Squadra d'assalto antirapina

When this film came out in 1976, Jan-Michael Vincent was at the height of his popularity, though Kris Kristofferson got top billing, Vincent actually steals this movie from Kristofferson. Showing leading man appeal, Vincent shows if given above-average material he could more than carry a movie, though dated, Vigilante Force was a typical blue-collar, mid-70's movie, as previously stated, town police along with Vincent bring in Kristofferson and his buddies to clean-up the town, but then using their power for their own personal gains, Vincent tries to give his brother the benefit of the doubt, until he realizes he now has to drive them out of town or kill them. This movie was probably the peak of Vincent's big screen career, it's hard to believe this movie didn't elevate Vincent to super-star status, though Vincent had a fine run as an actor in the 70's, mainstream appeal evaded Vincent and though he appeared in Burt Reynold's "Hooper" in 1978, by the end of 1979, Vincent's star had fallen and he was relegated to low-budget B movies, eventually turning to T.V. to revive his flagging career.

Vigilante Force is a trashy, energetic, empty-headed action picture which keeps you entertained without ever engaging your intellect. Kris Kristofferson gives a great, atypical performance as a seriously nasty bad guy and Jan Michael Vincent offers competent support as his good-guy brother.

The film sees Vincent getting fed up with the violent behaviour of certain rowdy townsfolk in his home town. He hires his brother, Kristofferson, and his Vietnam veteran buddies, to come into the town and clean up the trouble. They get the job done, but then things go sour. They become corrupt and take control of the town themselves, thus becoming just as bad as the thugs they were supposed to get rid of in the first place.

The violence is not gratuitous, but there's enough of it to keep blood-addicted viewers happy. The action is pretty good. The film goes through some slow patches and seems all at sea when the characters stop fighting and shooting and actually sit down to have a conversation. However, when the mayhem is on the screen, the film comes into its own and contains some explosive scenes. Vigilante Force is not great art... the dialogue is clunky and it has no subtext, no deeper meaning than the immediate violence and explosions, but of its kind it is certainly an enjoyable way to pass the time.

I was in elementary school when I last read it, but "Vigilante Force" actually reminded me of the classic biblical story of Cain and Abel; the harsh and bloody battle between the strong and treacherous brother versus the physically weaker but forthright brother. George Armitage, the hugely underrated cult director of "Gross Pointe Blank" and "Miami Blues", transferred this basic given from the Biblical era to the trashy 70's and a small Californian town setting. When the previously dormant oil deposits nearby are re-opened again, the charming little town of Elk Hills all of a sudden becomes a lawless boom town. The local authorities instruct the town's mechanic Ben Arnold to call in his elderly brother Aaron for help. Aaron is a Vietnam veteran as well as a local legend, so they draft him and a handful of his Tour of Duty buddies to come and restore the law and order in Elk Hills. Aaron and C° quickly rid the town of all the scum, but then subsequently take over all the illegal activities themselves. The alleged heroes start up a felonious gambling network in town and even force the local merchants to participate in mafia practices. It takes the town of Elk Hills, and particularly younger brother Ben, a very long time to realize their new deputies are bigger criminals than they dealt with before and even longer to stand up against them. "Vigilante Force" is an interesting albeit heavily flawed mixture between urban western, guerrilla action and family melodrama. The tone of the film is very uneven, as Armitage interchanges wild & virulent bar fights (the absence of a Buddy Holly record in the jukebox is enough to drive these hicks insane, apparently) with overlong and dull morality speeches. Luckily there are a couple of powerful and memorable moments, like the cowardly assassination of a pivot character and the extremely explosive climax, to help "Vigilante Force" qualify as precious drive-in exploitation heritage. And the catchy banjo soundtrack helps a great deal as well to achieve this, of course. The best performances are given by Kris Kristofferson as the corrupt and totally unreliable anti-hero Aaron and Bernadette Peeters as a cocky but down-on-her-luck barroom singer. Personally I'm a tremendously big fan of Jan-Michael Vincent, especially of the cult hits he made around that era like "Shadow of the Hawk" and "White Line Fever", but here in this film he mainly just drives around town. Seriously, his red pick-up trucks deserves top-billing as well. For the seekers of hidden cult accomplishments

There is a ton that went wrong with this movie. Haha but the cast kept it alive. Dumb ending as well. About as shallow and thoughtless of a script as you can come by. Haha however again the actors kept it alive.

Vigilante Force (1976)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A small town comes under attack from a group of rednecks so a man (Jan-Michael Vincent) decides to talk the Sheriff into letting his Vietnam vet brother (Kris Kristofferson) and his four vet buddies clean things up. The plan starts off good at first but soon the five vets decide to do a few illegal things of their own. VIGILANTE FORCE starts off as a pretty good exploitation flick but it slowly begins to fall apart as the story for some reason switches directions. The beginning of the movie is the type of over-the-top actioneer that you'd expect to see from producer Gene Corman. The start of the movie features a greatest hits package of redneck damage, which includes bar fights, shootings, a stabbing and more violence all of it in drive-in camp fashion. Kristofferson arrives on the scene much like Sam Elliott would in the later cult classic ROAD HOUSE and the movie is still doing good at this part. The actor is very fun in the part and it's entertaining seeing him and his vet buddies walk around putting an end to the trouble. Where the screenplay really lost me was in the second half when they turn these fun guys into coldblooded killers. For the life of me I couldn't understand why they wanted to go this direction but my closest guess is that they wanted the brother versus brother showdown between the two stars. The eventual showdown really doesn't pay off and it also doesn't cool the bad taste left in your mouth from some of the actions that the Kristofferson character does. I won't give any spoilers but some of the murders just make you hate the guy, which completely goes against the feelings they build up early on. Kristofferson is very good in his part as is Vincent as his brother. The supporting cast includes Victoria Principal, Bernadette Peters, Charles Cyphers, Andrew Stevens and John Steadman who is best remembered for Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES. As is, the film works good enough in its first half to make it worth viewing but one wishes they had kept up with the fun times instead of doing something different.