User Reviews

The title sums it up. Vigilante --- yes experienced hired man to clean up a town. Force --- they become a powerful opponent that succumbs to own personal gain. "Anybody having a good time. Gotta be breaking the law. Let's bust them". This is what they were cracking out during the period, as "Vigilante Force" is purely a rough and ready exploitation slice out of the 70s drive-in market.

A small rural Californian town is skyrocketed by crime and violence due the boom of their nearby oil reserve. Ben Arnold turns to his war-hero brother Aaron (who doesn't have a great past with the town's folk) to lead a vigilante force to rid this problem by restoring law and order. At first this is what he does, but soon his back to his old ways as he abuses his power and becomes what he was their to rid. Ben shakes it off at first thinking that the town's folk aren't giving Aaron a fair go, but eventually they come to blows when Ben finally realises what Aaron is really up to.

Typical fodder, but accommodatingly well done and shining through its material is a traditional old-west build-up with an operatic closing between the brothers. Lined up is a bang-up cast of Kris Kristofferson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Bernadette Peters, Victoria Principal, Brad Dexter and David Doyle. Kristofferson ideally fits in the role as Aaron, rugged but with a dark underlining and Vincent is sympathetic as the well-meaning, clean-cut Ben. A doll face Peter is charmingly angelic as Aaron's squeeze and Principal is spirited as Ben's flame. Andrew Stevens shows up, as well as Charles Cyphers and Dick Millar appears in a throwaway cameo.

Director / writer George Armitage's sufficiently tight and hardy handling keeps it moving at a fast clip, where the sharply bright narrative (it's all politics -- involving greed) is always busy (maybe a little too so at times with its tit for tat and scheming with a touch of corruption) and the intense action is nothing but brutal and chaotic. It really does get outrageous towards the dying stages. It's war! Bullets, explosions and leaping stunts galore… where it does go out on a bang. Just can't get enough fire power. The lean photography likes to invoke that guerrilla style when it wants to get up and personal, but also it establishes the sunbaked backdrop accordingly too.

There is a ton that went wrong with this movie. Haha but the cast kept it alive. Dumb ending as well. About as shallow and thoughtless of a script as you can come by. Haha however again the actors kept it alive.

I wonder if this mid 70s drive-in actioner is still on the Bernadette Peters CV? near Sunday IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE? Perhaps MGM saw this and decided she HAD to be in PENNIES FROM HEAVEN....perhaps the Broadway casting office for her recent role in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN designed posters that read: "Bernadette (VIGILANTE FORCE) Peters now on Broadway in Irving Berlin's greatest musical triumph....." it's all as valid as "Stephen Boyd, star of BEN HUR now in his biggest film: JUMBO"............ anyway...

In the mid 70s, wasn't Jan Michael Vincent a major star! There was legions of action fans ready to roll up to the drive in and not molest their girlfriends because they would actually watch all the film! VIGILANTE FORCE is quite a brutal 70s action thriller and has some astonishing stunt fights with the added horror of baseball bats as weapons. I personally was really shocked by these wild fights and found them really upsetting. I think today this film deserves re appraisal for capturing the feel of tough nasty rural town lawlessness and drunken lout rule ...and all in a fantastic 70s time. The look of this film alone would get a big willing audience. Today these films don't exist instead we get disgusting mutilation crap like THE DEVILS REJECTS or WOLF CREEK. In the 70s this action drive in movie was a real action movie, a modern western with trucks and Jack Daniel bars and chicks in teeny weeny denim hotpants. Great fun. Occasionally thumping but not horrible. There is an unforgettable early scene in this film where the boys screech to town in their pickup truck and spin into the main street... it is a jamboree of hooter'n and holler'n and dust and yellin and screamin..all in camera crane sweep.. a whole street of wild Friday afternoon drinkin and crashing! What a stunt vista! unforgettable after 30 years...and a great way to establish what we are in for. DUKES OF HAZZARD meets BUCKTOWN. Hell then breaks loose even more...and poor Miss Peters has to dodge the baseball bats while trying to have a relationship. VIGILANTE FORCE was part of a great series of films - often most with JMV as well - like THE STREETFIGHTER, or BITE THE BULLET or WHITE LINE FEVER., BABY BLUE MARINE, BUSTER AND BILLIE, ALL THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN etc...all well worth seeing again for their purity in presentation...as lean as a Republic serial and as compelling. In the 50s there was a film called THE PHENIX CITY STORY made by Allied Artists as a noir drama. It too has similar themes in an urban setting, and is distinguished by it's tough ideology for the time.

Vigilante Force (1976)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A small town comes under attack from a group of rednecks so a man (Jan-Michael Vincent) decides to talk the Sheriff into letting his Vietnam vet brother (Kris Kristofferson) and his four vet buddies clean things up. The plan starts off good at first but soon the five vets decide to do a few illegal things of their own. VIGILANTE FORCE starts off as a pretty good exploitation flick but it slowly begins to fall apart as the story for some reason switches directions. The beginning of the movie is the type of over-the-top actioneer that you'd expect to see from producer Gene Corman. The start of the movie features a greatest hits package of redneck damage, which includes bar fights, shootings, a stabbing and more violence all of it in drive-in camp fashion. Kristofferson arrives on the scene much like Sam Elliott would in the later cult classic ROAD HOUSE and the movie is still doing good at this part. The actor is very fun in the part and it's entertaining seeing him and his vet buddies walk around putting an end to the trouble. Where the screenplay really lost me was in the second half when they turn these fun guys into coldblooded killers. For the life of me I couldn't understand why they wanted to go this direction but my closest guess is that they wanted the brother versus brother showdown between the two stars. The eventual showdown really doesn't pay off and it also doesn't cool the bad taste left in your mouth from some of the actions that the Kristofferson character does. I won't give any spoilers but some of the murders just make you hate the guy, which completely goes against the feelings they build up early on. Kristofferson is very good in his part as is Vincent as his brother. The supporting cast includes Victoria Principal, Bernadette Peters, Charles Cyphers, Andrew Stevens and John Steadman who is best remembered for Wes Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES. As is, the film works good enough in its first half to make it worth viewing but one wishes they had kept up with the fun times instead of doing something different.

Just a few months before "A Star Is Born" was released and made him a box-office name, Kris Kristofferson took on this ungainly role, that of a Vietnam vet who appoints himself judge and executioner in a backwater town run amok. He eliminates anyone (including women) who question his authority, making resident and younger brother Jan-Michael Vincent really sorry he ever asked for his help. Thoughtless and mean-spirited action-thriller from writer-director George Armitage has good location shooting in Simi Valley, CA but an utterly unsympathetic script filled with redneck clichés and ugly violence. Armitage has managed to gather together a most curious supporting cast for the film, including Victoria Principal, Bernadette Peters, Loni Anderson in a bit part, Andrew Stevens, David Doyle, Brad Dexter and Paul Gleason. Unfortunately, the center of the whole thing is Kristofferson, who is despicable throughout. Even viewed as a tacky co-feature or drive-in entry, "Vigilante Force" is a nasty piece of work, and one with a ridiculous climax. * from ****

Decent first half devolves into ridiculous plot with a town seeing basically a military battle. Deaths are brushed off as nothing. Pretty much the whole plot is so incredibly unbelievable that the movie is almost funny. Good cast though. A 70s curiosity only.

Nothing wrong with a silly exploitation flick every once in while but this movie is just ridicules in a lazy kind of way.

It's basically a very messy movie with some lazy writing in it. Not as if any exploitation flicks ever featured a brilliant or original story but at least they often make more sense in their own universe. I had the idea that for this movie the creators were just shooting away. Moments and characters in the movie just often don't make sense at all, which makes this entire movie seem like a quite ridicules one.

You could definitely say that this movie had some potential in it. I like the fact that this movie is being like a modern western, in which a bunch of tough guys with a badge cause mayhem and try to take over a town with their terror. Its easily a type of story you could expect in any type of western.

It's however a very random movie. All of the actions from the bad guys seem pointless and often very stupid. It's purely put into the movie to make it seem like a violent one but it makes the characters look totally ridicules. The movie and its characters often make a very pointless impression.

I also just don't understand some of the characters. People and also loved ones are getting killed in this movie but hardly anyone seems to worry too much about this and life goes on as usual. It doesn't exactly help to make the movie a very believable one.

Kris Kristofferson still added some spice but you can't really say that this movie was his greatest moment.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Wow they sure made some stinkers in the 70s. And this was one huge stinker. Seems like they made it up as they went along. Practically no thought was put into the script at all. The whole thing seemed extremely rushed. And when I saw that it was shot in 30 days, I wasn't surprised. And then when I saw the name Gene Corman listed as producer, it all started to make sense. I knew he must be related to that other famous maker of cheaply made, quickly shot movies, Roger Corman. Except this is even worse than the typically bad Roger Corman production.

The acting in particular stands out as extremely bad. I'm not a fan of Kris Kristofferson, but he does a better job than anyone else in this movie. The acting from Jan-Michael Vincent and Bernadette Peters is especially horrible.

The story itself is ludicrous. The action scenes are ridiculous and ineptly done. The dialogue is embarrassing. I think this is what Stephen King has referred to as a "moron movie."

The only interesting thing about this film was seeing what Simi Valley and the Santa Susana mountains (Charles Manson's old hangout) looked like in the 70s. Maybe Charlie's bad juju vibes were still in the air in the Santa Susana area. Kristofferson kind of looks like him in the movie, and seemed to channel his psychopathic personality.

I was in elementary school when I last read it, but "Vigilante Force" actually reminded me of the classic biblical story of Cain and Abel; the harsh and bloody battle between the strong and treacherous brother versus the physically weaker but forthright brother. George Armitage, the hugely underrated cult director of "Gross Pointe Blank" and "Miami Blues", transferred this basic given from the Biblical era to the trashy 70's and a small Californian town setting. When the previously dormant oil deposits nearby are re-opened again, the charming little town of Elk Hills all of a sudden becomes a lawless boom town. The local authorities instruct the town's mechanic Ben Arnold to call in his elderly brother Aaron for help. Aaron is a Vietnam veteran as well as a local legend, so they draft him and a handful of his Tour of Duty buddies to come and restore the law and order in Elk Hills. Aaron and C° quickly rid the town of all the scum, but then subsequently take over all the illegal activities themselves. The alleged heroes start up a felonious gambling network in town and even force the local merchants to participate in mafia practices. It takes the town of Elk Hills, and particularly younger brother Ben, a very long time to realize their new deputies are bigger criminals than they dealt with before and even longer to stand up against them. "Vigilante Force" is an interesting albeit heavily flawed mixture between urban western, guerrilla action and family melodrama. The tone of the film is very uneven, as Armitage interchanges wild & virulent bar fights (the absence of a Buddy Holly record in the jukebox is enough to drive these hicks insane, apparently) with overlong and dull morality speeches. Luckily there are a couple of powerful and memorable moments, like the cowardly assassination of a pivot character and the extremely explosive climax, to help "Vigilante Force" qualify as precious drive-in exploitation heritage. And the catchy banjo soundtrack helps a great deal as well to achieve this, of course. The best performances are given by Kris Kristofferson as the corrupt and totally unreliable anti-hero Aaron and Bernadette Peeters as a cocky but down-on-her-luck barroom singer. Personally I'm a tremendously big fan of Jan-Michael Vincent, especially of the cult hits he made around that era like "Shadow of the Hawk" and "White Line Fever", but here in this film he mainly just drives around town. Seriously, his red pick-up trucks deserves top-billing as well. For the seekers of hidden cult accomplishments

Easily characterized as one of the films I would have gone to see on a Friday night date at the drive-in theater as I (and my date) had no intention of watching the film. Where can I start? Every aspect of this film fails. The screenplay and underlying plot is weak, the script is terrible (loaded with badly worn clichés), the acting is horrid with the direction (or lack thereof) as much to blame as the mediocre performances from actors that should have done better. The fight scenes do not appear to have been choreographed. The cinematography is, at best, pedestrian. Didn't check the credits, but for the sake of the production designer's career, I hope he demanded it go uncredited.

Not much about this film is remotely credible. It's purely a vehicle for barroom brawling fistfights, gunfights, car chases and explosions . . . and not much of one at that.

Bottom Line: Vigilante Force is Razzie fodder. Too bad this film was released in 1976, four years before the Golden Raspberry Award was created (1980). Could have swept the awards.

This in my opinion is one of the best action movies of the 1970s. It not only features a great cast but is also loaded with wild shootouts and explosions that are still impressive today. The story is about a Vietnam vet (Kris Kristofferson) being recruited by his brother (Jan-Michael Vincent) to help clean up the criminal element in a small town and what happens when Kris starts taking advantage of his position and becomes as bad as the criminals he was hired to get rid of. It's great seeing Kris play against type. Bernadette Peeters and Victoria Principal both offer great support as the respective ladies of the two male stars. Jan-Michael shows real movie star persona in this film. I don't think Vigilante Force is on video but it occasionally shows up on TV. It's a great flick for guys who like movies.

As written and directed by George Armitage, "Vigilante Force" is acceptable "turn your brain off", yahoo action fare, albeit with a solid premise. An excellent cast that's full of familiar faces clearly has a fine time with the material. Armitage gets down to business extremely quickly, with an energetic opening credits sequence. From then on it's a series of confrontations that culminate with a whole lot of gunfire and explosions going on.

Jan-Michael Vincent plays Ben Arnold, upstanding young citizen in the small town of Elk Hills. Unfortunately the scores of men who came to work on nearby oil fields have begun to raise bloody hell in the town. In desperation, the towns' bigwigs agree to bring in Bens' brother Aaron (Kris Kristofferson), a Vietnam vet, and Aarons' wartime comrades, to try to restore law and order. Soon, however, the "solution" proves to be another problem, as Aaron lets a position of power go to his head and indulges in all manner of crooked ventures.

Vincent is good, but Kristofferson out-acts him with style, bringing charisma and humour to his juicy role. The sweet and sexy Victoria Principal plays Vincents' gal pal, and the cute as a button Bernadette Peters is endearing as flaky singer "Little Dee", whose shtick involves acting as if she knows everybody. The Who's Who cast of supporting players is most impressive: Brad Dexter as the mayor, Judson Pratt as the police chief, and David Doyle as a banker, as well as Antony Carbone, Andrew Stevens, Paul Gleason, John Steadman, Charles Cyphers, and Carmen Argenziano. Bombshell actress Loni Anderson and cult icon Dick Miller have uncredited cameos.

The folksy music by Gerald Fried adds to the substantial fun factor of this movie. Armitage really gives his audience their money's worth, and knows how to end things in a big way.

Seven out of 10.

Bizarre action film which sterotypes Viet-Nam combat veterans as kill crazy psychopaths. Truthfully, half the cast seems and looks high. The gun battles are about as stupid as you can get; no one reloads and they shoot hundreds of rounds. Senseless and brutal violence and nothing really likeable about any of the characters. The final shoot out with the bad guys wearing red band uniforms was really strange and maybe was symbolic or maybe not. The whole thing looks like a bad LSD trip.

Vigilante Force is a trashy, energetic, empty-headed action picture which keeps you entertained without ever engaging your intellect. Kris Kristofferson gives a great, atypical performance as a seriously nasty bad guy and Jan Michael Vincent offers competent support as his good-guy brother.

The film sees Vincent getting fed up with the violent behaviour of certain rowdy townsfolk in his home town. He hires his brother, Kristofferson, and his Vietnam veteran buddies, to come into the town and clean up the trouble. They get the job done, but then things go sour. They become corrupt and take control of the town themselves, thus becoming just as bad as the thugs they were supposed to get rid of in the first place.

The violence is not gratuitous, but there's enough of it to keep blood-addicted viewers happy. The action is pretty good. The film goes through some slow patches and seems all at sea when the characters stop fighting and shooting and actually sit down to have a conversation. However, when the mayhem is on the screen, the film comes into its own and contains some explosive scenes. Vigilante Force is not great art... the dialogue is clunky and it has no subtext, no deeper meaning than the immediate violence and explosions, but of its kind it is certainly an enjoyable way to pass the time.

"Vigilante Force" could have been a good movie. Unfortunately, it's not. What a shame. This movie has a good premise, nice locations and a top-notch cast but its script is a letdown. I think they should have given up on the PG rating and went all out and made a R action movie. If they cranked up the violence, language and maybe had thrown in a little nudity, "Vigilante Force" could have been a movie worth seeing a second time. As it is, it's not. Honorable mention: a dreamy Bernadette Peters, a very dreamy Loni Anderson and a wildly dreamy Victoria Principal.

The western plot of a lawless town hiring a town tamer to bring law and order is updated in Vigilante Force. Curiously enough I read an article where this is happening in North Dakota for a few years now. The oil fracking boom has created exactly the kind of situation we see in Vigilante Force.

Law enforcement under Sheriff Judson Pratt just can't handle it so the citizens bring in Kris Kristofferson who was a hellraiser back in the day before he did a couple of tours in Vietnam. Kristofferson brings in some of his buddies and everyone is happy at first. Kristofferson's brother Jan-Michael Vincent has his doubts.

Those doubts are confirmed when Kristofferson puts lawlessness on a more organized basis. His private militia act like storm troopers. Some citizens die and some have to become vigilantes themselves.

This film is frighteningly familiar with what is being encouraged now and from no less than the White House itself.

I recommend folks seeing this one to know it can and is happening here.

This unremarkable films involves vigilanteism with a greedy twist, as ex vet pilot, Offertson is called upon by his younger brother (Vincent) to restore peace and stability in a small town, run amok, by the big strike of all. Local cops can't contain, the scary mayhem and violence. There's not much at all here, except some moments of no brained stupidity, and the chance to ogle Principal's beauty, looking very different to her later Dallas days. There are some nasty shock moments, but overall, pretty l ordinary. VF is an entertaining, undemanding movie, with some dumb yokels, and an unintentional amusing Vincent, in his moments of anger.

This movie could only originate in the 1970's!! It's a bizarre action movie set in a small California workers town. Some sort of mill or plant is closing down, so suddenly, rampant bad behavior is occurring in the streets! The townsfolk's are fed up! So Ben Arnold (Jan Michael Vincent), goes to another town to recruit his brother, Aaron, played by Kris Kristofferson. Aaron is a Vietnam Vet who looks and acts a little…off balance. He hangs out with a bunch of other surly Vietnam vet's. They come into town to clean it up (they become deputized), but underneath their good deeds, they are actually running gambling houses, asking for protection money, etc.!!! It takes a while for people to catch on, and in a biblical Cain and Abel showdown, Vincent has to take on his older brother. There's an interesting blue-collar sleaze atmosphere to this movie, which makes it interesting (note the cock-fighting scene!). Vincent is almost too angelic in this role – he thinks so highly of his brother, he cannot conceive of him committing the evil deeds he's accused of. He finally comes to his senses – his girlfriend, Victoria Principal, is brutally shot in the back & he himself is beaten up in his home. Kris Kristofferson is creepily effective as Aaron. He coolly denies any wrong-doing, and even gently coos and talks to Vincent's young daughter (she refers to him as 'Uncle Aaron') even while he's threatening her father's life, all the while smiling! Vincent and Kristofferson have good contrasting chemistry with each other. Bernadette Peters makes an interesting appearance as a 'saloon' girl who attracts Aaron's attention. This is a good 70's action movie, if you can find it!! It is NOT available on DVD yet

When it was like "The Old West", lawless was the norm. In "Vigilante Force", this one is like "The New West". Just as rowdy as it can be. In a California town where the oil fields are rich, and the workers are very unruly. The local police can't do much, because some of their deputies are killed by the rowdies. Then a single father(Jean-Micheal Vincent) who happens to be a war veteran get in touch with his brother (Kris Kristofferson) and his crew to help tame the unruly citizens of the town. They are successful, but they would soon fall victim to power. Now it's up to the vet and his townspeople to stop his brother and his "Vigilante Force". It was like a modernized version of a Western movie. Very subtle, but enjoyable to say the least. It's recommended for the weekend. 4 out of 5 stars.

When this film came out in 1976, Jan-Michael Vincent was at the height of his popularity, though Kris Kristofferson got top billing, Vincent actually steals this movie from Kristofferson. Showing leading man appeal, Vincent shows if given above-average material he could more than carry a movie, though dated, Vigilante Force was a typical blue-collar, mid-70's movie, as previously stated, town police along with Vincent bring in Kristofferson and his buddies to clean-up the town, but then using their power for their own personal gains, Vincent tries to give his brother the benefit of the doubt, until he realizes he now has to drive them out of town or kill them. This movie was probably the peak of Vincent's big screen career, it's hard to believe this movie didn't elevate Vincent to super-star status, though Vincent had a fine run as an actor in the 70's, mainstream appeal evaded Vincent and though he appeared in Burt Reynold's "Hooper" in 1978, by the end of 1979, Vincent's star had fallen and he was relegated to low-budget B movies, eventually turning to T.V. to revive his flagging career.