more death and devastation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These pictures are certainly of their time and do their best\nto shock viewers with scenes of innocent citizens being needlessly abused, and\nthen taking retribution on their tormentors. By today\u2019s standards, it\u2019s all a\nlittle crazy to witness. The movie is as blunt as a hammer over the head and\nthe nasty acts of the bad guys are incredibly over-the-top, doing the cruelest\nthings possible in every given situation. This includes chasing a pregnant\nwoman, as well as slicing up a family pet and hanging the butchered animal in\nthe home of the owner. Even for these criminals, it seems exaggerated and a\npoor use of their time. But, as in all other vigilante titles of the era, it\u2019s\nall set up to present them as deserving of punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wife Lisa is initially furious with her husband and even threatens separation, but after the second attack turns on a dime and condones the vigilante group\u2019s acts. It\u2019s a strange and sudden turn that isn\u2019t clearly defined. John does seem to primarily target minorities, which makes these extreme acts even more disturbing. Thankfully, the movie does attempt to address this, introducing the leader of another neighborhood watch named Ivanhoe Washington (Yaphet Kotto). Ivanhoe accuses John of targeting black men specifically and notes that there\u2019s a deeper root to the problems plaguing the streets that needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the movie doesn\u2019t go to great lengths to deal\nwith this element, but at least it does make note of the real cause of the\nproblem. Some behind the scenes bits at city hall with the Police Commissioner\n(Ted Ross) and John\u2019s public persona and run for city council also add a little\nbit of uniqueness to the proceedings. Rarely in vigilante pictures are the\nprotagonists talking to the media and being upfront about their dubious\ntactics. Even though it\u2019s a tiny part of the story, a request for help from the\nlead made to the mafia is an interesting detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Director Lewis Teague (Alligator, Cujo, Cat\u2019s Eye<\/em>)\ndoes handle the action well. There\u2019s a great chase featuring a mugger fleeing\ndown the street that is dynamically captured. And while it doesn\u2019t delve deeply\ninto its subject, the film does move briskly. The camerawork is slick as well,\nadding a sense of energy and tension to the proceedings. Locations are also a\nstandout, with the characters enduring some less-than-ideal outdoor conditions\nduring filming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie feels dated and there are certainly some\nquestionable elements, but it is representative of revenge pictures of its era.\nIt also attempts to bring up negative aspects of community vigilantism,\nincluding the effects it has on the participants, and the racism that can\nsurface from it. Even if the film doesn\u2019t take a long and nuanced look at these\nissues, the screenplay and cast do make an attempt to bring these matters to\nlight. Skerritt is a solid lead who communicates his character\u2019s rage\neffectively and the supporting cast add some gravitas to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There isn\u2019t another source of this quality to compare the image to. Visually, the movie looks remarkably sharp while still possessing a sense of grit and grime on the streets (some of the press images posted here don’t do the transfer justice). The bonus features are excellent as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight is a 30-minute interview with director Lewis Teague, who talks about his start and what landed him this gig. He\u2019s very honest, admitting that over the years he hasn\u2019t been able to get many of his own projects funded and that his films were essentially brought to him by producers. He also criticizes a few decision he made on this film, particularly the opening scene, which he feels should have been more subtle in its delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads to a great story about his first meeting with Dino De Laurentiis, as well as working with the cast and trying to make the best of the script assigned to him. He also shares experiences working with the Italian and Italian-American crew, including one unexpected confrontation with an associate producer that resulted in a major shooting issue. The solution, suggested to Teague by De Laurentiis over the phone, is very clever and results in an amusing story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teague also described his start in the industry, struggling\nto make an impact with TV work. His comments about his 1980 film Alligator<\/em>\nare fascinating. In particular, the fact that the producer did not care about\nspending to promote the movie (he had already doubled his money on the project\nbefore it hit theaters). Teague was forced to go out and promote the title\nhimself, which resulted in critical praise that landed him his meeting with De\nLaurentiis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a discussion with Italian camera operator\nDaniele Nannuzzi, who talks about working around language barriers. He also notes\nbeing in Italian-American communities and noting how they actually felt quite\ndifferent from his homeland, and more like going back in time to the Italy of\nhis grandfather\u2019s era. It\u2019s a fun and interesting talk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, this release includes a UK trailer, US TV spot\nand an image gallery. It also comes with a double-sided fold-out poster\nfeaturing both new art and the original one-sheet for the film. There\u2019s also an\nimpressive illustrated collector\u2019s booklet featuring new writing on the title\nby movie critics and another lengthy interview with Teague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not the biggest vigilante film enthusiast and the movie has its share of problems. There are story elements that it could have developed more to help set it further apart from its contemporaries, but it features an above-average cast, a few memorable moments and tries to leave viewers contemplating some of the underlying issues with its subject. The picture quality is strong and the extras are great. If you enjoy the original Death Wish<\/em> and similarly-themed films of this era, the Fighting Back<\/em> Blu-ray is definitely worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video will be released on July 4th. Since its beginnings, American action cinema has often presented proactive individualist heroes who ignore the advice of authorities and use unusual (and sometimes illegal) methods to stop crime. Westerns are full of these kinds of protagonists, as are vigilante films. While this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114,697,1832,1836,2933,2939,3073,5518,5883,6251,7511,7512,12312,13831,15953,16499,19650,23038,23784,23786,24587],"class_list":["post-26630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-114","tag-action","tag-arrow","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-death-wish","tag-dino-de-laurentiis","tag-drama","tag-fighting-back","tag-fighting-back-review","tag-lewis-teague","tag-michael-sarrazin","tag-pete-richardson","tag-putti-lupone","tag-ted-ross","tag-tom-skerritt","tag-vigilante","tag-vigilante-film","tag-yaphet-kotto"],"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\/26630","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=26630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}