Tacticalin
An absolute waste of money
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Julian R. White
"Alligator" certainly isn't a major landmark kind of film, but it's certainly watchable. The creature looks quite nice, and the film itself has an easy to follow plot and not too much dead horse beating. I like the idea of nature being the monster, and I always have. Don't expect to see anything spectacular in this film, but unlike many that I have seen that are similar, it's not going to bore you to death either. Definitely worth the watch.
gavin6942
A baby alligator is flushed down a Chicago toilet and survives by eating discarded laboratory rats injected with growth hormones. The small reptile grows gigantic, escapes the city sewers, and goes on a rampage.Although the film gives the location as Chicago, the police vehicles in the film appear to have Missouri license plates. When the young Marisa returns home with her family from their vacation in Florida, they pass a sign that reads "Welcome to Missouri." Later, the voice of a newscaster identifies Marisa as "a native of our city," implying the location is a city in Missouri other than St. Louis. Script error, maybe? So, maybe this was a "Jaws" ripoff and maybe Ebert thinks it is only a 1 out of 4, but sometimes (though not often) Ebert is wrong. There was much more going on here, and just making the "alligator flushed" story actually make sense was well played.
OllieSuave-007
This is a typical 80s B-movie, a story where Chicago is terrorized by a larger-than-life alligator, who as a baby was flushed down the toilet and grew to over 36 feet long over the years by feeding on discarded lab animals injected with growth hormones.Robert Forster plays cop David Madison, who is leading the charge to track down and destroy the reptile, and Robin Riker plays reptile expert Dr. Marisa Kendall, who teams up with Madison in the hunt. The two have decent acting and good on-screen chemistry, and they carried the movie over the more campy supporting cast members (Michael Gazzo's Chief Clark character sounded like he smokes 20 packs a day and Dean Jagger's Slade character doesn't know the meaning of speaking clearly).There are plenty of alligator action (the special and visual effects for it were quite good), chomping its way through those unfortunate enough to get caught in his path, and plenty of spills and screams as the creature makes its way out of the sewers and into lakes and swimming pools. But, the plot went all over the place from the middle of the movie towards the end. Alligator scenes shifted back and forth quickly to scenes with Forster and Kendall courting, which I thought takes away the tension and thrills of the film. The cop's investigation scenes are interrupted by the unnecessary subplot with the Brock character (Henry Silva), which deviated from the story's momentum. He didn't have much screen time to serve an elaborate role in the movie.Overall, it's basically a monster-on-the-loose movie, with plenty of action, but limited suspense.Grade C-
Wizard-8
"Alligator" wasn't the first "Jaws" rip-off that screenwriter John Sayles scripted - two years earlier, he wrote the enjoyable "Piranha". This second rip-off proves to be just as enjoyable as the earlier work. Like "Piranha", this screenplay is written to be slightly tongue-in-cheek. It's not to be taken completely seriously, and the gentle comic relief is very amusing. However, the movie does not forget that at its heart it is a monster movie. The attack sequences are pretty well done, with some pretty good special effects for what was a fairly low budget. It's all held together by a good performance by Robert Forster - he makes a very likable hero. If what I have said so far hasn't convinced you to see this movie, think about this: What other movie puts in its cast not only Forster, but Dean Jagger, Henry Silva, and Sidney Lassick?
