How sad is this?

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Some movies earn their reputation on 'Shock-Value' alone. After reading other reviews it seems there is a fairly broad range of tastes and cultural sophistication among the reviewers that range from sadistically deranged to seemingly emotionally balanced.I vaguely remember this movie when it was released. I was 12 and I don't recall anyone talking about it. So I suppose it was box-office flop. Outside of its shocking violence the movie is about as uninspiring, cheesy, clumsy and repugnant as one could find. Honestly, the production values are as cut-rate as one would find in an average porn film. The Exterminator shamelessly rips off the Vigilante tale, undoubtedly, from Death Wish, a better movie. But it doesn't even have the quality acting, believable script or production values of Death Wish. It is simply a moronic tale of an urban nobody who avenges the death of his friend. Then inexplicably, without any noticeable character development, emotional range or dramatic arc, the lead actor, Robert Ginty, goes on a maniacal rampage to become a homicidal maniac who exceeds the carnage of the thugs he chooses to target. There are several torture scenes that are not only implausible in nature and nuance, but seem to just grade against the monotone plot. There are a series of slow plot developments that occur only through coincidence that are punctuated by brutal torture and offings. A couple of the acts committed by the protagonist are so hideous that they are actually more heinous than any deed committed by the thugs or creeps depicted in the film. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, because the movie is not sophisticated enough to distinguish due justice or a senseless rampage. The only hope for this movie's theme is if we engage in the idea that violence begets violence and its bloody consequences. But the film doesn't even achieve that level of social consciousness. And therefore is nothing more than gratuitous and cinematic crud. It just plays out like a messy series of sketches that illustrate some Right-wing fantasy of ridding criminals. I guess this film was hoping to bank on the American public's cry for justice during a time when America was plagued with urban blight during the Carter administration and its ineffective and lenient judicial system.Typically, the movie is also a timepiece of its own era (Late 70's and early 80's) with laughably bad hairstyles. The acting is pretty bad in parts. Christopher George, as the lead detective, is too incompetent and lethargic as a worthy nemesis to the vigilante villain. Robert Ginty is strangely bland and he's an odd choice for an anti-hero. He just seems very unfit and unconvincing in this kind of role. The thugs, perpetrators, pedophiles and mobsters in the milieu are about as menacing as an elementary school faculty. Characters are so hopelessly unbelievable in acting and presence that I'm certain they were paid very low salaries. This production also has a considerable amount of one-time actors where this was their only big-screen gig. After watching this abominable piece of celluloid it comes to no surprise. The problems with this movie are so abundant that to bother mentioning all of them would take too much space. The opening and closing ballad is also execrable.

Have you ever seen a man put in a huge grinders and made minced meat? You will see it here, is happening to a mobster who was pooping in a toilet and is kidnapped by the good guy. The good guy is John Eastland(Robert Ginty), an ex-Vietnam soldier, now a vigilante who is avenging his friend almost killed by a band of villains. You will see also a state senator from New Jersey who likes to rape underage boys with an incandescent iron, plus other... attractions. A special real attraction is Dr. Megan Stewart, played by Samantha Eggar, the beautiful from "The Collector"(1965), "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun"(1970) and "The Walking Stick"(1970). The cop played by Christopher George (Detective James Dalton) who is on the trail of the vigilante, is assassinated by a CIA sniper, because there are only two months until the elections... After that, in the final images we see the Twin Towers from New York(21 years before being transformed into a pile of rubble) and what is just a pathetic symbol of America(and this whole world), the Statue of Liberty.

"The Exterminator" is an Action-movie, directed by James Glickenhaus, 1980.Basic plot: John Eastland (Robert Ginty) and Michael Jefferson (Steve James) are two friends who are coming home to New York from the gruesome Vietnam war. Sadly, a few years later, the dark colored Michael gets brutally attacked by a ruthless gang of thugs, and gets paralyzed for the rest of his life. When Eastland gets to hear about this, he sets out to kill many of the thugs, and later on every criminals he meets. On the other side, detective Dalton (Christopher George) is assigned to the case, and will do anything to stop "the exterminator".This film is very brutal, even for a action-flick that deals with vengeance. Whenever scenes of violence occur on screen, they mostly end with a grim result. Some of the notable scenes that must be mentioned here include the realistic beheading scene during the opening Vietnam war, and the scene in which Eastland sends a man into a meat grinder.I really love how Eastland quotes his catchphrase "if you're lying, I'll be back", while threatening a tied up thug with a flamethrower. For some reasons, I also find Mr. George's appearance as the detective to be great.Not only did this film suffer various censorship while being released around the world, this film was banned from being shown in Norwegian cinemas. It was later released on VHS by the now defunct NOVIO A/S, only to become the very first video movie to get banned in 1984 in relation to the heated topic being "video violence". Since early 2000s, this film is now completely legal in it's uncut version, hence the fact I have a Norwegian DVD copy containing this version.Do you like action-movies that deal with vengeance, this film is truly a must-see. Actually, I don't hesitate to call this film one of the greatest "vengeance movies" I've seen in several decades, and therefore I give this film an overall rating of 10/10. A similar movie to be highly recommended is the 1974-movie "Death Wish" with Charles Bronson.The other three movies from James Glickenhaus I've seen include "The Soldier" (1982), "Blue Jean Cop" (1988) and "McBain" (1991).

Best friends John Eastland (Ginty) and Michael Jefferson (James) survived the horrors of the Vietnam war together. Michael even saved John's life. After the war, both men work at a packing plant in New York City's South Bronx. One day, Michael is assaulted and put in the hospital by a gang called The Ghetto Ghouls. Eastland then begins his quest for revenge in the seediest parts of the city - and in his attempt to clean up the streets he becomes vigilante hero The Exterminator. Everyone from street punks to child molesters to upper-class mobsters become the target of The Exterminator's retribution. He becomes so effective, he attracts the attention of Detective James Dalton (George), a man who wants to find and stop him. Even the CIA is interested in stopping Eastland. Will they catch him - or will Eastland live to flamethrow another day? Yes! We here at Comeuppance Reviews HQ LOVE The Exterminator. As you can tell from the name of our site, we have a special fondness for revenge movies, and they don't come much better than this. Movies of this type, from this place and time have a special fascination, and The Exterminator does not disappoint one iota. Everything from its killer opening set in Vietnam all the way through to the end, this movie delivers the goods in spades.James Glickenhaus is a quality filmmaker, and we're fans of his work. We also recommend The Soldier (1982) and Shakedown (1988), but this is the money movie. There's more sensitivity and intelligence behind The Exterminator than most people give it credit for. There are subtle comments about Vietnam vets and their treatment once they came home, and the shoddy Jimmy Carter presidency if you care to look for them. Plotwise there is plenty of subtext and parallels - all of which add to the texture and interest of this fine film. It's rare that a movie can entertain and please an audience on an intellectual and a visceral level. But The Exterminator achieves this rare feat. While the movie does have elements from Taxi Driver (1976) and Death Wish (1974), Glickenhaus brings this style into the gritty 80's, with fantastic results. According to the DVD commentary, he shuts down critics that wrote off this movie as a Death Wish knockoff by saying he didn't see Death Wish before filming. Glickenhaus has plenty of other interesting comments, such as when he says that Joseph Bottoms, brother of Timothy, almost played Eastland, or when he says he imagines First Blood (1982) as the ideal continuation of the Eastland story, not so much Exterminator 2 (1984).Speaking of the DVD, Synapse knocks it out of the park with its excellent DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack. While I'd seen the film before on VHS, it was like I was watching it for the first time here. It looks amazing and you have to go on Amazon and buy this right now.Being fans of stunts and stuntmen, we appreciated how in the end credits, it showed specifically which stuntman did what stunt. You don't see that very often. As for the more recognizable stars, it's great to see two fan favorites, Robert Ginty and Steve James together. They have great chemistry and really seem like friends. The Christopher George-Samantha Eggar plot is interesting because it slyly implies that Dalton is not exactly rushing to stop Eastland, he's doing it rather leisurely because he secretly approves of what he's doing, but he has to keep up appearances. There's actually a lot of sly moments, such as the use of the song "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps, among others. Anyone who watches Law & Order will recognize Dennis Boutsikaris and Ned Eisenberg who often play lawyers, as well as David Lipman, who often plays a judge on the show.In the 42nd street scenes you can see the famous Lyric theater, where Glickenhaus says The Exterminator played to sold-out houses for 24 hours at a stretch. The Lyric is also featured in Shakedown, where the movie marquee is showing The Soldier, and The Exterminator. So Glickenhaus has some history there. We love seeing 42nd street and the movie marquees of the time, and you can see theaters playing Beyond The Door, Cauldron Of Death, and the O.J. Simpson vehicle Firepower. It truly was a time when O.J. Simpson was simply a athlete/actor, and the World Trade Center was still standing in all its glory. There's a gigantic nostalgia factor at work here, and it just shows we need The Exterminator now more than ever.The Exterminator simply rocks and is a must-see. Go Eastland!