Mein Name ist Gator

I'm a huge fan of Burt Reynolds. The man just won't go down, no matter what odds are stacked against him. People can say what they want about him, he's certainly no quitter and he usually comes out on top. He's been a hero of mine for most of my life and I've grown up loving his movies. Did anyone ever see the good ole boy flick "White Lightning"? Well this is the sequel.

While this might be a strange sequel, I can understand why it is so different from the first. First off, this was made mostly for the drive-in crowd who may not have caught "White Lightning". This allowed the sequel to be a bit looser, where it didn't have to deal too much with what happened in "Lightning". Basically, what you're getting is a a continuation of the Gator McClusky character.

Here's a quickie on the plot: Swamp rat, Gator McClusky is living the life after just being released from the State Penn. He's currently spending his days moonshining with the old man, when the feds come to him with a proposition. Infiltrate a group led by childhood friend, Bama McCall (Jerry Reed), get enough evidence to bust him, or go back to prison for making moonshine. It's a hard choice. Double cross a lifelong friend or go back to prison and lose custody of your daughter. Needless to say, Gator goes with option A and eventually, all hell will break loose.

This was Burt's first shot at directing and, for the most part, he does okay. I have a few quibbles though. This is a PG-rated flick that was most-likely marketed as a comedy. There is plenty of comedy, in fact, from watching the first ten-minutes, you're going to think this is "Smokey and the Bandit" done in the swamps with Jack Weston playing a New York Smokey. There are a lot of laughs in this film and almost all of the characters are likeable. So this leads to my big bitch: Why in the HELL did everything go from lighthearted to cold and violent in the last act? Why did everything have to go down-hill in such a hurry? Maybe it's because the film spends too long meandering in pointless situations and then, when time comes for something significant, it happens lightning-quick. That is why I had such a hard time believing Jerry Reed as the bad guy. His performance was top notch but the film's pacing makes him go from good buddy, to mean, crooked, bad ass way too quickly.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but it's all very cofusing. Maybe, had the film been edited and trimmed a bit better, all of this would have been a bit more believable and things would have ran more smoothly. But being as it is, the whole thing has a very truncated feel. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.

I'm giving this film a 7/10 because, despite it's flaws, it's a hell of a lot of fun and Burt gives the kind of performance that you've come to know and love. "Gator" is definitely a good movie, once you get past it's faults. It's a real shame that movies with this kind of theme aren't made anymore.

I am not a man of many traditions, but I like to keep the few ones that I do have intact. One of those traditions is that I pay tribute to a deceased actor or director by watching one of his/her movies as soon as I hear the sad news. Burt Reynolds died on 5th of September 2018 and, although he's far from my favorite actor of all times, I do feel an honoring is in place since titles like "Deliverance", "White Lightening", "The Cannonball Run" and "Smokey and The Bandit" are nevertheless favorites of mine. Reviewing "Gator" is even a bit of a double tribute, since the film also marked Reynold's debut as a director.

"Gator" is exactly what you expect a pulpy and trashy sequel to the 1973 semi-classic "White Lightening" to be like, except that everything now revolves even more around the hunky & cool persona of illegal liquor runner Gator McClusky. Freshly released from prison, Gator is forced by a New York DA to help apprehend his former childhood buddy Bama McCall, who's now a big-shot Bayou crook. Gator is initially reluctant to betray his old friend and sabotages the operation, but when he finds out that Bama has become a relentless gangster who runs mafia-like protection rings and forces underaged girls into prostitution, all his sympathy quickly vanished. Like "White Lightening", the tone of "Gator" is also primarily light-headed, but with many raw and dark edges as well as unexpected moments of extreme violence. The typically hillbilly-soundtrack and the speedboat-chases through the Bayou swamps are comical, but Bama McCall's sinister henchmen and their gangster practices are grim and more reminiscent to the dark and uncompromising type of 70s grindhouse/exploitation cinema. The role of Jerry Reed is particularly and utmost surprising! I previously just knew him as a country-crooner (he also sings the title song) or as the jolly but harmless sidekick (for example in "Smokey and the Bandit") but here Reed depicts a truly evil guy with a nasty shotgun and intimidating helpers. His lieutenants are a scary giant named Bones, so tall that he has stick his head out of the open roof when driving a car, and a perverse creep named Smiley (you'll see why).

Reynolds occasionally demonstrates that he holds the potential of a competent director, and "Gator" is overall good entertainment, but the film is too long and especially the romantic interludes between Gator and love-interest Lauren Hutton are too tedious and interfere with the explosive action & spectacle during the finale. Throughout the 70s and 80s, it seemed like Burt Reynolds had a fun career with a few classics and a quite large number of genuine crowd-pleasers. He made a remarkable comeback in the 90s, with a few hits ("Boogie Nights") and more misses ("Striptease", "Cop and a Half") but always kept his Bayou bad-boy coolness. Rest in peace, Mr. Bandit.

The film starts out with a great song, sung by Jerry Reed, who also plays the villain perfectly as a foil to Gator McClusky, portrayed by Burt Reynolds. Reed is the best character in Gator, as his scenes are over the top and fun, especially the scene when he collects money owed him from one of the ghetto bars. There's a few cool boat chasing scenes, chased by helicopter in the dark swamplands, which is where Gator resides and is "hired" to help nab Reed's character, Bama McCall. He eventually joins McCall's gang and notices things he doesn't care for; soon after, he leaves the gang and trouble ensues. You can just about guess the rest. Up to this point, I thought there was decent tension and a serious war was about to take place between Gator and McCall; unfortunately, the film took a silly romantic/funny twist, as we meet Lauren Hutton's character, and soon after, her and Gator meet via a corny eye-catching moment at a public rally and shortly after, there's a forced moment at the local beach. Next up is Alice Ghostly and her cats(too much humor by now), and finally all get together to try and prove Bama's guilty past by breaking in the court house and stealing records.

Anyhow, the film rescues itself after some of Gator's crew are killed and some real tension builds up again, and the humor is ditched for good.

one of the most endearing qualities about this movie is the fact that it brings the seventies back to your memories...it was filmed in 1976 and it shows it often....the scene where jerry (reed) enters the "southside shuffle "topless" bar...nails the period completely... as well as other fashions, lingo, and of course burt himself...who "owned" the seventies....due to this movie and his other good ole boy films of the south....coupled with the overwhelming popularity of smokey and the bandit (yet to come a year later)...established burt as a seemingly permanent fixture in cinema back then...I always thought burt would stay on top I guess...he seemed invincible as the #1 box office attraction...he is definitely an icon of the seventies time capsule...his swagger and his sense of humor put a brand on me as I remember many times in my life (silently) asking myself...what would burt do in a situation like this?....

as pure acting goes...the film had one of the best supporting actors around and due to his lack of experience I guess you would just have to sum up jerry reed as being a "natural".....he played the villain so well you wanted him to stop...and go back to the good ole boy that you knew he could be (later as cletus snow in smokey and the bandit)

gator is/was one of my all time favorite films...from a time period that I thought would never end...I miss it and this film will help you reunite with it if you are nostalgic at all...

A Sequel to ¨Joseph Sargent's White Lightning¨ follows the adventures of Gator (Burt Reynolds), he's a good ol' southern boy who has served four years of his five year prison sentence for moonshining. Then Gator McKlusky is recruited to gather evidence to convict a corrupt political boss (Jerry Reed) who also happens to be his friend. As agents force a former con man to help them nab a nasty mobster and his hoodlums. Meanwhile, Gator falls for a cool, gapteethed heroine, news reporter Aggie Maybank (Lauren Hutton). Only one man delivers 100-proof excitement!. Come and get him. Gator never strikes twice - 'cause once is enough!. Meet the Bayou's baddest good ol' boy. Take a bite and feel all right!.If You Haven't Seen "Gator" You Haven't Seen Burt Reynolds It's my kind of film. Booze, broads, car chases, corruption and revenge -- all the things that make life worthwhile!

Here Reynolds in his good tough boy role with lots of chases and fighting scenes. This movie was "the earliest in the cycle of hick flicks that Burt Reynolds rode to superstardom" on. The story starts with a tongue-in-cheek he-man opening with a number of motorboats jumping and causing destruction through the swamps and following further bouts of action, but things dawdle to standstill while Burt projects his sensitivity, lazy singalong good nature, and old-fashioned romanticism, he even expresses doubts about his style and inability to cope with independent women. The plot is formula pulp -Burt is blackmailed into exposing a former buddy, now a big-shot Southern crook- but it takes far too long to tell. All through the movie it is evident that Burt Reynolds is attempting to do a little something different with each scene. Sometimes he can't prevent the story becoming bogged down in his own routineness and the violence of the final highlight only just survives its juxtaposition with the previous humor, as roles we have come to like get brutally killed off; in spite of it, the action scenes are first class. It is acceptable and passable film with its ups and downs, but the reasonable cinematography by cameraman William A. Fraker and good action material help. There's also enjoyable musical score from Charles Bernstein, as well as catching songs, such as: ¨Gator¨ written & performed by Jerry Reed; ¨For a Little While¨ written &performed by Bobby Goldsboro and ¨Hey, Country Boy¨ written by Rusty Richards, performed by Dinah Shore . Some of composer Charles Bernstein's music score from this movie was re-used in two Quentin Tarantino movies: Kill Bill: part 1 (2003) and Inglorious Bastardos (2009). The main and support cast are pretty good . Beginning with Reynolds himself, he's very attractive and likable. While Lauren Hutton exudes charm and beauty as a personable news reporter, she creates a very good love chemistry with her partner Reynolds. Country singer Jerry Reed makes a good heavy, he steals the show as the villain who lends real menace and evil to the rather cardboard vice king; Alice Ghostley as a cranky social crusader with a passion for cats and Talk show host Mike Douglas made his film debut in the role of governor, and , of course, Jack Weston as a plump and faintly incompetent federal agent.

First film Reynolds directed, being professionally made. Burt keeps it simple, his direction suggests the makings of a model craftsman. And Reynolds gets uniformly nice interpretations from his actors. Gator chalked up a decent start for its budding director which he hasn't followed through enough. This was the first of the car stunt movies set in the American South that Burt Reynolds made during the 1970s and involved some kind of battle with a sheriff or official. This group of movies includes Smokey and the bandit (1977) and its follow-ups, as well as White Lightning (1973) and its sequel, Gator, (1976). Burt Reynolds went on to direct a few more films for both the big and small screen, such as: ¨Stick¨, ¨The End¨, ¨Hard Time¨, ¨The Man from Left Field¨, ¨Hawk¨ , ¨Amazing tales¨, ¨The Last Producer¨, ¨The Newton Family¨, ¨B. L. Stryker¨, and ¨Sharky's Machine¨ at his best. Gator(1976) rating: 6/10. The film will appeal to Burt Reynolds fans.