Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf August 29, 2015

Drive-in cinema receives another thorough workout in 1976’s “Vigilante Force,” which submits a combination of fisticuffs, scowling, and limited drama, trying to hand its audience the basics in big screen violence. Directed by George Armitage (“Miami Blues” and the brilliant “Grosse Pointe Blank”), the feature is intended to be a rough-and-ready exploitation movie that wears its production year like a badge of honor, but a few things are lost in translation, finding the finished film missing large portions of motivation and smooth editing as it pares down a bigger picture of corruption and family divide to a more comfortable to-do list of mid-70s intimidation tactics. “Vigilante Force” is certainly diverting work, especially when it winds up the stunt team, setting them loose on busy streets and backlots. Anyone expecting anything more than a loosely defined tale of bare-knuckle brawling and vague sibling rivalry is going to walk away from the feature sorely disappointed. The effort is merely interested in basic thrills. Engaging conflict has not been permitted to cross county lines.

The small California town of Elk Hills was once a peaceful place. Now, with oil production in full swing, worker have flooded main street, and they aren’t friendly types. Tearing up property and rebelling against the cops, local leaders are stunned by the surge in aggression, leaving tractor salesman Ben (Jan-Michael Vincent) with an idea on how to restore order. Finding Aaron (Kris Kristofferson), his brother and a Vietnam War hero, Ben tempts his standoffish sibling with stability if he and his combat buddies agree to be deputized and corral oil industry cretins. While Aaron and his cronies get the job done, taking down troublemakers and killing rivals, they begin to sample the possibilities of the situation, gradually taking over Elk Hills through murder and intimidation, building a stockpile of weapons for later use. Distraught, Ben begins to understand the scope of the corruption, trying to protect his young daughter and girlfriend Linda (Victoria Principal) from harm as he sets out to challenge Aaron’s powermad ways.

One could describe “Vigilante Force” as economical. Its main title sequence is devoted to the explosion of violence at Elk Hills, watching the oil workers destroy order around town, tearing up establishments, running wild on the streets, and even taking on the cops, beating officers and torching their vehicles. It’s a war zone, but weirdly not enough to cause alarm, with the screenplay introducing Ben as a mild-mannered tractor salesman who’s working to provide a life for his daughter, romance Linda, and deal with dim employee Paul (Andrew Stevens). Blazing cop cars don’t seem to faze him much. It actually takes the murder of two police officers to instigate vigilante order, with Mayor Bradford (Brad Dexter) agreeing to the change, kicking off a shift in power that drives the feature’s primary conflict.

“Vigilante Force” is an extremely zeitgeist-y picture, with the energy crisis providing an undercurrent of unrest as town fat cats profit from oil production, initially unwilling to commit to a community clean-up. Linda Ronstadt references are made, and the effort’s climax takes place during a Bicentennial-branded Fourth of July parade, with Armitage making not-too-subtle use of Americana imagery to contrast true U.S. lawlessness. The movie bleeds the 1970s, down to its characterization, with the Vietnam War used heavily as an open wound that drives Aaron’s bad behavior. Overseas, he was a hero; at home, he’s a nobody, finding the Elk Hills job an ideal opportunity to pursue his disregard for authority, forcing banks into loans he’ll never repay, taking local entertainer Little Dee (Bernadette Peters) as a possibly unwilling lover (clarification on their relationship is never provided), and using police purchase orders to amass a pile of weaponry, including a bazooka, with plans to disrupt the local economy at a later time. Armitage has fun building a baddie out of Aaron, who eventually resorts to cold-blooded murder to protect his rule, but the balance between rejected vet and backwoods monster is never maintained, making it difficult to understand if the production ever intended the character to be sympathetic.

The picture has its fair share of energetic performances, finding Peters appealing as the damsel in distress (at least one of the them), and the supporting cast includes Paul Gleeson as a greasy creep who stalks elementary school playgrounds, and Loni Anderson appears in an early role. However, the main draw is Vincent and Kristofferson, with their good old boy screen personas fitting into Armitage’s design for rural hellraising. Trouble comes when the script asks for the actors to squeeze a little more emotion out of reactions, which doesn’t come easy to the stone-faced duo. Despite their history as siblings and competitors for local women (both mourning the loss of Ben’s wife), the brothers barely seem bothered by each other, creating a void in “Vigilante Force” where profoundly cinematic rage should be. Vincent is especially problematic, treating the systematic destruction of Ben’s town and life with basically a shrug. He’s not much of a hero.

Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation feels on the raw side, with fluctuating grain intensity and contrast imbalance that's never managed, showing particular heaviness at times. The brightly shot feature fares better in the great outdoors, with exteriors delivering appealing detail on facial reactions and town decoration, with secure distances and clear outfits. Color is also encouraging, offering adequate primaries that emphasize blue skies and costumes, while skintones look a little bloodless and pink, but remain in the neighborhood of natural. Delineation has some difficulty with evening sequences, displaying some minor solidification. Source is in good condition, with some speckling noticeable, but no overt damage.

Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix achieves only passable fidelity, with highs especially fuzzy when action breaks down, making gunfire and explosions unpleasant, even a bit distortive. Dialogue exchanges are adequate, capturing accents and urgency with flatness but performances remain intelligible, just never remarkable. A few scenes reveal production limitation, with music and conversation losing position. Scoring cues never carry definition, occasionally slipping into muddiness that weakens dramatic impact. Atmospherics are pronounced to set a small town mood, and sound effects are equally thick. Hiss isn't consistent, but it's detected.

Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director George Armitage and filmmaker Elijah Drenner.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:49, HD) is included.

Vigilante Force Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Vigilante Force" is full of fist fights and grunted antagonisms, but it saves itself for the grand finale, which transforms the smashmouth tone of the picture into a theme park stunt show, complete with heavy, carefully positioned explosions and bodies flung all over the frame. It's chaos, but in all the ideal B-movie ways, making sure the audience walks away from the picture in a daze, celebrating the American spirit of defiance and homeland protection. The film ends on a massive scale of destruction and revenge, leaving one to wish Armitage could've portioned out such enthusiasm throughout the entire effort, taking the burden of drama off his lethargic stars. "Vigilante Force" is a simple serving of rural rage, mindless enough to entertain, but the potential to build a bolder machine of unrest was there for the taking, only requiring some critical recasting to achieve.