The Exterminator (1980) AVCO Embassy/Action RT: 104 minutes Unrated Version (language, strong graphic brutal violence, nudity, strong sexual violence/content, child rape, drug use) Director: James Glickenhaus Screenplay: James Glickenhaus Music: Joe Renzetti Cinematography: Robert M. Baldwin Release date: September 10, 1980 (US) Cast: Christopher George, Samantha Eggar, Robert Ginty, Steve James, Tony DiBenedetto, Dick Boccelli, Patrick Farrelly, Michele Harrell, David Lipman, Dennis Boutsikaris, Roger Grimsby, Ned Eisenberg, Irwin Keyes. Box Office: $5M (US)
Rating: ***
I’m conflicted about The Exterminator, a nasty little vigilante flick written and directed by James Glickenhaus (The Soldier). On one hand, I LOVE vigilante movies! There’s something exciting and satisfying about a law-abiding citizen taking the law into his own hands when the justice system fails him in some way. On the other hand, it’s poorly written. The screenplay lacks focus. At its most basic level, The Exterminator is about a POed guy looking for revenge after his best friend is attacked by a street gang. It would be fine if it stuck with this Death Wish-like premise, but it doesn’t. It gives us two additional subplots, one unnecessary and one absurd, both equally irrelevant. In his first film, Glickenhaus displays the storytelling deficiencies that define his body of work. The Exterminator has one of the most confused narratives I’ve ever seen. At the same time, criminal scumbags die in horrible ways. You can see why I’m torn.
Like a lot of disturbed action movie heroes of the 80s, John Eastland (Ginty, Coming Home) fought in Vietnam where he had his life saved by his best friend Michael Jefferson (James, American Ninja 1-3). Back home in New York, they work at a warehouse where the owner pays off the Mafia for the usual reasons- i.e. protection. One day, Jefferson saves his buddy’s ass a second time when he helps him deal with a group of thugs trying to steal beer. The thugs are part of a gang called The Ghetto Ghouls. They don’t take kindly to having their asses kicked. They somehow manage to track down Jefferson and attack him in retaliation, leaving him paralyzed after gouging his spine with a meathook.
In true vigilante form, Eastland goes after them with an M-16 machine gun. Not content to simply kill the creeps, he leaves two of them tied up in the rat-infested basement of an abandoned tenement building. His rampage doesn’t stop there. He next goes after the Mafia boss (Boccelli, McBain) taking money (aka “tax”) from their weekly paychecks with the intention of getting money for Jefferson’s wife and kids. He kidnaps him from a restaurant and chains him above an industrial meat grinder, threatening to lower him in if he doesn’t give up his house keys and the combination to his safe. When it doesn’t go down smoothly due to the guard dog the mobster didn’t tell him about, Eastland returns to the warehouse and turns the hood into hamburger meat.
In case you’re wondering where the police are during all this, they’re right where they’re supposed to be. They’re looking for the vigilante now calling himself “The Exterminator”. They assign the case to Dalton (George, Day of the Animals), a hard-edged detective not too broken up by the killings of a few class-A dirtbags. He’s one of the main players in the unnecessary subplot dealing with his romance with the doctor (Eggar, The Brood) taking care of Jefferson in the hospital. Their scenes together stop The Exterminator dead in its tracks. Take the scene where they attend a jazz concert in the park. They don’t have anything meaningful to say to each other. If not for an old friend the doctor runs into, there’d be no dialogue at all. Actually, none of their conversations have a point. This whole part of the movie is absolutely pointless unless you count the obligatory scene where Dalton crosses paths with Eastland only for the cop to realize moments later he’s the guy he’s looking for.
I suppose I may as well talk about the absurd part of The Exterminator now. At some point, the CIA gets involved. Why, you may ask? They have some peculiar ideas about The Exterminator. Since it’s an election year, they’re convinced he’s a ploy by either the opposition or foreign terrorists to discredit the current administration. WTF?! Look, I can accept almost anything one of these exploitation movies throws at me, but this is just ludicrous. HOWEVER, there is a silver lining. A scene of the CIA agent (Farrelly, The Nesting) badgering Dalton to be kept in the loop leads to the movie’s best line when the aggravated cop tells him, “I think you have to take a s***, but it’s coming out of your mouth instead of your a**hole.”
Let’s get back to the good stuff in The Exterminator. First though, I have to cry foul on the poster art which shows Exterminator holding a flamethrower. Based on that image, it’s reasonable to assume it’s his preferred method of doling out justice, right? WRONG! The closest he comes to anything like that is when he uses an acetylene torch to force information out of a captured Ghetto Ghoul. Later, he sets the sleazy owner (DiBenedetto, Prince of the City) of a brothel on fire after learning he pimps out young boys. That time, he’s out for justice for a young prostitute disfigured with a soldering iron by one of the pimp’s clients after she refuses to take part in a sexual act involving a young boy. He kills the client by shooting him with a homemade mercury-tipped bullet. BTW, let’s give a great big thank you to Mr. Glickenhaus for providing a how-to lesson for the psychos in the audience with a step-by-step sequence of Eastland making the deadly ammo.
Now let’s talk plot holes. The Exterminator has some mighty big ones like the whole bit about kidnapping the mob boss. How does he manage to do it completely undetected? Surely one the bodyguards would realize something is wrong before Eastland manages to get him out the bathroom window. The logistics of such an undertaking pose a real challenge as well. Then there’s the aftermath or the lack of one. If he’s such a major figure in the Mafia, why aren’t his colleagues looking for Eastland? You’d think they’d at least put a price on his head. None of this happens. In fact, it’s never mentioned again.
Then there’s the scene that bugs me to no end. It’s a perfect example of the stupidity on display in The Exterminator. Three Ghetto Ghouls mug an elderly woman in a park and take their time about it. They rifle through her purse while kicking and beating her. She screams and cries and begs them to stop. A guy on a motorcycle shows up and the hoods take off in their car. That’s when Eastland emerges from the shadows with his gun drawn. He was obviously watching the whole thing go down from his hiding spot. How else would he know what their car looks like and which way they went when he gives chase on the Good Samaritan’s motorcycle? Why didn’t he just come out and shoot the creeps right away? What kind of vigilante is this guy?
Ginty is okay in the title role despite not having much in the way of personality. I couldn’t get a read on his character. Is he supposed to be disturbed or merely angry? He doesn’t make any impression either way. I always like seeing Christopher George in one of these movies. He’s like the Olivier of B-movies. Eggar is rather stiff as the doctor. Steve James is another welcome presence; it’s too bad he’s given so little to do. He spends most of his screen time lying on his back in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of him. Ned Eisenberg (Moving Violations) and Irwin Keyes (The Warriors) are perfect as the gang creeps that cripple Jefferson.
Despite its shortcomings, I like The Exterminator. It’s not a testament to quality filmmaking. It’s poorly made. It looks cheap and sleazy, but only because it is cheap and sleazy. The editing is sloppy. The production values are low. The narrative is a confused mess. Things happen that can’t be rationally explained. It’s a bad film. BUT it’s a good exploitation movie. Eastland isn’t your typical run-of-the-mill vigilante. He’s not content to merely shoot scumbags; he makes them suffer first. He’s a sadistic SOB, this guy. The violence is bloody and brutal, especially in the “Unrated Director’s Cut”.
Until recently, I preferred the 1984 sequel Exterminator 2 to the first movie. It has a more straightforward narrative and Eastland gets to use his flamethrower to grisly effect. Uh oh, I just gave away the ending to The Exterminator with that statement. But is it really a giveaway? Doesn’t the hero always survive? That’s a rhetorical question, of course.
Returning to my original point, I’ve had a change of heart about The Exterminator. I like it better than I previously did. I used to think its flaws were liabilities, now I realize they’re part of the appeal. I still think a lot of it is ludicrous, especially the ending which goes beyond far-fetched. I don’t mind that now. In fact, I admire Glickenhaus for trying to do things differently. He largely succeeds in that respect.
Here it is in a nutshell. The Exterminator is a pretty good movie. It’s sadistic, violent and sometimes repulsive. It’s poorly plotted, but thrilling when it focuses on Eastland cleaning up the streets. He even gets off a line that would have been a famous catchphrase in a perfect world. After eliciting info from a gang member, he issues this warning: “If you’re lying, I’ll be back.” You don’t think that’s where….. nah, it couldn’t be.
