Fighting Back (1982 American film)

Last updated
Fighting Back
Fighting Back Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Lewis Teague
Screenplay byThomas Hedley Jr.
David Zelag Goodman
Produced byPerm Presentations
Starring
Cinematography Franco Di Giacomo
Edited byNicholas C. Smith
Music by Piero Piccioni
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • May 21, 1982 (1982-05-21)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million [1]
Box office$6.4 million (rentals) [2]

Fighting Back (UK title: Death Vengeance) [3] is a 1982 vigilante action thriller film written by Thomas Hedley Jr and David Zelag Goodman and directed by Lewis Teague. [4] The film stars Tom Skerritt, [5] Patti LuPone, [6] Michael Sarrazin, [7] [8] Yaphet Kotto, [9] [10] David Rasche, [11] Lewis Van Bergen, [12] Earle Hyman, [13] [14] and Ted Ross. [15]

Contents

Plot

The film opens with Philadelphia television reporters viewing and broadcasting a news story about violence in society since JFK's assassination in 1963. With the increase in crime, Philadelphia is becoming unsafe. Proud Italian-American, John D'Angelo, runs a deli in town. While driving with his wife, Lisa, John comes across a pimp known as Eldorado, brutalizing one of his prostitutes. John's wife confronts the pimp, who chases the D'Angelos and rams his car into the back of the D'Angelos' vehicle, injuring Lisa and killing their unborn baby. Later, John's mother, Vera, is assaulted in the neighborhood by robbers who tried to take her wedding ring.

John decides to make a stand, organizing a neighborhood patrol of regular citizens who are also fed up with the crime in their neighborhood. They call themselves The People's Neighborhood Patrol (PNP). They have their own uniforms of blue hats and vests that have a PNP logo on them, headquarters to take phone calls, and vehicles containing the PNP logo and led by John and his best friend Vince Morelli, a police officer. After D'Angelo's house is burglarized and their dog is killed, the film cuts to the reporters' studio footage of Anthony Imperiale ten years after the 1967 Newark riots, self-defense classes in Beverly Hills, various target practice sessions and the Guardian Angels on patrol in New York City. With Vince's help, the police allow the PNP to patrol the neighborhood. However, the PNP seems to operate with no regard for the law and does what it wants. To make their first stand and to introduce themselves to the neighborhood, the group goes to a dirty bar in town known for being a hot spot for criminals, including Eldorado and his men. John casually walks into the bar with the rest of the PNP behind him. John confronts the bartender (Allan Graf) to try to get answers as to who is responsible for mugging his mother. Things turn violent when the bartender laughs in John's face, triggering an all-out brawl, but the PNP comes out on top.

John and the PNP start gaining media attention, and the neighborhood starts to rally behind the PNP. The group starts taking out various street criminals. The PNP operates above the law. John does what he wants, and his actions are seen as racial discrimination by a small portion of the African-American community. John meets with Ivanhoe Washington, a black leader of a similar vigilante movement. Ivanhoe presents John with the two men who mugged his mother, one of whom is white while the other is black. John beats up the black man, proving Ivanhoe's point that John is guilty of discrimination.

With widespread media attention, John decides to run for councilman in the upcoming election. Just when things are looking good for the city, tragedy strikes when Vince is gunned down and killed at the hands of Eldorado and his men. In retaliation, John organizes a large-scale attack on the park where Vince was killed. All members of the PNP head to the park, where they demand for everyone in the park to clear out. When their demands are ignored, the PNP takes action and starts to clear out the park by brute force. A large brawl soon erupts, and police arrive on the scene not long afterward. John spots Eldorado and chases after him; during the chase, John is tackled and arrested by police. Eldorado manages to get away.

Meeting with the Police Commissioner, John is informed where Eldorado is, the Commissioner sardonically explaining that John can understand that at the moment the police are "too busy" to arrest Eldorado and in effect inviting John to assassinate Eldorado. When John explains he does not know how to thank him, the Commissioner says "oh yes, he does" and explains that his job is based on working with people and paying and collecting favors and that John is going to owe him some big favors when he is elected.

Essentially having permission from the Commissioner to take out Eldorado, John waits patiently on the roof above Eldorado's vehicle. When Eldorado and his men enter the car, John drops a grenade through the vehicle's roof. The grenade explodes, killing everyone inside the car.

John ends up winning the election, and a large celebration with family and friends takes place inside his deli. The PNP has cleaned up the neighborhood, and crime is no more. The final scene shows children playing in the same park that was once occupied by criminals.

Cast

Production

Fighting Back was mostly filmed in and around the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [16]

Reception

Opening the weekend of May 23, 1982, Fighting Back grossed $1,624,381 at the US box office. The film went on to gross $3,355,948 in the United States and Canada. [17] Worldwide, it earned theatrical rentals of $6.4 million. [2]

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives Fighting Back a score of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics and a rating average of 4.5 out of 10. [18]

Richard F. Shepard of The New York Times wrote in his review: "This Dino De Laurentiis production is, puzzlingly, more realistic in its parts than in its whole, which tries to attack the entire problem of crime and neighborhood self-protection, of selfless community service and of temptations to use service as a stepping stone. It approaches and touches the matters of racism, political opportunism, civil rights, vigilante tactics and the process of law, but it does not come to extreme conclusions about them. And so we are left with a story, but fortunately the story is interestingly spun. Fighting Back is set in an Italian neighborhood of Philadelphia, where a storekeeper, played by Tom Skerritt, 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 hero carrying on more of a personal vendetta, western-style, than a campaign to establish law and order." [19]

Critic Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote in his review: "Fighting Back is a lurid glorification of urban vigilantism remotely inspired by the career of Anthony Imperiale, the charismatic community leader of riled and fearful Italian-American residents in Newark in the late '60s. Imperiale himself is recalled in newsreel clips in the course of the movie, which opens for no justifiable reason with a medley of traumatic documentary footage, from the assassination of President Kennedy through the assassination attempts on President Reagan and Pope John Paul II.... All of them are impressively overqualified for the minimal, motley quality of illusion that Fighting Back is content to confuse with effective contemporary melodrama." [20]

Release

Fighting Back was released in theatres on May 21, 1982. The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom. [21]

Related Research Articles

<i>Soylent Green</i> 1973 film by Richard Fleischer

Soylent Green is a 1973 American ecological dystopian thriller film directed by Richard Fleischer, and starring Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Edward G. Robinson in his final film role. It is loosely based on the 1966 science-fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, with a plot that combines elements of science fiction and a police procedural. The story follows a murder investigation in a dystopian future of dying oceans and year-round humidity caused by the greenhouse effect, with the resulting pollution, depleted resources, poverty, and overpopulation. In 1973, it won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Keitel</span> American actor (born 1939)

Harvey Keitel is an American actor known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with director Martin Scorsese, starring in six of his films: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Irishman (2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaphet Kotto</span> American actor (1939–2021)

Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor for film and television. He starred in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), the science-fiction action film The Running Man (1987), the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973) in which he portrayed the main villain Dr. Kananga, and the action comedy Midnight Run (1988) opposite Robert De Niro.

<i>Midnight Run</i> 1988 film by Martin Brest

Midnight Run is a 1988 American action comedy film directed by Martin Brest and starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, and Philip Baker Hall play supporting roles.

<i>Across 110th Street</i> 1972 film by Barry Shear

Across 110th Street is a 1972 American action-crime film directed by Barry Shear and starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin. The film is set in Harlem, New York and takes its name from 110th Street, the traditional dividing line between Harlem and Central Park that functioned as an informal boundary of race and class in 1970s New York City.

David Rasche is an American theater, film, and television actor who is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the 1980s satirical police sitcom Sledge Hammer! Since then he has often played characters in positions of authority, in both serious and comical turns. In television he is known for his main role as Karl Muller in the HBO drama series Succession and his role as Alden Schmidt in the TV Land comedy series Impastor, as well as recurring and guest performances in numerous programs including L.A. Law, Monk, The West Wing, Veep, Bored to Death, and Ugly Betty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Sarrazin</span> Canadian actor (1940-2011)

Michael Sarrazin was a Canadian actor. His most notable film was They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.

<i>Blue Collar</i> (film) 1978 American crime drama film

Blue Collar is a 1978 American crime drama film directed by Paul Schrader in his directorial debut. Written by Schrader and his brother Leonard, the film stars Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto. The film is both a critique of union practices and an examination of life in a working-class Rust Belt enclave.

<i>Eye of the Tiger</i> (film) 1986 film by Richard C. Sarafian

Eye of the Tiger is a 1986 American action film directed by Richard C. Sarafian, and stars Gary Busey, Yaphet Kotto, Denise Galik, Seymour Cassel, William Smith, and Judith Barsi. Busey plays a wrongfully incarcerated ex-convict who fights back against the biker gang harassing his hometown and the crooked sheriff protecting them. The film marked the beginning of the actor's transition to the action roles that would epitomize his career for much of the late 1980s and 1990s.

<i>Truck Turner</i> 1974 film by Jonathan Kaplan

Truck Turner, also known as Black Bullet, is a 1974 blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Leigh Chapman, and Oscar Williams. Hayes also scored the music for the soundtrack. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Foxy Brown.

<i>The Star Chamber</i> 1983 film by Peter Hyams

The Star Chamber is a 1983 American crime thriller film starring Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Sharon Gless, James B. Sikking, and Joe Regalbuto. The film was written by Roderick Taylor and Peter Hyams and directed by Hyams. Its title is taken from the name of the Star Chamber, a 15th−17th-century English court.

<i>5 Steps to Danger</i> 1957 film

5 Steps to Danger is a 1957 American film noir crime film directed, produced, and co–written by Henry S. Kesler. It stars Ruth Roman and Sterling Hayden, with a cast that also included Werner Klemperer, Richard Gaines, Charles Davis, Jeanne Cooper, and Peter Hansen. 5 Steps to Danger was based on the novel The Steel Mirror by Donald Hamilton.

<i>Tripwire</i> (film) 1989 American film

Tripwire is a 1989 American film directed by James Lemmo.

<i>Report to the Commissioner</i> 1975 film by Milton Katselas

Report to the Commissioner is a 1975 American crime drama film based on James Mills' 1972 novel. It involves a rookie cop in the New York City Police Department who is assigned a special missing person case, which in fact is meant to be a wild-goose chase to back up an undercover female police officer's role as the girlfriend of a drug dealer.

<i>The Monkey Hustle</i> 1976 film by Arthur Marks

The Monkey Hustle is a 1976 American blaxploitation film written by Odie Hawkins and Charles Eric Johnson. It stars Yaphet Kotto as Chicago con-man and "hustler" Daddy Foxx and Kirk Calloway as his teenage apprentice. Co-stars include Thomas Carter, Rudy Ray Moore, and Rosalind Cash.

<i>Sharks Treasure</i> 1975 American adventure film by Cornel Wilde

Sharks' Treasure is a 1975 American adventure film written, produced and directed by Cornel Wilde and starring Cornel Wilde and Yaphet Kotto.

<i>Badge of the Assassin</i> 1985 film

Badge of the Assassin is a 1985 television film starring James Woods, Yaphet Kotto and Alex Rocco. It was directed by Mel Damski. The film first aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System network on November 2, 1985. The film's production company was Blatt-Singer Productions.

<i>Top of the World</i> (1955 film) 1955 film by Lewis R. Foster

Top of the World is a 1955 American aviation adventure film, directed by Lewis R. Foster, and written by John D. Klorer and N. Richard Nash. The film starred Dale Robertson, Evelyn Keyes, Frank Lovejoy, Nancy Gates, Paul Fix, Robert Arthur, and Peter Hansen. Composer Albert Glasser composed the music to the film.

A House Divided: Denmark Vesey's Rebellion is a 1982 television film about Denmark Vesey, a literate skilled carpenter and former slave who planned a slave rebellion in 1822 in Charleston, South Carolina. Denmark Vesey's Rebellion was produced by WPBT and PBS, and Yaphet Kotto played Vesey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meant for You</span> 1981 single by Debra Laws

"Meant for You" is a song written by David Lasley and Roxanne Seeman and recorded by American singer Debra Laws. It was released in 1981 as the third single from Laws' Very Special album by Elektra Records. The song was produced by Hubert Laws and Ronnie Laws. “Meant For You” appears in the film Fighting Back starring Tom Skerritt, Patti LuPone and Michael Sarrazin.

References

  1. ↑ De Laurentiis PRODUCER'S PICTURE DARKENS: KNOEDELSEDER, WILLIAM K, Jr. Los Angeles Times 30 Aug 1987: 1.
  2. 1 2 De Laurentiis PRODUCER'S PICTURE DARKENS: [Home Edition] KNOEDELSEDER, WILLIAM K, Jr. Los Angeles Times 30 Aug 1987: 1.
  3. ↑ Talbot 2006, p. 37.
  4. ↑ "Fighting Back". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Tom Skerritt". Hollywood.com . Boca Raton, Florida: Hollywood.com, LLC. 28 August 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Patti luPone". NNDB . Mountain View, California: Soylent Communications. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Michael Sarrazin". Hollywood.com . Boca Raton, Florida: Hollywood.com, LLC . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Michael Sarrazin". NNDB . Mountain View, California: Soylent Communications. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Yaphet Kotto". Film Reference Library . Toronto: TIFF Bell Lightbox . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Yaphet Kotto". NNDB . Mountain View, California: Soylent Communications. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ "David Rasche". NNDB . Mountain View, California: Soylent Communications. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Lewis Van Bergen". Hollywood.com . Boca Raton, Florida: Hollywood.com, LLC . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Earle Hyman". Hollywood.com . Boca Raton, Florida: Hollywood.com, LLC . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Earle Hyman". Film Reference Library . Toronto: TIFF Bell Lightbox . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Ted Ross". NNDB . Mountain View, California: Soylent Communications. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  16. ↑ Frankford Gazette Staff (July 5, 2009). "1981 Movie "Fighting Back" Filmed In And Around Frankford". Frankford Gazette. Frankford: Keep the Faith Ministry. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Fighting Back". Box Office Mojo . United States: Amazon.com . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Fighting Back". Rotten Tomatoes . United States: Fandango . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  19. ↑ Shepard, Richard F. (May 22, 1982). "FIGHTING BACK". The New York Times . New York City . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  20. ↑ Arnold, Gary (May 26, 1982). "Motley 'Fighting Back'". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C.: Nash Holdings LLC . Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Fighting Back". Paramount Home Media Distribution . Hollywood: Paramount Pictures. ASIN   B001GD3DDG . Retrieved January 7, 2017.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.