Line #23 Film/Alligator


1	[[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alligator_dvd_6795.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:284:NeverSmileAtACrocodile, but what happens when it smiles at ''you?'']]
3
4	->''It's 36 feet long, weighs 2000 pounds, lives 50 feet below the city. Nobody knows it's down there except the people it eats.''
5	-->-- '''{{Tagline}}'''
6
7	''Alligator'' is a 1980 horror/comedy film, directed by Lewis Teague and starring Creator/RobertForster, Creator/RobinRiker, and Creator/HenrySilva, with a screenplay by Creator/JohnSayles, in which UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} policeman David Madison has to stop "Ramon", the eponymous beast, who is running amok in the city sewer system after feeding on covertly discarded growth hormone. The film is notable for being among the first of the slew of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' homages/rip-offs to be produced by the American movie industry. Unlike 99% of the horrors that have come lurching along in its wake, the humor is intentional, the human characters are sympathetic, and the flick is worth seeing.
8
9	A sequel/remake was released in 1991, subtitled ''The Mutation''.
10
11	----
12	!!Provides examples of:
13
14	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: As noted by the quote above, it has a mighty big alligator freely wandering around in it.
15	* AccidentalMurder: One night in a party, several kids were playing pirate and decided to have the designated prisoner 'walk the plank' via the house's pool. After the mother called them to get back to the house, she turned on the pool's light, [[spoiler:revealing that Ramon has been taking residence in the pool. The prisoner kid's screams of terror were mistaken as 'acting chicken' and he got pushed into the pool and devoured by Ramon. The pirate kids [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realized what's going on, and ran away in terror after realizing they just fed their friend to an alligator.]]]]
16	* AnArmAndALeg: While the alligator's mouth isn't big enough to help it swallow a human whole, he has enough biting strength to dismember humans for food, resulting in bloody messes.
17	* AssholeVictim: Gutchel, [[spoiler:Kemp]], Colonel Brock, the Mayor, [[spoiler:Helms]], and [[spoiler:Slade.]]
18	* AntagonistTitle: Also a OneWordTitle. The protagonist is Madison, a police officer who has to fight against a Ramon, a giant alligator.
19	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Aside from "Ramon", who's considerably bigger than any alligator (although not any crocodilian) ever gets, there's a carcass of a toy dog that was subjected to growth hormone experiments. It's the size of a St. Bernard.
20	* BigBad: Mr. Slade, the CorruptCorporateExecutive indirectly responsible for Ramón becoming giant.
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Ramon is killed and peace is restored in the town... But another baby alligator is flushed down the sewers, showing the terror brought by the alligator will return.]]
22	* BrickJoke: Because in the middle of the film, [[spoiler: one of the heroes arrested a man for selling a baby gator for a pet and telling the other cops to flush this gator at the end another alligator baby is flushed down, setting the stage for the nightmare of the mutant alligator to start all over again.]]
23	* ChildrenAreInnocent: Subverted; two of them push their unwilling friend into a swimming pool, although [[spoiler: they certainly weren't trying to get him eaten]]. Also Madison has to deal with a [[BrattyHalfPint pretty mouthy kid]] who witnesses one of Ramon's attacks.
24	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Slade. He orders the experiments which thanks to illegally discarded test-animal corpses leads to Ramon becoming the menace he is.
25	* CowboyCop: Madison's reputation, even though it's not exactly deserved.
26	* DaChief: Chief Clark is a more sympathetic and intelligent version than usual.
27	* DeathOfAChild: On a dare, a kid jumps off the diving board of his backyard swimming pool at night while the alligator is momentarily staying in it. He realizes at the last moment what is happening and tries to step back, but his friends push him in anyway because they didn't see it and think he chickened out.
28	* DirtyCoward: Slade, who had been attending a wedding interrupted by the alligator, races to his limo and locks the door refusing to let in another attendant, also trying to get in the limo. [[spoiler: Neither of the attendants survive]].
29	* EgomaniacHunter: The ill-fated Col. Brock.
30	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Slade throws a lavish wedding for his daughter and he expresses admiration for his future son-in-law.
31	* GreatWhiteHunter: Again, an overt parody in the form of Col. Brock.
32	* HereWeGoAgain: The film ends with [[spoiler:another alligator getting flushed into the sewer.]]
33	* IntrepidReporter: Subverted, in that Thomas Kemp is an obnoxious jerk whom Madison heartily dislikes, but genuinely goes [[GoingForTheBigScoop looking for scoops]], eventually [[spoiler: taking [[ApocalypticLog crucial pictures]] of Ramon, even as he is devoured.]]
34	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: A little girl toddler is in the back yard with her mother's wash. Mom hears the phone ring, goes in to answer it, and along comes the titular beast. Mom sees the monster leave the yard, and runs back out screaming and crying as she looks for her child. Then the little girl lifts up the clothes basket she was hiding under!
35	* {{Jerkass}}: [[spoiler:All of whom get their just desserts.]]
36	** Kemp is a sleazy reporter who is determined to make it look like Madison is responsible for Ramon's killings.
37	** Luke Gutchel is a pet shop owner who happily gives his innocent animals (and stolen pets) to Helms and Slade to be experimented on.
38	** Helms, the doctor who experiments on these animals, to the point that he demands Gutchel give him only puppies to experiment on.
39	** Colonel Brock is an arrogant, sexist jackass who treats everyone like they are inferior to him.
40	** Slade, who ordered the experiments on the animals to begin with for no apparent reason, gets Madison fired for digging to deep into his operations, and is a heartless individual in general.
41	** And the lady who just decided to park her car on top of the manhole that Madison was [[OutrunTheFireball trying to get out of]], and then argues with Marisa about not moving.
42	* KarmaHoudini: The cruel doctor whose experiments turned Ramon into a monster in the first place gets off scott-free. Ditto the almost-certainly-abusive father who flushed him in the first place.
43	** Subverted. Ramon manages to kill Helms at the wedding, and the father is mentioned to have worked himself to death.
44	* KarmicDeath: Ramon [[spoiler: kills Slade, the CorruptCorporateExecutive whose experiments inadvertently created him.]]
45	* KickTheDog: Mr. Slade specifically orders the mutagen tested on shelter puppies.
46	* MadBomber: This is literally the name of one character in the credits. Might called a case of [[spoiler: [[ChekhovsGun "Chekov's Explosives"]]...]]
47	* MauveShirt: Madison's rookie partner Officer Kelly gets plenty of characterization, but is quickly eaten by Ramon.
48	** Gutchel also gets some characterization, but is one of the first victims of Ramon.
49	* AMinorKidroduction: The film starts with a depiction of the Hot Scientist as a teen, bringing home a baby alligator from a trip to Florida, which she names Ramon. Her bad-tempered father flushes it down the toilet...
50	* MotorMouth: The Hot Scientist's [[OneSceneWonder mother]].
51	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The kids at the pool, not the one [[spoiler: who's dead. They think it's just a prank, but the moment they see they've just fed their friend to a giant alligator, the sheer look of horror they have just screams of this trope.]]
52	* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Hi there, Ramon!
53	* NighInvulnerability: Ramon is even bigger, stronger and better armored than a normal alligator, thanks to the aforementioned experiments. It finally takes [[spoiler: a bomb to finish him off.]]
54	* NightmareDreams: Madison has these from his first encounter with Ramon.
55	* NotWorthKilling: PlayedWith. Ramon devours his victims most of the time. The deaths of Mr. Slade and his assistant? Ramon didn't even eat them, despite eating most of the guests; [[spoiler:he just contents himself with smashing the assistant to the car until he died out of blunt-force trauma, and smashed the car with Slade being squeezed to death inside. With Ramon using his tail.]]
56	* PetBabyWildAnimal: Subverted. Ramon gets unceremoniously flushed into the sewer while still tiny, and his former owner then makes every effort to help kill him. Of course, she has no reason to even know it's the same alligator.
57	* PoliceAreUseless: The alligator has bulletproof skin and can easily hide in the water and even destroys an entire boat full of policemen and their grenades just by tripping it.
58	* RuleOfPool: When Ramon crashes the wedding, the bride gets pushed into a swimming pool by panicked guests who are trying to run away from it.
59	* SewerGator: The film is about a deadly giant alligator killing humans in the sewers of Chicago.
60	* ShoutOut: The [[Film/TheThirdMan graffiti]] in the sewers, the name of the [[Series/TheHoneymooners sewer-worker]] Ramon kills.
61	* ShipperOnDeck: At the end of the film, David jokingly suggests they should introduce Chief Clark to Marisa's mother.
62	* SuspiciouslyStealthyPredator: Because it just wouldn't be a ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' ripoff if the beast let anyone but the hero realize it was out there too soon, would it?
63	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Sarcastically suggested by the Hot Scientist, in reference to her motor-mouthed mother.
64	* WeddingSmashers: Ramon rampages through a high-society wedding.
65	* WidowedAtTheWedding: The alligator crashes the reception of a high-society wedding where it devours the groom.
66	* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: Parodied by the arrogant and inept Col. Brock, who gets killed by Ramon while in the middle of getting some random kids he dragged along with him to take photos of him with the alligator.
67
68	!!The sequel has examples of:
69
70	* KarmicDeath: The CorruptCorporateExecutive, whose casual dumping of toxic waste into the sewers created the giant alligator, is accidentally pushed into the lake and is soon eaten by the beast.
71	* MagicCountdown: Hawk leaves dynamite with timer on it in the sewer for the alligator, and hurriedly climbs back to the surface and warns other about how they have only ten seconds and they all scramble or safety. Cut back to the dynamite, which has noticeable amount of time left in the timer. Possibly he'd lost count, or was exaggerating to get the others moving quicker.
72	* NumberedSequels: With [[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo Electric Boogaloo]].
73	* StockFootage: Uses snippets of footage from the first film's alligator sequences in some scenes.
74	* ToxicWasteCanDoAnything: While the first Alligator gained its giant, mutated form by eating discarded animal corpses spiked with growth hormones, the one in the sequel was exposed to toxic waste, which worked just as well.

Context Film / Alligator