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The best Corman monster flick Roger never made.

This great B-movie unspools like a Sergio Leone revenge tale. Big mean Daddy flushes daughter's baby gator, Ramon, down the toilet. Sixteen years later, Ramon has grown up to be a 36-foot mutated maneater stalking the mean sewers of the Windy City. Daughter has grown up to become a 5'-4" herpetologist for the Chicago Zoo. You can just hear the haunting whistle of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack as the showdown looms.

This monster flick's pedigree is a purebred B, written by Corman alumnus John Sayles (fresh from 1978's 'Piranha', on his way to 1981's 'The Howling') and directed by veteran Lewis Teague, who cut his directing and editing teeth on such Corman classics as 'The Lady In Red', 'Cockfighter', 'Crazy Mama', and the immortal 'Death Race 2000'.

Casting for 'Alligator' was made in Cult Heaven, with Tarantino-fave Robert Forster as the bad-luck cop who gets between the girl and her gator. Future 'Stepmonster' Robin Riker makes her movie debut as the reptile expert. '50s sci-fi veteran Dean Jagger (looking, swear-to-God, like the dancing octogenarian in the Six Flags commercials) plays the dastardly industrialist who kills puppies and inadvertently creates the monster. Henry Silva seems to have fun skewering his cinema psycho persona. Even Hollywood tough-guy Mike Mazurki makes a cameo as the villain's gatekeeper.

Injokes abound, with winks and nudges to infamous sewer rats Harry Lime and Ed Norton. Romantic foreplay includes heartfelt talks about male pattern baldness. The gator seems to have a Jones for men in blue. And Chicago can only be saved by the time-honored, foolproof solution of trapping oneself in an enclosed space with the monster and a timebomb.

After 24 years, we rabid fans are still waiting for the obvious sewer creature clash, 'Ramon vs. C.H.U.D.' Keep dreaming ...

I wasn't expecting much of a movie when I sat down to watch this one. I was very pleasantly surprised. With a script by John Sayles, committed performances by leads Robert Forster and Robin Riker, and a happy company of interesting performers, including Michael Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Henry Silva, Sue Lyon, and Mike Mazurki, it wasn't just a cheap JAWS rip-off about trying to stop an alligator flushed down the toilet eighteen years earlier, grown huge on medical wastes and dogs, but something of a screwball comedy, with dialogue at once witty and natural.

It also has an emotional journey. When we first meet police detective Forster, he's depressed because he had lost a partner in a shootout, and his hairline is receding. By the end, he has accomplished his goal, and if his hairline is going, Miss Riker content to be with him.

John Sayles seems to have used his fee from writing this to fund his directorial debut, THE RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN. That's a win-win, so far as I am concerned.

Alligator is one of those films that people will either love or hate. I doubt it was supposed to be very 'A-grade' when it was released back in 1980. Now, well over thirty years old, I was hesitant to see how well it's stood up to the test of time.

I was pleased to say the answer is: pretty well.

If you can excuse the seventies haircuts (in an eighties movie!) then you'll find quite a tight little monster-munching movie. Lake Placid may have better effects, but Alligator still has its own special charm - think 'Jaws,' but with an alligator instead of a shark (oh, and in Chicago, rather than the sea, obviously).

Basically, what little plot there is revolves around a little girl having her per alligator flushed down the toilet when it was still young. Once in the sewers, over a period of twelve years, it mutates, getting much, much bigger and basically comes back for revenge. Yes, revenge. It seems to have a natural instinct as to whose fault it was, but, hey, just suspend your disbelief and enjoy it.

Alligator is played out on that fine line between 'tongue in cheek' and 'straight.' It has a foot in both camps and somehow it manages to pull both off.

If you're a fan of general animatronics monsters eating man, woman and child (yes, child - you wait and see!) then give Alligator a go. It's just a shame that with a solid movie like this, the alligator himself didn't move on to better things. He was certainly the star and I was hoping to find him in a nice indie flick or even a romantic comedy. Well... maybe.

What a classic. I will admit that the main reason I watch so many horror movies is mainly because I can make fun of them. I bought Alligator from a video store that was going out of business. I vaguely remembered the scene where the alligator crashes the birthday party from when I was a little kid. Anyway, I remembered enough to pick it up, so I was expecting another movie that I could sit there and trash, but once I saw John Sayles's name in the writing credits, I assumed that I would be in for something more. Instead of getting a movie that I could laugh at, I got one that laughs at itself for being a horror movie (about 16 years before that was cool). The script is super-sharp, with witty lines and the direction is tight. We also get a great, charismatic Robert Forster playing the role of the burn-out cop and Henry Silva makes a HILARIOUS cameo as a hunter. I don't know if his performance was intentionally bad or if he was just trying to be that bad, but either way, it worked. I loved his character and the funny noises that he makes. I'm sure it had to be intentional.

John Sayles has done some great horror scripts. Just check out Piranah and The Howling (the first one). He scores another knockout with Alligator and it put Lake Placid to shame. What that movie seemed to try so hard at (making a "parody" of sorts) Alligator pulls off with ease. The special-effects (of course they're dated by now) are actually really well-done for the time and, in many ways, a helluva lot more convincing than most of the CGI crap that we're force-fed today.

If you can find this movie, I highly reccommend it. No, it's not scary, but it is very entertaining and a good time all the way through.

Either this film is based on an urban legend, or it inspired one. I'm not sure which. Alligator is a skillfully made horror film based on the premise of flushing a small pet down the toilet and it one day growing to an enormous size. The title of the film pretty much says it all. Though the film is creepy, and filled with gore, this is one of those horror films that knows its really kidding when all is said and done.

The film kicks off with an alligator attack at a wildlife refuge park somewhere in the south. A daredevil in a pit with some alligators just about has his leg torn off whilst a frightened crowd looks on. "Sometimes the gators win," the announcer points out over the loudspeaker after the victim is hauled out to safety. A little girl in the audience is so taken by a baby alligator that she buys one and takes it back home with her. One day her angry father, for no reason that I could discern, flushes the tiny gator down the toilet. Flash ahead twelve years later and....

Body parts start turning up in the sewer system. A cop (Forster) and his partner take a look around in the sewer to see if there's anything wrong down there. Big mistake! The partner becomes gator food, and we finally get a good look at what the pet gator has become. It seems that for years, a local chemical company has been dumping the corpses of genetically enhanced animal test subjects down in this sewer system. The alligator from the beginning has been eating these animals for years and has grown to the size of a large sedan. Not including the tail! The police send a swat team into the sewer to find the beast, but all it does is drive him up into the city where he terrorizes anyone in his path. It is up to Robert Forster and a pretty biologist to find and destroy the gator before he eats up the city.

The film is a decent mix of horror and humor. Some scenes, like a boy falling into a swimming pool and being eaten are absolutely terrifying. Especially since this kind of thing does sometimes happen in Florida and places in the deep south. Other scenes, like when the alligator breaks up a wedding reception, border on hilarious. Not only does this gator have a sharp bite, but he also can whip the heck out of you with his tail! He whips one unlucky guest right through the wedding cake! Then, he destroys and entire limo by just swatting it with his tail! You have to see it to believe it. The film has an abrupt, yet exciting conclusion. The acting is quite believable, and the cast is full of recognizable faces. Great support from Michael Gazzo, and Henry Silva! John Sayles of all people wrote this film, and you can get a feel for his intelligence and sense of humor at every turn. Lewis Teague, who was quite successful in the 1980s, gives great direction. Definitely worth a look. 6 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

For a creature feature made in 1980, 'Alligator' is a pretty good movie that doesn't rely on special effects to entertain the audience.In fact, 'Alligator' doesn't really have any special effects.The closest thing to special effects in this movie are explosions, car crashes, and the giant 30 foot alligator.If you're the kind of person who relies on special effects from movies like 'Hancock' to keep you entertained, then you might as well stop reading this review and forget that you have even heard of this movie because you will end up hating it.If you are that kind of person, then you really have issues.There is only one movie in the world that doesn't need special effects and happens to be one of the best movies of all time.The name of that movie is 'Jaws'. So know that this movie has some similarities with other monster movies, and that's why this movie is being called a classic by people who really know how to enjoy a good movie.'Alligator' may be no 'Jaws', but it does have enough potential to make this 87 minute monster movie a real pleaser.

Get a grip on this good 'gator' flick. Some tongue-in-cheek dialog and gruesome special effects makes for an entertaining and fun movie to watch. A little girl's science project is flushed down the stool and a dozen years later grows to about 36 feet long living in the sewer system of Chicago. Sustained by a diet of pet carcasses used in an experimental growth clinic, this monster 'gator' is not going down without creating some terror and having a few snacks first. A very good mutant creature running amok movie.

Very able cast led by Robert Forster and Robin Riker. Doing notable work in support are Henry Silva, Michael V. Gazzo and veteran actor Dean Jagger. The sewer scenes pretty well set a creepy atmosphere. My favorite scene is during a brief encounter with the munching menace..."Do you think two sticks of dynamite will do?"

Alligator is yet another creature feature that has its root in Jaws, but it is certainly not a blatant rip off. It is ridiculous but in a self-acknowledging way. Taking itself seriously is the mistake that Orca (the first Jaws rip off in '77) made. and although I can't say that it Alligator is necessarily more intelligent, the script it offers frequent enjoyable banner, and an attempt to make characters that you want to see live rather than become lunch. Topping all that, Alligator features one of the most frequent trade marks of the genre, an ending that opens the doors for a potentially worse sequel. It is something that seeming fly cannot be helped, even Jaws went that way. Sequel or not, check out Alligator if you can, it is better than it may sound.

In the beginning, a girl buys a baby alligator at the zoo (well her mother buys it for her). She names it Ramona (after the Beverly Cleary books), but that is irrelevant, sorry. Next scene, her father in a moment of frustration takes his anger out on the six inch reptile and flushes it down the toilet to its doom (actually to its growth spurt) Jump forward twenty years and into the life of detective David Madison. He and his parter have begun an investigation of a possible illegal animal experimentation in a local facility. Their search for the bodies, takes them into the sewers. Madison's parter meets his end, and it doesn't take long before the creature manages to break out. All of a sudden the city becomes the site of an enormous 'bug-hunt' for a forty foot eating machine. Nobody really knows what to do except for Madison and his new girlfriend who is a reptilian specialist.

Let me now point out right now that the most important trick to shooting a convincing monster, regardless of how much money you spend on effects is choosing your camera angles. This is something that Alligator does quite well. The beast doesn't look like a giant fabricated puppet, it looks like a scaly, fleshy reptile, actually sometimes it is. A number of wide shots were done with miniature sets and a juvenile gator about a meter in length.

Something else worth noting about Alligator which helps is that, the plot not only acknowledges its absurdity but it tries to build on that with a certain sense of humor (although Lake Placid did this a little better). Sometimes however, it gets a bit too absurd. One scene in particular is especially ridiculous. Around the ¾ point, the gator crashes a garden party, and kills about twenty people. When I say kills I don't just mean kills and eats, I mean that it kills. The way the creature chomps on one person drops him in a puddle of blood and moves onto another person is scientifically incorrect. Also the way it flattens a limo with its tail is even more ridiculous considering the shape of its backbone. Then again to be fair, Jaws also had its share of scientific inaccuracies.

Alligator does what it intends to do, which is offer campy fun in Jaws tradition. Considering what has come out since, the film actually works even better. From the bowels of the city to the bowels of a giant reptilians digestive track, Alligator is weird/quirky and occasionally bloody ride, which will sustain viewers for a good hour and a half. That for me would be considered a success.

I was informed that this is considered a classic within the genre. I'm not sure what genre that is but either way it was somewhat of an anti-climax.

A baby alligator is flushed down the toilet and twelve years later its big and it's angry!

It's one police officer & his scientist buddies job to track it and kill it while surrounded by people who simply don't believe them.

Is it wrong that I was cheering on the alligator? After all it's not some evil monster, it's just an abandoned hungry animal.

Alligator isn't bad, it's just not that exciting. It looks decent considering it's 37 tears old but it hardly grips you.

The Good:

Creature effects aren't that bad considering it's age

The Bad:

No consistency regarding the Alligators size

Robert Forster's hair

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Alligators can be easily purchased as pets

Alligators make great jump ramps

This is the movie that Lake Placid wanted to be.

After the massive wave (pun intended) of underwater horrors that Jaws had created, Alligator is the best in my opinion. Sure there were a number of others that deserve recognition (Piranha, Jaws 2, Orca), but Alligator swallows them all up.

The reason is that its both sharply witty and frightening at the same time (which is a hard thing to achieve). The acting is good, with Robert Forster ringing the alarm bells about an over-sized gator living in the sewers. Our poor old gator was flushed down a toilet as a baby (you'd be a bit mad too...) and after feasting on some dumped lab animals grows to over 30 feet and is ready for some human munchies.

As for the effects, they're done really well. Direction is very good and the script is way above average for this type of fare.

TTKK's Bottomline - Alligator does for swimming pools (and suburbia) what Jaws done for the beach. Highly recommended for those looking for aquatic thrills.

Dumped down a toilet twelve years ago, lonely alligator at the large causes wreak havoc and grisly deaths by eating a lot of people. The grown-up, toxic croc is nicknamed Ramon, this eponymous star resides in the city sewers and from time to time it goes out of underground and while quietly sleeping and eating. In addition to feasting on the occasional stray human , he also devours chemical mingling with fateful consequences. Nothing seems to satisfy croc's ever-widening appetite , not all the innocent citizens, neither neighborhood rubbish, nor the buildings in the whole town . Meanwhile, a guilt-ridden cop, - recently deceased Robert Forster-, and a beautiful, lovely scientst, Robin Riker, get to know each other and attempting to nab the gator . Along the way, Ramon will devour all kinds of people, including the hand that unwittingly fed him .

Suprisingly good and enjoyable monster movie about a gigantic croc, nicknamed Ramon, that grows to an inordinate size by feeding on the corpses of pets used in hormones experiments , with acceptable special effects that are main distraction in this witty- eco-monster take. Entertaing and curious script by the prestigious John Sayles, reworking his plot 1978 Piranha directed by Joe Dante. Adding an ecological denounce and sour critique to lab experiments, and scientific research leading to a dangerous freak of nature, as the croc devours the animal remains of a chemical plant 's experiment involving growth hormones and eventually starts swelling at a huge rate. The result is an unpretentious, agreeable and effective treat. It packs a fine main cast as Robert Forster and Robin Riker, they are well accompanied by a good support cast such as Michael V Gazzo, Henry Silva, Jack Carter, Angel Tompkins, Perry Lang, Sydney Lassick and Sue Lyon who recently passed away, too. This Alligator 1980 had a sequel : Alligator 2 mutation 1990 directed by John Hess , it was a passable and bland rehash dealing with the toxic croc menacing an easy community, and displaying a nice cast such as Steve Railsback, Dee Wallace Stone, Joseph Bologna, Brock Peters, Richard Lynch.

The motion picture was well directed by Lewis Teague. He is a good craftsman who has directed various successful action, adventure, terror, thriller movies such as Lady in red, Fighging back, Cujo, The jewel of the Nile, Cat's eye, Collision curse, Navy Seals, Saved by the light, The triangle, among others.

Another creature feature with no money, horrible acting, and terrible dialogue that is a lot of fun if you treat it differently than an Oscar contender. Sure, it's a piece of garbage, literally. The alligator got flushed down the toilet ending up in the sewer along with some experimental chemicals mutating it into a giant. Despite being a 40-foot-long maneater, the police and local law enforcement spend the whole movie trying to find the thing (apparently, it's very sneaky) while it munches on a buffet of hapless citizens. Alligator is ridiculous, nonsensical, and a lot of fun if you are a fan of old-school cheesy creature features.

When this film turned up on T.V. I was prepared for the worst. Much to my surprise this was a good thrilling monster movie with just the right amount of tongue and cheek to make the far fetched premise acceptable; ie the idea that an alligator this big could slip in and out of the sewers with out being detected. Robert Forster as the detective out to track down the killer gator gives a good performance. ,real stand out is Henry Silva as the military man sent to destroy the monster gator. He plays him like a broad stereotype of a general from some Latin American dictatorship.

FYI: If you think the idea of a 36 foot plus alligator is impossible, there is a fossil skull on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York of an extinct crocodile. The skull is over five feet long. Image that such monsters once did roam the earth!

I saw this film when I was a kid & thought it was pretty good. I saw it again recently and it's really not that bad. It's very tongue in cheek - which is what makes it so enjoyable. Not to be taken seriously, this is more in the tone of Piranha than Jaws. By todays standards the Alligator looks incredibly fake, and the acting is pretty bad, but it doesn't matter. It's still great entertainment - if you like monster picks.

I remember seeing this movie as a kid, but I must have been desensitized to violence, because I cannot remember it being so scary. I recently had a chance to see it again and it really had me on the edge of my seat. What really makes the film frightening is that most of it takes place in a dark sewer system below Chicago. Darkness is a horror films best friend and it works well here. If you have not seen it and are wondering if a 1980 film is worth watching or if you just want a good scare give `Alligator' a try. Some of the acting is overdone a bit, but it is still quite entertaining.

Alligator (1980) is currently available on Prime and tells the tale of an alligator who is flushed into the sewers. He eats a steady diet of animals that have had various tests done on them in a labratory that causes it to become enormous...so enormous he might decide it's time to come out of the sewers.

This movie is directed by Lewis Teague (Cujo) and stars Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), Robin Riker (Psycho Granny), Sydney Lassick (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), Sue Lyon (Night of the Iguana) and Michael V. Gazzo (The Godfather Part II).

This movie is a lot of fun. The alligator show opening was a perfect way to start the movie and establish the feel of the picture. I had to laugh because the music is almost identical to Jaws. They didn't even try to hide it. The acting was way better than I anticipated and Forster plays a fantastic lead role. They did a good job creating models, Godzilla style, for the city and emergence of the alligator from under the sewers. There's a party the alligator attends that's an entertaining sequence. While they rely on a mechanical alligator that's a bit cheesy, I still couldn't wait to see what happened next. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit disappointing.

Overall, this is more fun than good but an absolute must see for horror enthusiasts. I would score this a 4.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Robert Forster just died so what better time to watch this again?

JAWS in the sewer?

OK so it's cheesy and not up to par with Lake Placid but it's a hoot and a half.

The music was NOT composed by John Williams so the theme isn't up there with the scary theme song from JAWS but the movie makers really tried hard to have ys jump out of our seats.

One Baby alligator causing havoc after it was flushed down the drain.

Come on- what's not to like? Bad science, worse scientists.

The only reason I watched this, if you don't count Robert Forster, I recently moved to South Carolina. We have alligators everywhere and people actually believe they are the embodiment of evil.

This is actually a serious monster horror with quite a good story behind it. It is not at all original but the acting, the direction and the whole film really comes off well as a good monster horror. It will hold your attention and keep you entertained but you may find it a bit silly and not scary enough. There is some good tension near the beginning but by the end this is all gone. Worth a watch and entertaining. Average monster movie affair that passes the time without much effort.

First there was Jaws then Piranha both great movies and then in 1980 there was a giant Alligator film written by John Sayles who wrote Piranha and The Howling, using the urban legend of Alligators flushed down into the sewers and becoming giant due to the stuff in there they made a great B-movie with an Alligator twice it's normal size. Sometimes it's just a real Alligator in a small set to make it look big and other times it's a big rubber Alligator but that's what makes it fun.

The atmosphere is creepy when in the sewers especially since the Alligator is prowling around ready to jump out and get them. The main characters are likable and the acting is good. Alligator is a classic B-Movie that's great and fun to watch. 10/10

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. As a creature film, this one is a solid entertainment. It has good action, lots of kills, in fact this gator's appetite is amazing. It gulps down man aft man including Henry Silva. The scene where the gator comes out on the street is done very well n it reminds of the old monster flicks. I enjoyed this then n now too. This one needs a remake.

It's the age-old story of growth hormones fed to lab animals that are dumped in the sewer system. Said animals make tempting snacks for Ramone. Who is Ramone, you ask? Why, he's the pet alligator that got flushed down the toilet. Now, after years of feasting on his favorite treats, Ramone is about to make his big, sidewalk-breaking debut.

Robert Forster is a cop who learns of the gator's existence and must convince his superiors to take action. In the meantime, maw-fuls of victims are devoured, including comedian Jack Carter as the idiot mayor, and Henry Silva as an over-confident hunter!

Director Lewis Teague brings the extra-large reptile to life with bone-crunching results. ALLIGATOR is a fantastic "nature's revenge" / monster movie!...