What I thought was going to be your standard DEATH WISH clone was more enjoyable to me than that. While it slightly resembles DEATH WISH 3 (a favorite of mine), this movie preceded that one by five years. I've always loved gang movies of the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The DEATH WISH films, Bill Lustig's VIGILANTE and others are standouts. This one is solid too. Jan-Michael Vincent plays a feisty young seaman who finds himself stranded in New York City after getting kicked off the last ship he was one for fighting. He takes up temporary residence in a bad neighborhood and eventually finds himself at odds with the local gang known as "The Souls". The locals live in fear of the The Souls and nobody will sign a complaint with the cops for fear of retribution. The movie has a nice build to an fairly inevitable but well-played conclusion. There were several scenes that I could see coming just as they began, but I actually credit director John Flynn (who I love) with just knowing how to push buttons and progress the story in a suspenseful and tense way. John Flynn is an unsung workman director who deserves more credit for his great films,like THE OUTFIT and ROLLING THUNDER.
As much as I love Jan-Michael, it's always nice to see him have another strong actor to play off of. Danny Aiello has a fairly prominent role here and he is (as always) quite good as one of the guys from the neighborhood. The film is also littered with NYC character actors whose faces will be instantly familiar (Lenny Montana, Frank Pesce and Tony Sirico to name a few). Another featured player is the late great Art Carney himself as a shop owner. Carney is a favorite of mine as well and his presence in any film elevates the proceedings. Rudy Ramos is also quite good as the menacing gang leader Angel Cruz. You may recognize him from films like COLORS, THE DRIVER, and a ton of TV work that he did in the 1970s and 80s. This is one of those films that depicts the dirty and dangerous New York from the 1970s that always used to terrify me. I always imagined New York as this truly scary place where you had better odds of getting mugged than not getting mugged just walking down the street. This was all based on watching too many 70s NYC films though as I doubt the city could have been quite as dangerous as depicted in these gang movies. Regardless, it doesn't seem to be that way now from what I can tell. Not dirty and not nearly as dangerous. It feels weird to say I'm nostalgic for the old 70s cinema New York even though I never lived there (and have barely even visited) myself. Fans of vigilante films and gang films will dig DEFIANCE though, that was what I was getting at. It's a winner. Transfer looks good too. A bit of trivia - this was an early Jerry Bruckheimer production.
This Blu-ray can be purchased here:
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VIGILANTE FORCE (1976; George Armitage)

This disc features an excellent commentary track by director George Armitage, moderated by the always reliable Elijah Drenner.
The Blu-ray can be purchased here:
http://amzn.to/1JLIXpH
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