Cheap Albino Alligator (Video) (Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, Gary Sinise) (Kevin Spacey) Price

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Customer Reviews of Albino Alligator

"That would have been a very scary set if you had a director who wasn't an actor's director," said Matt Dillon, who plays the hoodlum leader. "Each week got more and more intense." Dillon plays a morally ambiguous character unsure of what to do after he and his partners set off a burglar alarm, flee in panic, then become mistaken targets of a siege commanded by federal agents seeking a gun-smuggler. Dillon tries to assure his good-hearted brother (Gary Sinise) that the hostages won't be killed, yet is swayed by the pressures of a more vicious partner (William Fichtner).

I stayed awake, so what did I fail to see?
The selection at Blockbuster seemed unusually dreary, so I focused on ALBINO ALLIGATOR for the simple reason that Faye Dunaway was in the cast, and I hadn't seen her in awhile. I admit to having a mild crush on her since the original THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.

Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise and William Fichtner star as three small-time, New Orleans crooks who bungle a warehouse heist, and then take refuge in a basement bar after being involved in an auto accident during the getaway, at which time the Sinise character is injured going through the windshield. And, by the way, during the getaway they mash into the pavement a cop involved in an unrelated Federal stakeout. At any rate, once in the bar, which has no rear entrance, they're surrounded by the local SWAT team and assorted TV news vans. However, they do have five hostages: the bar's owner, the bartender (Dunaway), and three wee hour customers.

ALBINO ALLIGATOR is the directorial debut of Kevin Spacey, an actor of considerable talent. While I won't go so far as to say that this first effort was badly directed, the script wasn't worth his time and energy. Unless he's more selective, Kevin should stay with his bread-and-butter job. Curiously, the film just didn't have that "movie" feel. It reminded me more of a filmed stage production. Furthermore, the "albino alligator" reference, ostensibly a ruse by which alligators send out an albino to flush out foes, had absolutely no application in the storyline. At least, none that I discerned even after thinking about it for several minutes. I was even watching with my glasses on. To be evenhanded, the Fichtner character, a real psycho, was chillingly done. And Faye is still a Babe, even at this late date. On the other hand, the Dillon and Sinise characters, plus the cop-in-charge role-played by Joe Mantegna, were notably nondescript. And what illegal substance was somebody on when that Guy character was envisioned? (Was this an actors' afternoon workshop, by any chance?)

The film's greatest weakness, for me, was the ending. Without giving anything away, the survivors of the ordeal were not all those you'd expect. I got the feeling the scriptwriter was trying to illustrate a great truth - a "morale to the story", so to speak. Somebody please tell me what it was!

Say What....?
....the ultimo movie about a bungled heist job and the crooks are holed out somewheres is....Reservior Dogs. This has great actors in it...I enjoyed seeing, f'instance, Dame Dunaway...but, she, Sinise, Dillon, Mantegna, and perpetual co-lister Faison had a poor dialog to work with. Imagine if QT had written it. Or, my favorite tough guy screenwriter, David Mamet. Fortunately though, Spacey will have something to build on develop a director's repertoire...