Philadelphia Security

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.

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.

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.

I have this film on VHS, and a dubbed DVD, when I received a like on Facebook from Tom Skerritt on a comment from a birthday message a year earlier, it made me think about this film and seeing if there's been an official release since the last time I looked.

I was surprised that Arrow Video released it on Blu-Ray. I always loved this film, and thought it was a good print. The only thing keeping me from a perfect 10 rating, was the ending, I recall it having a message on their saying what happened to DeAngelo, and how crime continues to decline in his district. I don't know why this was omitted from the print. Any answers welcomed.

Also the racism element is blown out of proportion, has several of the criminals they went after were non-black. Like the bar they introduced themselves in, the school drug dealer, and the arsonists. The Yaphet Kotto character blew it out of proportion.

The movie seems to relate to current events.

Why this has never been released on DVD I'll never know, especially when so much grade-z rubbish has been given the lavish 'Special Edition' treatment. This is, quite simply, one of the finest 'revenge' genre films made and far more intelligent than most of it's type. I mean, just take a look at the cast: Tom Skerrit, Michael Sarrazin. These a class actors.

What makes Death Vengeance so strong are the well developed characters. You identify with them more than anything. Paul Kersey was someone who appealed to the lowest common denominator, those who liked to cheer violent characters responding in a totally over the top fashion. John D'Angelo seemed to be grounded more in reality, reacting in a way we can understand. While not always sympathetic, Skerrit's performance made him believable.

The film was marketed in a fairly deceptive way. This is more than just another shoot-em-up no-brainer and deserves to be recognised as such. Director Lewis Teague could have taken the easy option, thrown in lots of action set-pieces and had a sky-high bodycount. Instead, he decided to engage our brains instead of our base instincts. He, and the film need to be recognised for this. Shame this doesn't happen more often. See it and you will find an underrated and surprisingly thought provoking film.