As the screenplay credit by John Sayles might suggest, director Lewis Teague’s 1980 film Alligator is meant to be a brainy, sardonic take on the subgenre of movies that involve rampaging animals. But its satirical aims are hardly more refined than those found in Joe Dante’s cheeky Piranha, and a great deal more.
The story is as dumb as one could possibly hope for on the surface: A pet alligator, flushed down the toilet in 1968, comes across a pile of dead dogs on which a Chicago genetic lab has been performing growth hormone experiments. Flash forward some years later and the reptile has grown almost rapidly enough to pace rampant civic corruption and back-scratching politics above ground.
It isn’t long before the creature tastes the blood of hard-working cops, enterprising pet shop owners, and middle-class children and wants more. Meanwhile, a police officer, David Madison (Robert Forster), seizes the alligator attacks as an opportunity to erase the stink of shame that still hovers over him in the wake of an assigned partner being killed in the line of duty. At the very least, David assumes that his heroics will satiate the ravenous tabloid journalists, who are portrayed so broadly that you’d have to assume that they were all on beat for The Daily Planet.
All that stands in the officer’s way are the sexy biologist whose interest in the beast is near-familial, the gruff police chief, the overzealous reporter, the rest of the police force, city hall, the genetic lab that’s bribing city hall, two tons of snap-jawed wild animal, and an egotistic hunter. All that and a nonstop string of cracks about his receding hairline.
Sayles’s overachieving work here suggests a script doctor who took it upon himself to play God to assist what he felt was an otherwise terminal patient. And as a director of sorts, Teague is only too willing to hand over the project to Sayles’s hunger for allegorical subplots. Maybe I’ve eaten too many steroid-jacked dog corpses myself, but I prefer my dumb satires of dumb movies (i.e., Wet Hot American Summer, Scary Movie, again Piranha) to revel in being dumb.
Image/Sound
You will want to flush the Lionsgate DVD of Alligator down the toilet after you catch a glimpse of the 4K scan of the film’s original negative on this release. No more weak, milky colors, while the black levels are, well, actually black. Best of all are the flesh tones, which are accurate to the point of being jaw-dropping. Resolution and color saturation are consistently stunning, though viewers unaccustomed to the pleasures of films that were actually shot on film may have trouble adjusting to the high level of grain during many an interior scene. The audio is sturdy across the board, definitely improving upon the aforementioned DVD’s hollow-sounding presentation, though dialogue is a little flat and unevenly mixed at times.
Extras
Bizarrely, the best extra included on this Shout! Factory release, “Gator Guts, the Great River, and Bob,” which boasts the involvement of the most famous person in the room, isn’t even advertised on the back of the box. On it, an enthusiastic Bryan Cranston reminisces about getting his SAG card shortly before he landed a gig on Alligator as a production assistant, only for him to don more hats as the production proceeded. Cranston gives such an efficient overview of the film’s making as to render the commentary track by director Lewis Teague and star Robert Forster that’s been ported over from the old DVD effectively redundant.
In a new interview, Teague echoes many of the same points made on his commentary, most notably how he was drawn to John Sayles’s screenplay because of how it riffed on one of the silliest of urban legends. In two separate interviews, one archival and one newly recorded, Sayles discusses his involvement in the production, though filmmaker Karyn Kusama does a better job of touting his creature-feature bona fides in her Trailers from Hell segment. Rounding out the disc are interviews with actress Robin Riker and special effects artist Robert Short, as well as a teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, TV spots, and still gallery.
Overall
Alligator get an incredible split polish, though the extras on this release don’t live up to the promise of its “collector’s edition” designation.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
