The Vietnam War provided filmmakers with a great deal of material, whether it is to make a film set in the conflict, such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon or Full Metal Jacket or after the war finished and the damaged veterans, such as First Blood, Taxi Driver and Jacob's Ladder. James Glickenhaus' The Exterminator fits into the second category and, like his earlier film McBain, follows a Vietnam vet and his inability to settle into the world around him where violence is never far away.

 

The Exterminator begins in the Vietnamese jungle where John Eastland has been captured by the Vietcong and, with a couple of other American prisoners, is being interrogated. To coerce some information from him, the Vietcong commander orders another prisoner to be beheaded and the same fate is about to befall John when his friend, Michael Jefferson, manages to free himself, kill a guard and use his gun to kill most of the other VC standing by. Giving the weapon to his friend, John summarily executes his tormentor, who was injured and making a futile effort to swim away.

 

Some years later and the two men work together as a meat packing facility for just above minimum wage as their boss, who likes them very much and would love to pay them more, is being 'squeezed' by the mobbed up owner, Gino Pontivini. When John interrupts a gang trying to make off with some crates of beer, he is beaten up but, when Michael appears, the tables are turned and the robbery is prevented. Meeting up later, the two arrange to go for a drink after Michael has gone home to see his kids before they go to school.

 

However, the gang haven't forgotten what happened earlier that day and ambush Michael, badly beating him before breaking his neck and leaving him for dead. Fortunately, an ambulance is called and Michael is taken to hospital where he is completely paralysed and on a ventilator. Rather than call his wife, Maria, the first person they tell is John, who has the awkward responsibility of telling Maria about her husband. Although the police have a fairly good idea of who was behind the attack, they are unable or unwilling to act, so John tracks them down and, using his old army M-16, kills the gang members, but leaving Frankie, the gang leader horrendously injured as revenge for what he did to Michael.

 

After telling Michael what he's done, John writes a letter to the local news station explaining his actions and signing it 'The Exterminator'. Although this vigilante action has had a major effect on crime in New York City, Detective James Dalton is charged with apprehending the mysterious killer. The Exterminator becomes even more notorious when John kidnaps Pontivini from the men's room at a restaurant and hangs him above and industrial mincing machine, asking where he keeps his money and all security measures in his house. After making the gangster sure of what will happen if he has lied, John goes to Pontivini's house to take all the money from his safe but, when he knocks a dog bowl, is attacked by a savage Doberman, which he manages to kill with an electric breadknife. Returning to the warehouse where Pontivini is still hanging above the mincing machine, John follows through on his promise, turning the machine on and lowering the gangster down into the whirring blades.

 

Dalton is now even more committed to finding The Exterminator and is irritated when the CIA contacts him, refusing to return any of their calls and rebutting any attempt to contact him in person. Whilst on the case, he begins a relationship with Dr Megan Stewart, who he met when seeing if Frankie was in any condition to give a statement. As Dalton and Megan begin seeing more and more of each other, John continues his one-man reign of terror against criminals in the city, murdering a pimp who runs a 'chicken' brothel, specialising in young boys, and the main client who, together, had horribly scarred Candy, a prostitute, with a soldering iron.

 

As John's vigilante violence gains popularity and reduces overall crime levels, it becomes a political issue and it's only a matter of time before those on high decide to intervene.

 

The Exterminator certainly isn't the most thought-provoking or intelligent look at post-war alienation, anomie or dehumanisation as it's really a vigilante movie with a Vietnam veteran as the protagonist who has flashbacks to his time in the jungle. James Glickenhaus says he purposely didn't watch Death Wish prior to making this, knowing it shared similar subject matter to the film on which he was working and, unfortunately for him, Michael Winner's 1974 vengeance movie – morality questions notwithstanding – will always be considered one of the primary revenge films, something not generally afforded to this film.

 

That said, I quite like this and have seen it several times prior to writing this review and could quite easily watch it several times more as it is fairly unchallenging and, with the almost cartoonish bad guys and extreme violence, is eminently watchable. As someone who has spent many hours on a ventilator and around others on ventilators, I find the hospital scenes with Michael unintentionally amusing rather than deadly serious, as he isn't intubated or connected via a tracheostomy tube, but has an oxygen mask on his face! Even so, the scenes with John or Maria at his bedside are fairly emotive, helped by the performances by Steve James, Robert Ginty and Michele Harrett as Michael, John and Maria, respectively.

 

Although Robert Ginty doesn't have the same screen presence as Charles Bronson, he is still a decent lead actor and, when confronting people with a gun, mincing machine or, most famously, a flamethrower, looks suitably menacing. Christopher George, who plays Dalton, has many investigator/detective roles to his name and does a great job here with a 'my way or the highway' attitude and it helps that the on-screen chemistry with Samantha Eggar is believable.

 

The Exterminator is certainly no classic, but it is a highly enjoyable and violent piece of exploitation cinema which, although released in 1980, feels firmly rooted in the 1970s. James Glickenhaus will never be regarded as a director with great nuance and a delicate approach to his subject material, which separates this from the likes of The Deer Hunter, Jacob's Ladder and Taxi Driver but, as gritty vigilante movies go, this is solid without ever being spectacular.

The Disc

Extra Features

This BD has a fine selection of special features, most courtesy of High Rising Productions. The film plays with an introduction by James Glickenhaus (00:18, HD) which, fortunately, can be skipped so you don't need to watch it with every viewing. It is also available on the special features menu should you want to watched separately.

 

Audio commentary with Mark Buntzman, producer of The Exterminator and writer/director of The Exterminator II, moderated by Calum Waddell only involves Buntzman and McDowell, but is a well delivered and informative affair with Waddell keeping things moving, allowing Buntzman to talk about the important aspects of the production. He has fond recollections of the shoot and is a good speaker and isn't ever lost for words. Even so, it's a good listen as he imparts a great deal of information about the film, the shoot, casting, censorship, the sequel and other films on which they worked.

 

Fire and Slice: Making The Exterminator (18:37, HD) is an extended interview with James Glickenhaus, in which he talks about his inspiration for the film, the various cast members, Stan Winston's special effects and why he had nothing to do with this sequel, considering First Blood to be the logical next step for John. The interview is interspersed with clips from this and other films, posters and other publicity material to make it a great companion piece to the commentary.

 

42nd Street Then and Now: A Tour of New York's Former Sleaze Circuit from director Frank Henenlotter (15:07, HD) involves another motormouth director with Frank Henenlotter (director of films including Basket Case, Frankenhooker and XYZ) in which he gives a history of 42nd Street and the various movie theatres which still exist there. He really knows a great deal about 42nd Street and can remember when it was nothing but movie theatres and porn shops (and later sex shows). This is probably part of Calum Waddell's new documentary, 42nd Street Memories: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Notorious Street and, if this 15 minute piece is anything to go by, the full documentary should be a great watch. Henenlotter can really talk and works around some interferences by car horns and some passers-by, even introducing a magician friend of his who does a trick with a hammer and nail.

 

Apart from the extra features on the disc, there is a booklet, poster and reversible sleeve with a selection of four artwork panels, all of which are very good.

The Picture

This new HD encoding – MPEG 4 AVC at 1080p – is extremely good and makes some aspects of the film look fairly recent and not like something which was released (at the time of writing) 31 years ago. The contrast levels, colours and detail levels are all extremely good, with inky blacks, strong, vibrant colours and a restored picture which allows for great detail in close-ups and no picture distortion when the light levels drop.

 

Although this really isn't an action oriented film, with the outbursts of violence interspersing the drama rather than dominating the movie, the opening sequence in Vietnam looks remarkably good with the jungle, explosions and a helicopter perfectly, even though it was all shot in the US. The various other action sequences throughout the film are very well choreographed with good squib effects and SFX make-up.

 

The Exterminator wasn't a low-budget, 'grindhouse' film, but it wasn't one with a huge budget either and it looks like something which was moderately financed although I imagine Mark Buntzman and James Glickenhaus ensured they got more than their money's worth from every scene. It certainly doesn't look cheap, but the very grimy and gritty look is a world away from some of the more polished action movies from the 1980s.

The Sound

Perhaps disappointingly, there isn't a high definition audio track, nor a 5.1 surround option, but the DTS 2.0 stereo soundtrack is extremely good and, as it was filmed with stereo sound, is perfectly suitable. I don't know if a LPCM stereo track would be a huge improvement although, with lossless sound, the quality would no doubt be higher, but the DTS track does a really good job with the dialogue, sound effects and score.

 

The dialogue is extremely clear, even in scenes where there is loud music or gunfire – when John tracks down the gang who paralysed Michael to an apartment, The Trammps’ Disco Inferno is blaring out yet you can understand everything Michael and Frankie say, especially when the gangster makes the rather ill judged his decision to dismiss Michael as 'just a nigger'.

 

Joe Renzetti's score works very well in complementing and driving the action, without being a composition you'd want on CD to listen to repeatedly. Chip Taylor's Theme for an American Hero plays over the opening and closing credits and is a great choice for the film, as it doesn't seem too overly patriotic or particularly downbeat, striking a balance between the two very well.

 

There are English HoH subtitles available, which are error free and written in a white font edged in black so they are visible against both light and dark backgrounds. If you watch the film with these, they describe all the sound effects and song lyrics so, if you ever wanted to know the lyrics to Disco Inferno, they appear whilst the music is playing.

Final Thoughts

The Exterminator isn't the greatest vigilante movie ever made, nor the best 'damaged veteran' film ever committed to celluloid. However, it is a remarkably entertaining film, well directed, with good pacing, by James Glickenhaus, whose screenplay has some really well rounded characters and with fine performances by Robert Ginty, Christopher George, Samantha Eggar and Steve James.

 

This may not be Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter or Death Wish, but it is a really good watch and the picture quality, extra features and the set in general makes this a highly recommended purchase for fans of the film and those who haven't seen it before.

All reviews, articles and opinions © David Beckett & Film365. Various images © their respective copyright holders. All Rights Reserved.

Film 365 website designed and created by Richard Beckett

Trailer

Cast

Christopher George

Samantha Eggar

Robert Ginty

Steve James

Tony DiBenedetto

Dick Boccelli

Patrick Farrelly

Michele Harrell

David Lipman

Cindy Wilks

Dennis Boutsikaris

Special Features:

• Audio commentary with Mark Buntzman and Calum Waddell
• Introduction by James Glickenhaus
• Fire and Slice: Making The Exterminator
• 42nd Street: Then and  Now. A Tour of New York’s Sleaze Circui from director Frank Henenlotter
• Reversible sleeve with four artwork panels
• Booklet
• Double sided poster