Fighting Back

In a crime ridden area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Italian-American delicatessen owner John D'Angelo (Tom Skerritt) is a family man with an expectant wife, Lisa (Patti LuPone), and young son Danny (Jonathan Adam Sherman). Following an incident where a pimp attacks them causing Lisa to suffer a miscarriage and another incident where John's mother Vera (Gina DeAngelis) is mugged in a drugstore, John organizes other citizens of his area to form a neighborhood watch called The People's Neighborhood Patrol (PNP) which takes direct action on criminals in the areas through citizen's arrests. While John attains respect and prestige in the community because of his actions, he is also looked upon unfavorably by elements of City Hall and prominent members of the black community such as Ivanhoe Washington (Yaphet Kotto) who runs a group similar to John's.

During the Dino De Laurentis' sale of the rights to the Brian Garfield novel Death Wish and its characters to Cannon Films, De Laurentis briefly discussed with director Michael Winner the prospect of him directing the Death Wish sequel under him instead of Golan and Globus, when Winter refused De Laurentis proceeded with the sale of the rights but also produced his own vigilante film as a direct clone of Death Wish. The end result was Fighting Back which was released about three months after Death Wish II, and despite coming from Paramount, a larger studio than Cannon, and sporting the writers of films such as Straw Dogs and Monte Walsh, Fighting Back didn't even manage to recoup its $9 million budget in the United States with Death Wish II bringing in three times its gross. The moviehas fallen into obscurity in the years since and critical reception was rather tepid upon initial release (though somewhat better than Death Wish II if not by much). Despite the movie being made purely out of Dino De Laurentis regretting selling the Death Wish rights, Fighting Back is less ugly and reprehensible than Death Wish II.

Like every other vigilante movie that followed on from Death Wish the movie hits all the marks to a "t". Everyman suffers a wrong or wrongs that motivates him to take justice into his own hands? Check. Police are inept giving excuses like "we don't have the manpower" but become mobilized as an antagonistic force against our protagonist? Check. Man on the Street/News reports paying lip service to a "debate" about pros and cons of vigilantism? Kind of. The one point in Fighting Back's favor is that it does at least seem aware of the inherent racism of the wish fulfillment aspect of vigilante stories and Yaphet Kotto's Ivanhoe Washington does serve as something of a counterpoint to John's Anthony Imperiale-esque antics so at least it is addressing some of the beneath the surface problems that give rise to urban blight rather than boiling it down to "good guy with gun takes down bad guys with guns". I also commend the film for not including any of the lurid sexual violence Death Wish II used such as the prolonged rape scene where I character who vocally believed in "the system" is violently stripped nude and assaulted as the camera lingered on every part of her anatomy. Fighting Back largely avoids the more lurid traps of this genre so I also have to commend it on that point. Aside from that though, it's just another vigilante movie. Despite the movie trying to add some semblance of credibility by showing stock footage of the Reagan and Pope John Paul II assignation attempts or Yaphet Kotto being a foil to Skerritt's John D'Angelo the way the movie ends does feel like it celebrates John's actions down to the over the top happy scene at the now cleaned up park where children are having a snowball fight.

There's nothing all that much to Fighting Back other than to say "it's not hateful like Death Wish II". It still celebrates vigilantism and makes excuses for it and it follows most of the major points established by Death Wish even if it doesn't go into as much gory detail with it. It's violent stupid wish fulfillment, but at least it's somewhat aware of it and does have some amusing moments that aren't drowned in excessive sadism.

Here's an almost criminally forgotten post Death Wish gem from director Lewis Teague.

Whilst perhaps not as violent, nor as rewarding purely entertainment wise as the aforementioned pinnacle of the vigilante/revenge genre, this film approaches the issue of taking the law into one's own hands in a very different (and perhaps more realistic) manner and succeeds in delivering a solid ninety or so minutes of highly gripping viewing.

The always superb Tom Skerrit headlines as Michael D'Angelo, a humble greengrocer who is pushed too far by a series of brutal events and who subsequently decides to fight back by setting up a citizens patrol force in order to clean up the area in which he lives. Not giving too much away, but fuelled by his anger at the both the suffering of those around him and additionally the blatant inefficiency of the police force to tidy up the neighbourhood, Michael's methods are very hands on, leading to a number of violent altercations with the criminal denizens in the district.

Despite the nature of the subject material (perfect exploitation fodder), the director and cast performances manage to instill a far deeper sentiment into this than that usually found in a typical vigilante/revenge flick of the era. In fact, far from a simple tale of one mans war on crime, this serves in effect as a fascinating study of the social degeneration and general feeling of hopelessness, powerlessness and despair so prevalent in today's society at the escalating crime statistics and inefficacy of the law system to punish those responsible. The simple message is that together, as communities we can unite and turn the tide against this abject unhappiness for both ourselves and indeed future generations.

Rousing stuff indeed and highly recommended.

Set in an Italian neighborhood of Philadelphia "Fighting Back" tells the story of a storekeeper(Tom Skerritt),who is outraged by an incident on the streets that results in his pregnant wife losing the baby and by a robbery in which his mother's ring finger is cut off.He organizes the local people into a security patrol.The patrol does wipe out crime but operates beyond the law with our vigilante carrying on more of a personal vendetta than a campaign to establish law and order."Fighting Back" by Lewis Teague is a taut and exciting revenge thriller obviously influenced by "Death Wish" movies.The film is well-acted and looks surprisingly authentic.There is not much violence on display,however if you are a fan of thought-provoking cinema you can't miss this gritty flick.8 out of 10.

First of all I concur with all my fellow reviewers who can't seem to fathom that "Death Vengeance" is still so underrated, unknown and unavailable on DVD. This is a cult movie in the purest definition of the term, for crying out loud, with an acclaimed director and cast and a harshly realist subject that is applicable to all times and all big cities! Even more so, there were most vigilante thrillers all too easily revert to crowd-pleasing violence (Charlie Bronson's "Death Wish" being the best example of this), at least "Death Vengeance" attempts to remain more rational, with ordinary characters, dramatic sub plots, politically engaged and socially relevant. Tom Skerritt, in one of his best performances ever, stars as the Italian-American John D'Angelo who owns a deli shop in the roughest and most crime-infested neighborhood in Philadelphia. Following a couple of dramatic incidents where his wife lost their unborn baby and his mother her ring finger, John mobilizes his fellow petrified neighbors into founding the People's Neighbourhood Patrol. In a relatively short time, they free the park and streets around their houses of muggers, drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes and organized crime. Even though John's family life suffers under his obsession and he often has difficulties of drawing the line between what's legal and what's not, his achievements grow increasingly important. So important even, that the current mayor fears John to become an unbeatable rival in the next elections. "Death Vengeance" is a strong and compelling revenge/vigilante thriller with the emphasis on character development and grim atmosphere. The sequences where John D'Angelo confronts Ivanhoe Washington (a black volunteer who tries to keep petty criminals off the streets) are equally important as the sequences where the vigilantes battle hardcore thugs in the park. For the real die-hard fanatics of grisly early 80's cult cinema, "Death Vengeance" has quite a lot of brutal images to offer as well, like the drug store hold-up, but the violence never becomes gratuitous or overly exploitative. That alone is a remarkable accomplishment of director Lewis Teague ("Alligator", "Cujo"). The supportive cast is excellent as well, with Michael Sarrazin ("The Reincarnation of Peter Proud"), Yaphet Kotto ("Across 110th Street") and David "Sledge Hammer" Rasche! Is there an online petition anywhere to release this gem on DVD that I can sign?

Fighting Back was unknown to me until recently. I just grabbed the Blu Ray from Arrow Films. This differs greatly from the Death Wish movies(especially past the second movie). This looks at vigilantism in a realistic and intelligent way. This is also more blue collar/working class. An Italian American deli owner (Tom Skeritt) gets fed up with the rampant crime wave that is ruining his neighborhood. He gets a neighborhood group together and they start cracking heads. Their critics accuse them of racism as the majority of the people they go after are black. This is not a shoot em up action piece, most of the violence are brawls and are very gritty and realistic in their depiction. He ends up getting media attention and is drawn into politics. Skerit's neighborhood action group often goes beyond the law and this film looks at how a man changes from the beginning of the movie, to the end. The film has a lot to say about politics and American society at this time. I thought Fighting Back was a very good movie and it was well scripted, acted and directed.