Le droit de tuer

I remember watching this movie as a young teenager and it was quite something. Gritty, gross, crappy mega violent.

Similar to a lot of movies at that time (although this was one of the first) the violence was more of the film than the actual plot.

If you are looking to watch a classic movie, this isn't it, enjoyable now for a bit of a trip down memory lane to revisit an era of movie making (like Bronx Warriors and Class of 84), like watching classic horror movies . Does have some memorable scenes and does have a sequel (which is not worth looking at).

The Exterminator tells the story of John Eastland, a former Vietnam war veteran whom goes on a vigilante killing spree after his best friend is viciously attacked by a group of thugs. Meanwhile, a detective, James Dalton tries to stop him.

For the most part, this film is extremely dull. It draws itself out for far too long, and there is a subplot where the detective starts dating a nurse, which is completely unnecessary as it adds nothing to the plot. It's as if the director thought the film wasn't long enough so he tried to find excuses for it to be longer.

While this film does have it's share of exciting scenes from time to time, it really doesn't have much else going for it. The acting isn't bad; not top notch, but acceptable.

If you are after a good vigilante thriller, you could do worse than 'The Exterminator.' Then again, you could do a lot better too.

This is not a great film, in fact it can't even be considered a "good film," when you take into account the poor, confusing editing, ugly cinematography and some bad acting. What makes "The Exterminator" a valuable movie, is it's "grindhouse credibility. This is one of the few movies of it's kind that actually makes me a little sick when I watch it, and similar films like "Death Wish" and "Vigilante" don't succeed in doing that. Yes, they are both way superior films, but they don't pack the punch that this sleazy movie from 1980 achieves in spades. You have the Vietnam Vet, still feeling the effects of one jungle, when he is thrust into another jungle, the urban jungle of New York city at the very end of the 1970's. The film's anti-hero is hunting the true filth of the Earth, mafioso, child molesters and murdering gang members. At the heart of the story is an ongoing struggle between him and "The Ghetto Ghouls," a hyper violent gang that is terrorizing New York. Offering some great, vintage location scenes of New York landmarks, like the West Side's meat packing district, the crime ridden Central Park, and the slime ridden Times Square. For these qualities the movie has value. It's a rough movie, but this one should be appreciated by fans of violent revenge movies from back in the day. The version I saw on Bluray appeared kind of choppy, like some scenes were missing. If there is an even nastier version of this one in existence, I can't even imagine what they cut..

When Vietnam veteran John Eastman's (Robert Ginty) best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James) is brutally attacked by street gang the Ghetto Ghouls leaving Michael paralyzed, John takes it upon himself to clear the streets of crime under the alias The Exterminator. As NYPD Detective Dalton (Christopher George) tracks down The Exterminator, elements of the CIA take an interest in John's crusade against crime believing it threatens their interests.

The Exterminator is the second film of filmmaker James Glickenhaus and arguably the one that cements his style as a director. After the experience of making an releasing The Astrologer (aka The Suicide Cult), Glcikenhaus decided his next film would be written with as little dialogue as possible which lead to him developing and financing The Exterminator. While the movie was made with the intention of distributing it through the international market, the film proved a sizable hit within the United States making $6 million in the New York alone and would make both star Robert Ginty and writer/director James Glickenhaus staples of B-movies throughout the 80s. While The Exterminator doesn't break far from the tropes of the genre established by Death Wish and its contemporaries, it doesn't pretend to be anymore than it actually is and sidesteps the pseudo discussions and some of the crypto racism inherent to the genre.

Robert Ginty is really well cast as John Eastman and according to Glickenhaus he chose because not only did he find him a good actor, but also thought he brought an approachable everyman quality to the character Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson couldn't. Ginty and Steve James have terrific chemistry in the film and from the opening scene where Michael saves John's life in Vietnam you buy them as friends and do get invested in their relationship. But despite Ginty portraying a likable personality, he also brings a simmering intensity to the scenes where he's taking on the city's criminal elements from low level street thugs to mid-level gangsters with some scenes involving a meat grinder or a flamethrower being particularly memorable. The movie also gives us another fun turn in Christopher George as Detective Dalton who's investigating The Exterminator and while he does fill the requisite for the character type in a movie like this, he also adds a certain level of humor and humanity such as his love story with Samantha Eggar's Dr. Megan Stewart or some unique little quirks he has such as cooking a hot dog with two forks wired to his desk lamp. Now I'm not going to act like the movie is flawless because at the end of the day it is still a violent and slightly stupid wish fulfillment fantasy, but there's also some other issues at play such as the rather choppy feeling of the editing with some parts such as Michael Jefferson's family feeling really underdeveloped, or the soundtrack which features a lot of slow emotional acoustic guitar backed ballads that feels like it's trying to copy the San Anton song from Rolling Thunder. Pretty much any vigilante movie that tries to ape Paul Schrader is doomed to fail because only Paul Schrader can add that little extra something to a movie like this (Hardcore, Rolling Thunder, Taxi Driver, etc.). The movie didn't need to be Paul Schrader, we have one of those, just be The Exterminator and own it.

The Exterminator is unapologetically b-movie trash but it's fun b-movie trash especially in comparison to stuff like Death Wish II or Fighting Back. If you like this kind of movie there's plenty to appreciate here.

The plot.

John (Bob Ginty) is just a working man who clicks and starts to wreck havoc on all the wrongdoers of New York. Christopher George plays detective Dalton who's about to stop this nutcase that calls himself The Exterminator.

The film.

Despite its strong points The Exterminator is very bland in places. Everything: the dialog, writing, shooting, acting and editing varies from very good to very bad. It stands a step higher than the films of likes of say William Lustig who made films for Glickenhaus' production company. But it's obvious that the crew didn't get enough shots to cut the film together to make it look more presentable. At times the movie takes itself way too seriously.

Advice.

Starts out as a slow low budget movie, turns out to be a fast and mostly effective actioneer. Death Wish it is not, but certainly is worth your time. Watch out for Christopher George cooking his meal!