Alligator (1980) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 4, 1981

This newspaper ad is all that stuck with me for the brief theatrical run of what became the modest cult/sleeper hit Alligator. Blessed with a solid cast that got to work with a tongue-in-cheek script by John Sayles, who claims to have wrote this on a plane flight from the New York to Los Angeles. Alligator is a fun, unpretentious, and, at times, downright nasty monster movie.

For whatever reason, this is one that slipped through my fingers and I did not see it until it debuted on network television. I think the film's infamous "walk the plank" scene made it to the airwaves intact, but that first viewing has been mixed and muddled with countless follow-up VHS and DVD viewings that it no longer matters. But I did know about the scene well in advance, because someone at school that had seen it on the big screen talked about it.

A check of Friday's "Theatre Guide" revealed that the Roxie would have Alligator on triple-bill with Shogun Assassin and Planet of the Dinosaurs. The Southshore had it paired with the action film High Risk. The Coliseum Drive-in was showing it with Humanoids from the Deep, while United Artists in Berkeley had it coupled with Windwalker. If you went to see Alligator at the Festival Cinema in Hayward, you could watch it with Excalibur. The Cooper Twin in San Pablo also had it with Humanoids from the Deep, while the Regency in Pleasant Hill paired with the Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin historical action flick Death Hunt.