This is a gritty low budget crime drama from director William Lustig. Robert Forster stars as your average working joe with a wife and small son. After a gang of criminals brutally attack his wife and murder his child, and then the ringleader is let go with a suspended sentence, he vows to get revenge himself. He's in luck, because his three work buddies have been operating their own vigilante squad in secret, kidnapping and beating (and worse) criminals that the law can't or won't touch.
Very violent, and set in NYC before it was cleaned up, this film panders to an audience angry and hungry for law and order, as did many films of the 70s and 80s. It's cheaply manipulative in that way, which is why it's dismissed by most critics. But it has held a healthy cult following over the years. Fred Williamson is enthusiastic as the leader of the vigilante squad, which also includes Richard Bright. Rutanya Alda plays the wife, Joe Spinell shows up as a sleazy defense lawyer and with a young Steve James as a patrol cop. Carol Lynley plays the harried Assistant District Attorney, and Woody Strode shows up as a tough old convict.
Very violent, and set in NYC before it was cleaned up, this film panders to an audience angry and hungry for law and order, as did many films of the 70s and 80s. It's cheaply manipulative in that way, which is why it's dismissed by most critics. But it has held a healthy cult following over the years. Fred Williamson is enthusiastic as the leader of the vigilante squad, which also includes Richard Bright. Rutanya Alda plays the wife, Joe Spinell shows up as a sleazy defense lawyer and with a young Steve James as a patrol cop. Carol Lynley plays the harried Assistant District Attorney, and Woody Strode shows up as a tough old convict.