Over the last few years, I’ve been invited a few times to be a special guest on the Golan My Globus Podcast. Tim and Griff aren’t exclusively about Cannon movies. They enjoy the gritty crime films of the last few decades. As I watched Fighting Back, I couldn’t help but hear them shout “Our hands are tied!” This seems to be the excuse of all the cops and politicians in the movie. The tale of a Philly businessman who is sick of dealing with the robbers, pimps and junkies that have destroyed the neighborhood was slated to be the next Death Wish. It was produced by Dino De Laurentiis who gave us Death Wish. One of the screenwriters penned Straw Dogs. Director Lewis Teague had struck gold with the neighborhood menace movie Alligator. Two of the stars had just battled the Xenomorph in Alien. We get to see a nastier side of the Philadelphia neighborhood from Rocky. Fighting Back never came out on DVD, but has fought back to finally arrive on Blu-ray.
John D’Angelo (M*A*S*H*‘s Tom Skerritt) wants things to be like they always were in his neighborhood in Philadelphia. He runs an Italian deli and has a growing family. But the area is going downhill quick. The longtime families are moving out to the safe suburbs while urban decay takes hold. No longer do the kids play stickball on the streets and hang out at the candy store. Crime has soared as his new neighbors are pimps, whores, drug dealers, junkies and gang members. Things get worse for John when on a drive, his pregnant wife Lisa (Witness‘s Patti LuPone) has him stop the car. She gets out and screams at the pimp Eldorado (Pete Richardson) to stop him from beating down his hooker. Things get out of control when Lisa throws her soda cup at the Mack. The Pimp does not like having his fine clothes ruined. He gets in his pimpmobile and chases after the D’Angelo’s station wagon. Even though a bad things happens at the end, John finds out that there’s really nothing the police can do for him. Even his buddy on the force Officer Vince Morelli (The Reincarnation of Peter Proud‘s Michael Sarrazin) admits his hands are tied. The criminals in Philly are able to use the law to keep being lawless on the street. Things get worse when John’s mother gets an extreme mugging. Once again the police don’t do much since their hands are tied. Vince lets his pal know there’s something the citizens can do. John bands together a group of locals to for the Peoples Neighborhood Patrol. They’re an extreme version of the Neighborhood Watch. John cruises around the area in his reinforced citizen patrol car looking for trouble. He and the neighbors have no problem getting violent with criminals because the local cops are willing to look the other way. As his battle grows, John attempts to unify his team with a nearby black community group led by Ivanhoe Washington (Across 110th Street‘s Yaphet Kotto). Washington isn’t eager to unite since he views John as a racist fascist. But John doesn’t care since he’s going full throttle to clean up his neighborhood and turn Philly back to the way he swore it was when he was a kid. Is he going to clean up the neighborhood or will he get chopped up like the insides of a Philly steak sandwich?
Why didn’t Fighting Back have the same box office impact as Death Wish? Because John D’Angelo wasn’t the embraceable vengeance character that Charles Bronson played. Bronson’s wife was a victim of an unexpected crime. D’Angelo’s wife initially telling the pimp to stop hitting the hooker was good. Then she went too far when she threw the drink on the gentleman of leisure. What did she expect would happen by attacking the guy? She elevated the situation without an exit plan. Instead of feeling horrified at her fate, a viewer is asking, “What was she thinking?” Even when he’s taking out lowlifes, D’Angelo protects his kind of criminals. He makes a deal with the local Mafia chief. Why? Because his good old days had the Italian section of town run by the colorful Italian mobsters. Washington proves that John is a bigot when it comes to dishing out his brand of justice. People can debate whether Charles Bronson’s character was a homicidal bigot in Death Wish. Fighting Back gives no wiggle room to D’Angelo. John being such a shady character makes Fighting Back more than a Death Wish rip-off.
D’Angelo uses his neighborhood vigilante image to move up the political ladder. The TV reporter (Sledge Hammer! & Succession‘s David Rasche) promotes John not as a violent fascist, but a man who wants to save his neighborhood from rampant crime. John gets promoted as the new face of law and order in Philly. This element of the film is still true as fascists run for public office and get cute newspaper profiles. They don’t want you to know that they want to tie your hands to achieve their vision of the good old days.
Fighting Mad is so worth reviving because of Skerritt’s performance. He plays John as someone who won’t admit his version of law and order might have consequences. There’s so much going on the film besides just reclaiming a Philly neighborhood.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer brings out the gritty Philly neighborhood. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 stereo. You’ll hear the bullets and righteous indignation from John D’Angelo. The movie is subtitled.
Enough is Enough! (29:00) is a recent interview with director Lewis Teague gets into his time with Roger Corman and Dino De Laurentiis. Teague’s first big break was directing an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Frank Gorshin and Martin Landau. He was production manager for Woodstock. He fell in with Roger Corman and worked with Paul Bartel, Jonatan Demme and Paul Bartel as second unit director and editor until Roger let him be the director on The Lady In Red. This allowed him to go off and make Alligator. Both films had scripts by John Sayles (Eight Men Out). This brought him to the attention of Dino who wanted him for Fighting Back. He gives details about their first meeting. The script was originally called Striking Back. After this film, Teague would make Cujo, Cats Eye, Jewel of the Nile and Navy SEALS.
Danny-Cam (22:08) a new interview with camera operator Daniele Nannuzzi. He speaks in Italian so the interview is subtitled. He was living in Italy when he was offered to work on the film by the Director of Photography Franco Di Giacomo (Who Saw Her Die?). He remembers how cold it was when they shot in New York City. It was 40 degrees below zero. The D.P. leg him handle a lot of the exterior work since the Franco stayed warm. He’s got great memories of the production from nearly 40 years ago.
UK Theatrical Trailer (1:27) is a man who just wanted to run an Italian butcher shop in the old neighborhood. Crime ruined his dream and he is fighting back. In England the movie was called Death Vengeance.
US TV Spot (0:30) is all about the crime and the neighbors fighting back.
Image gallery has about a dozen photos from the press book, the movie poster, the one-sheet, a re-release poster when it was called Philadelphia Security and a Death Vengeance poster.
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critics Rob Skvarla and Walter Chaw, and a career-spanning interview with director Lewis Teague.
Arrow Video presents Fighting Back. Directed by Lewis Teague. Screenplay by Thomas Hedley Jr. & David Zelag Goodman. Starring Tom Skerritt, Patti LuPone, Michael Sarrazin, Yaphet Kotto, David Rasche, Lewis Van Bergen, Earle Hyman, Ted Ross, Frank Sivero and Pat Cooper. Running Time: 96 Minutes. Rating: R Rated. Release Date: July 4, 2023.
