Gator (1976)

Director: Burt Reynolds

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Jack Weston, Lauren Hutton, Jerry Reed, Alice Ghostley, Dub Taylor, Mike Douglas

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Gator. Come and get him.

Plot: Burt Reynolds reprises his role as Gator, an ex-criminal-turned-crime-fighter, in this 1976 sequel to the movie White Lightning. This time around, Gator's after a band of corrupt politicians whose machinations must come to an end.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? It's Burt from the 1979s, of course.

Several months ago I watched this on Netflix instant view in a beautiful widescreen print. Now I see it's off and the only option is a pan & scan DVD. You've got to go wide on this one even though it's a long two hours. This was Burt's directorial debut. I kind of wished he'd left this one to Hal Needham or someone else so he could concentrate on being Burt...not that he has to work at it - he was just that fucking amazing to begin with. Because he wasn't a seasoned director, he ended up throwing in a lot of extra stuff and a lot of showy scenes that, while very nice, showed his inexperience. GATOR is just too damn long and it doesn't know what it wants to be. It's trying hard to be a lot of things and I would have preferred just being what it should have been, a good action-driven drive-in action sequel to WHITE LIGHTNING (1973). You can have the love interest and all but for cryin' out loud, acknowledge where it came from and make it fun rather than slow it down with long scenes.