Gator, O Implacável

This 1976 sequel to Burt's successful good-ole-boy movie WHITE LIGHTNING doesn't represent its star in peak form--as actor or director. (The picture was uncreditedly co-directed by James Best, star of several Sam Fuller movies; he didn't learn much from the old man.) But it's memorable for one reason only--for the guy who, for my money, takes the cake for Greatest Character Actor of the Seventies Gone to Waste.

Jerry Reed is best known for his novelty songs and his appearances in bumptious comedies like HOT STUFF (opposite Suzanne Pleshette and Dom DeLuise). But look at his chillingly suave downhome hit man in Michael Ritchie's THE SURVIVORS, or his magnificent performance here, and you see the man who should have had Tommy Lee Jones' career.

As Bama, a dirt-poor boy made good as a pimp and a gangster, Jerry Reed has the kind of unnameable connection with the audience that other singers-turned-actors like Sinatra and, on occasion, Willie Nelson had. His Bama never lets you forget the tin-shack fate he overcame through a life of peddling sin: he's like the redneck star of his own blaxploitation movie playing in his head. The smoothie charmer who can turn sadistic-violent on a dime is as ripe an opportunity for ham as they come, but Jerry Reed is genuinely seductive and chilling--and Reynolds hands him scene after scene to steal. The guy was a great actor--and he never got the chances that a similar (and less varied) actor like Charles Napier got.

If someone's reading this has the opportunity--give the guy a job.

The movie Gator is full of action. As with many Burt Reynolds movies the cops are once again practically useless. The standout is Jerry Reed as Bama McCall. Jerry Reed takes his role and runs with it till their is nothing left. The evil laugh and twinkle in his eye only adds to his portrayal. The bar scene with Bama, Gator, Bones and Smiley is a 10 easily. If you enjoy Burt Reynolds you will like this movie, however I hope you will walk away with a new appreciation for Jerry Reed. I really got a kick out of the 70's suits Mr. Reed wore. Classic. The opening motorboat scene is done well, but you can see the stunt men instead of the main actors. Lauren Hutton is sweet and there seemed to be some chemistry between her and Burt. Great acting, morality play and Jerry Reed, what more could one ask for?

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...