| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
OK, so as I've said before on this forum, I'm an unashamed fan of right wing vigilante films. I'm trying to come up with some kind of list of the best of the genre, just for my own interest - and to catch up with some titles I may have missed. Here are a few of my favourites: TAXI DRIVER MAD MAX DIRTY HARRY THE EXTERMINATOR DEATH SENTENCE DEATH WISH DEATH WISH 2 (I know, I know...) ULZANA'S RAID THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES Anyone care to add some alternatives? | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Dead Man's Shoes | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
That one should certainly be on my list - a modern classic. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
A list of vigilante novels would be good, too. :-) | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Dead Man's Shoes is not right-wing however. And neither, by my interpretation, is Taxi Driver: it's about how the American media turn a sad lunatic into an iconic hero. | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 121.219.157.75 |
'Sudden Impact' 'Rolling Thunder' 'The Limey' | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Joel, to clarify: by right wing I meant that the very act of vigilantism is right wing. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
GET CARTER is another favourite. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
DEATH WISH II is a heady sleazebag of a picture that really is so awful it's great | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.111.117 |
Wouldn't MAGNUM FORCE be more appropriate for vigilantes than DIRTY HARRY? Although the latter is the better film imho. Not sure about JOSEY WALES either. He spends most of the film as a fugitive rather than enforcing his own brand justice. Although you could say his acts as a guerilla fighter near the beginning make him a vigilante. GET CARTER could be argued to blur the lines between gangster and vigilante. WATCHMEN deals with superhero vigilantes. The film version should be out next year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3orQKBxiEg DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and BATMAN:YEAR ONE are two more comics about vigilantes and both feed into BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.111.117 |
Ah, you mentioned GET CARTER while I was fiddling about trying to find the WATCHMEN trailer. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Day of the Jackal. Falling Down. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
DEATH WISH II is a heady sleazebag of a picture that really is so awful it's great Oh, yes. DIRTY HARRY - vigilante cop JOSEY WALES - his motivation is because his family are killed at the start of the film GET CARTER is certainly a vigilante film in my eyes | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 121.219.157.75 |
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead The Brave One The Equaliser (TV show) | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.111.117 |
>>DIRTY HARRY - vigilante cop. Maverick cop seems more appropriate. MAGNUM FORCE shows he takes a dim view of cops acting as vigilantes. >>JOSEY WALES - his motivation is because his family are killed at the start of the film But he fights for revenge during a war (although not as part of an official army so you could say he was a vigilante). Still, once the war ends he stops fighting and goes on the run. It becomes more about survival than justice or revenge. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.111.117 |
The greatest vigilantes of all time. THE A-TEAM!!!! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
Undercover Elephant. | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 121.219.157.75 |
Memento Pale Rider | ||
| Lincoln_brown (Lincoln_brown) Username: Lincoln_brown Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 121.219.157.75 |
Not sure about the title, maybe 'The Star Chamber' or 'The Star Council'??? Hal Holbrook and possibly Kirk or Michael Douglas? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 87.102.90.30 |
All the Friday the 13th films... Sick, sick sex people need dealing with. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
"Joel, to clarify: by right wing I meant that the very act of vigilantism is right wing." Zed, that's a fascinating comment. I think you're right, but one has to bracket off the vigilante from other types of law-breaking activist for that generalisation to hold. Robin Hood and Pretty Boy Floyd can't be considered vigilantes, for example, and neither was Jesse James – whose politics were muddled and unusual. But what about Zorro? Or V in Alan Moore's V FOR VENDETTA? Or the mystery (up to the end) killer in Iain Banks' COMPLICITY? The Paddy Considine character in DEAD MEN'S SHOES is not really a vigilante either, as his agenda is highly specific. But to say more would be an appalling spoiler. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I thought dead man's shoes was surprisingly emotionally uninvolving for much of the length of the film, but after the explanation the ending had me wiping tears away. A remarkable film by any standard | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
Does First Blood count? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Joel, I'd class Zorro as a vigilante, along with Batman, Superman, and most other superheroes. Isn't it a hugely right-wing thing to do to take law and order into your own remit and actually become judge, jury and often executioner simply to uphold the very laws you've lost faith in? I'd say it is. This is why I'm fascinated with vigilantes (especially in fiction). It's a very ambiguous and troubling theme. When I grow up I want to be a vigilante. :-) | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Have you read Harlan Ellison's 'The New York Review of Bird'? There's a non-right-wing vigilante for you. Albeit one who may be vaguely based on the author. My favourite line from the story is: "Bird grew up in Ohio, though not very far." | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Batman is defending the property and power of the ruling class. But what if he weren't? No comic strip in the USA, for a start. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I Spit On Your Grave? Ms .45? I understand that Brian Garfield regards Death Wish as a betrayal of the point of his original novel (which I assume was anti-vigilante). | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
MS 45 is terrific. I've heard that about Garfield, Ramsey. Have you read the novel? I keep meaning to track it down. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Isn't V in V for Vendetta more a terrorist than a vigilante? In fact, I seem to remember he pretty much says this himself in the GN. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.224.72 |
Has no one here mentioned the ultimate vigilante movies of our times?!... SAW, SAW II, SAW III, and SAW IV!  | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.104.206 |
>>I'd class Zorro as a vigilante, along with Batman, Superman, and most other superheroes In some comics various superheroes are actually government-sanctioned rather than vigilantes. For example, Captain America was originally created by the US government as a super-soldier during WWII. After the war he operated in some kind of vague deputised superhero role. As an Avenger he and the rest of the team received some kind of government sanction but it was kind of a strained relationship. Cap even quit as Captain America when the government tried to force him to return to his role as a supersoldier during peacetime. Fairly recently he saw more eye to eye with the government (probably 'cos Marvel comics didn't want to be seen as anti-American after 9/11) and became an agent of SHIELD. Apparently there was a storyline where he visited Guantanomo Bay and basically said that although it wasn't pleasant it was necessary. But then in a later story he came over all concerned about civil rights and led a revolt against the superhero registration act which would force all superheroes to reveal their secret identities and work for the government. He led the underground New Avengers against Iron Man's government sanctioned Mighty Avengers. | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Also, just another thought. But is Dexter sort of about a vigilante, although a very deluded one? In fact, the line between vigilante and terrorist or vigilante and mass murderer is a very vague one. In fact there may not be a line at all. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.179.31 |
Lincoln, I'm pretty sure the Michael Douglas one was indeed called THE STAR CHAMBER. I liked the TV show you mentioned, THE EQUALISER (starring Edward Woodward). A few that I don't think have been listed yet: MAN ON FIRE LADY VENGEANCE L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (police vigilantism) BOONDOCK SAINTS SIN CITY (I vaguely recall there being vigilantism in this, though I could be wrong) There must be more, but I can't think of any right now... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.129.151.24 |
I always thought vigilantes were sort of non-wing myself. Dirty Harry wasn't a fascist - he was more akin to Robin Hood, a sort of decent person. And Batman I always took to be protecting anyone who needed it, not just ruling classes. Oh, an old guy tried to stop some chavas from swearing in front of his wife on a bus here recently ('Don't swear in front of a lady', he said, apparently, and somewhat poignantly, I felt) and they pushed him off the bus as he was leaving. He died a couple of days later. Both could be seen as vigilantes, as the old man was stamping on their freedom of speech in some weird way, while he was trying to uphold decency. Sadly nowadays it seems the former is more frowned upon than the latter.  | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Actually, I think that Sin City is probably one of the most right wing films I've seen of late. First time I saw it I thought 'this is Frank Miller being all tongue-in-cheek and quite stylish', then I watched it again with a friend after reading more Miller and reading an interview with him and realised that actually, no, this is probably how Miller would prefer the world to be and he seems to hate women too. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.104.206 |
Someone over on Shocklines was moaning recently about how fascistic DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is and I was thinking, "That was Miller when he was being all reasonable and evenhanded, you should see the stuff he writes now." | ||
| Jonathan (Jonathan) Username: Jonathan Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.143.178.131 |
Yeah, I didn't think Dark Knight Returns was particularly fascistic or right-wing. Let's not forget that Gotham itself is a pretty conservative place and that's partly what Miller was riffing off back then. I'm not sure I'd describe Miller as really fascistic, that seems a bit too harsh - although don't get me wrong, he is a bit of a dick - I just thing's he's pretty nasty and right wing. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.104.206 |
I admit I've not seen these interviews where he's supposed to have made where he's supposed to be making all these inflammatory comments about Islam and stuff but his fiction's definitely lost the evenhandedness it used to have. With stuff like DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK and ALLSTAR BATMAN he really seems to be getting off on the violence and general arseholeness of his characters in a way he didn't seem to before. Plus these new stories are just plain badly written. |