ROBERT FORSTER TURNS 'VIGILANTE' WITH FRED WILLIAMSON

Fred Williamson in VIGILANTE aka STREET GANG Year: 1982

During the eighties, the decade-old DEATH WISH template was alive and kicking ass. Not like the Charles Bronson classic invented the revenge theme, but when it came to law without order and giving the streets back to the people, for VIGILANTE it was the more, the merrier...

Robert Forster stars as, like Bronson, an average family man who winds up seeking revenge, but unlike Chuck he's far from alone. Fred Williamson leads a group of working class tough guys including THE GODFATHER bodyguard Richard Bright and SHORT EYES scene-stealer Joe Carberry, who were beating up muggers/rapists before our hero got into the swing of things....

Robert Forster smokes w/ Fred Williamson in Vigilante Score: ****

And that's after an ultra-violent child death sequence (edited out of most VHS versions) as ultra-violent MANIAC director William Lustig (using Joe Spinell as a slimy lawyer) holds very little back in an action flick juggling between two equally important elements...

Whether it's Forster's prison stint following a courtroom outrage after the nefarious STREET GANG (the original title) got off with his son's murder, or Williamson and company taking out connected pimps and pushers, VIGILANTE throws everything into the pot, and almost entirely succeeds. By the last act, when Forster takes over, leaving Fred's group riding proverbial shotgun and then backseat, it becomes a high octane programmer limping towards a conclusion...

Carol Lynley's defense is obsolete in VIGILANTE

Before that, VIGILANTE feels like there's no end in sight, and with something new around every edgy street corner and darke-neon alleyways.

Also features Frank Pesce as a drug dealer; Vincent Beck as a crooked judge; Carol Lynley as a put-upon district attorney; Woody Strode as Forster's prison protector against black giant Henry Judd Baker; Rutanya Alda as Foster's wife, standing up to gang-lader Willie Colon, who provides an awesome guitar/keyboard opening track; and his main hit man played by Don Blakely, not the only gritty cult veteran on board since VIGILANTE involves the who's-who of crime-exploitation tough guys that, throughout their careers, have played on both sides of the law. And always bad ass.

Carol Lynley and Robert Forster stand trail in VIGILANTE aka STREET GANG

Richard Bright, Fred Williamson, Joe Carberry and Robert Forster in VIGILANTE

Frank Pesci in VIGILANTE aka Yön soturit aka Streetfighters aka Shooreshi

Willie Colon, Joe Spinell, Carol Lynley & Robert Forster

Rutunya Alda kicking the ass of a guy named Colon, as in Willie Colon

Don Blakely getting choked by Robert Forster in VIGILANTE aka SHOTGUN

Don Blakely earlier on when he had the upper gun hand in VIGILANTE

Perspective of prison hero Woody Strode at newbie Robert Forster in VIGILANTE

Fred Williamson in VIGILANTE aka Εκδικητές εκτός Νόμου aka Ekdikites ektos nomou