Gator

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Gator

PG,

1976,

1h 55m,

Action/

Crime/

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

25%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

25%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

44%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

After his release from prison, notorious ex-con and moonshine distiller Gator McKlusky moves in with his father in a cabin in the Okefenokee Swamp. His bootlegging plans are cut short, however, when a federal agent tells McKlusky that he will lose custody of his 9-year-old daughter unless he helps bring down local crime lord Bama McCall. McKlusky enlists the help of reporter Aggie Maybank and a few local eccentrics to bring down McCall's empire.

Molly Haskell

Village Voice

Jan 23, 2018

Structurally, Gator is a bit of a mess, largely because of the civilizing and romantic influence Reynolds has brought to the randy domain of the redneck action film.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Oct 23, 2004

1.5/4

It never quite connects, even though a summary of its key scenes is like a laundry list of action-'n'-romance cliches.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Jan 30, 2024

3/5

...Live and Let Die-style speedboat chases are added to the mix, and both films offer up plenty of entertainment without too much stunt-man bonhomie that weakened some of Reynolds’ later work...

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Dec 10, 2023

2.5/4

The Kentucky fried humor doesn’t usually work, but country music star Jerry Reed is surprisingly good as the particularly sleazy villain.

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Amber Wilkinson

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Aug 11, 2023

[Burt] Reynolds has achieved a very professional film. [Full review in Spanish]

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Richard T. Jameson

Parallax View

Dec 17, 2011

Good-ol'-boy humor is my least favorite form of masculine love-antagonism in the cinema, but even a generous-minded peckerwood ought to weary rapidly of the snorting, yokking, hooting interplay...

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Albus W

Sep 20, 2018

This is a weird old movie with burt reynolds thats something along the lines of smokey and the bandit

Kylo L

May 7, 2017

Its aged as anyone would reasonably expect it to with the laughably cheesy acting and dialogue serving as an excellent showcase for how not to do those things well, but it's just too much to be worthy of an absolute shredding.

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Rey L

Jan 13, 2015

Okay I guess White Lightning was better than I thought cause this movie was wildly uneven and bizarre. Everything in this movie is x2- the outrageous characters, the southern quirks, flirting-with-bigoted stereotypes, car chases to helicopter chances, seedy underbelly... Gator doubles up on everything from White Lightning and manages to be dumber too. Jerry Reed as a villain is pretty great and I definitely loved the "I love you" "I know" line initiated by Burt Reynolds and responded to by a woman who chooses her career over him (yknow an excon who literally lives in a swamp with his 9 year old daughter, not a high bar there). I don't know man. This was too long, too cartoonish, too serious, too messed up, too dopey, too everything. But then again I'm a New York Jew and the movie all but states "y'all New York Jews don't get squat!" So I guess what do I know - maybe this ain't FOR my kind.

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Burt Reynolds

Director

Burt Reynolds

Gator McKlusky

Jack Weston

Irving Greenfield

Lauren Hutton

Aggie Maybank

Jerry Reed

Bama McCall

Alice Ghostley

Emmeline Cavanaugh

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Synopsis

After his release from prison, notorious ex-con and moonshine distiller Gator McKlusky moves in with his father in a cabin in the Okefenokee Swamp. His bootlegging plans are cut short, however, when a federal agent tells McKlusky that he will lose custody of his 9-year-old daughter unless he helps bring down local crime lord Bama McCall. McKlusky enlists the help of reporter Aggie Maybank and a few local eccentrics to bring down McCall's empire.

Director: Burt Reynolds
Producer: Arthur Gardner, Jules Levy, Arnold Laven
Screenwriter: William W. Norton, Roderick Taylor
Production Co: Levy-Gardner-Laven
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 55m

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