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The Gladiator

  • TV Movie
  • 1986
  • TV-14
  • 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
5.3/10
930
YOUR RATING
Nancy Allen, Brian Robbins, Robert Culp, Rick Dees, Stan Shaw, and Ken Wahl in The Gladiator (1986)
ActionDramaThriller

A road warrior vigilante avenges his brother's death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges... Read allA road warrior vigilante avenges his brother's death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges.A road warrior vigilante avenges his brother's death at the hands of a crazy motorist by using his souped-up pickup to apprehend drunken drivers and others who abuse their driving privileges.

  • Director
    • Abel Ferrara
  • Writers
    • William Bleich
    • Tom Schulman
    • Jeffrey Walker
  • Stars
    • Ken Wahl
    • Nancy Allen
    • Robert Culp
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.3/10
    930
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Abel Ferrara
    • Writers
      • William Bleich
      • Tom Schulman
      • Jeffrey Walker
    • Stars
      • Ken Wahl
      • Nancy Allen
      • Robert Culp
    • 18User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos25

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    Top cast29

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    Ken Wahl
    Ken Wahl
    • Rick Benton
    Nancy Allen
    Nancy Allen
    • Susan Neville
    Robert Culp
    Robert Culp
    • Lieutenant Frank Mason
    Stan Shaw
    Stan Shaw
    • Joe Barker
    Rosemary Forsyth
    Rosemary Forsyth
    • Loretta Simpson
    Bart Braverman
    Bart Braverman
    • Dan
    Brian Robbins
    Brian Robbins
    • Jeff Benton
    Rick Dees
    Rick Dees
    • Garth Masters
    Michael Young
    • Reporter
    Harry Beer
    Harry Beer
    • Franklin
    Garry Goodrow
    • Cadillac Drunk
    Robert Phalen
    Robert Phalen
    • Dr. Maxwell
    Linda Thorson
    Linda Thorson
    • Woman in Class
    Mary Baldwin
    • Mary
    Thom Bierdz
    Thom Bierdz
    • Kid
    José Flores
    José Flores
    • Policeman #1
    • (as Jose Flores)
    Stephen Anthony Henry
    • Man in Class
    Gary Lev
    • Fast Food Manager
    • Director
      • Abel Ferrara
    • Writers
      • William Bleich
      • Tom Schulman
      • Jeffrey Walker
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    5.3930
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    Featured reviews

    bennozoid1

    Tarantino's DEATH PROOF.....

    I love Abel Ferrara, but I'm guessing he was slightly high when he accepted this gig and had some bills to pay?? No that's cruel. Although the film stock and general production values of this are shoddy and televisual, Ferrara's gritty aesthetic just about peers through the sanitised veneer of this one. His mechanic best buddy is a nice character, and there are a few unintentional laughs to be had. Overall though, if this was your first insight into abel ferrara, then it would be a bad one to pick...Choose Ms.45, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant or Fear City instead....

    I believe Tarantino's segment of the forthcoming film GRINDHOUSE is about a killer, hit-and-run car.....I'm sure he's seen this one then! I also had the (mis)fortune of watching BLACK MOON RISING on the same day!? Also about cars/car chases/the fetishisation of driving souped up cars in the US. Is this the direction that Tarantino is travelling???.....
    10krainov-artiom

    This is a Gladiator

    Wonderful and rewarding film. The film is about how a simple, good guy decided to restore order on the roads, the reason for this was the death of his brother. He breaks the cars of drunk drivers, leaving them for police. His car is equipped with special devices. The main goal, to find the killer of his brother. Movie impressive car chases and stunts, as well as music and songs.

    Cast is worthy. The main character wants to empathize. The girlfriend of the main character Susan is also a very interesting character, it helps Rick cope with depression, she broadcaster, has commented on the development of the story in the course of the film. The movie is saturated dialogs and dramatic moments.

    Soulful and entertaining film.
    6Bezenby

    "This is a citizen's arrest"

    A nutter in a black car is causing hit and runs throughout town, but he picked on the wrong guy when he caused the death of that guy out of the Wanderers. This guy, a mechanic who only wanted his kid brother to grow up and get out of town with a good job, is understandably mental with revenge, soups up his flat bed truck with all kind of gadgets, and goes out on the streets to get justice!

    He calls himself The Gladiator and has a gizmo ridden car that disable drink drivers. The public think he's great, but most of the cops don't, and they begin to think that he may be behind all the killings out on the highways. Will our hero catch his prey, or will the hit and run guy go on wasting good old American folks? Well, this is a TV movie, so don't expect gore and violence. Then again, it's directed by Abel Ferrarra, so it's no walk in the park either.

    Although lacking in violence, Abel makes up for it with many car chases and an excellent showdown in the a junkyard between the gadget truck and the gadget death car. It's good enough for a TV movie, I'll say that, and has a bit of heart about it too. A nice time waster.
    4Ben-Hibburd

    The Gladiator Review.

    The Gladiator is the third film i've seen from New York auteur Abel Ferrara. Although this film happens to be set in California it retains all the same visual stylistic choices from his New York films. The Gladiator is yet another film that i find Incredibly divisive, and has done little too sway my opinion of him from either being a hack or a genius.

    The film stars Ken Wahl as Rick Benton, a revenge fuelled vigilante. After the death of his brother to a crazed motorist that is in the midst of a murderous rampage. Benton takes to patrolling the roads of San Francisco in his modified pick up truck, using the call sign Gladiator. He does so to ensure the roads are kept safe from inept drivers, whilst simultaneously hunting for his brothers killer.

    The Gladiator is essentially Death Wish on wheels, and nothing much else. The script is your typical vigilante drama, as the stoic Benton goes through every cliché known to man. That is until his inevitable showdown with his brothers killer. Usually this would bother me in most films of this ilk though Iv'e come to accept this macho style of film-making from Ferrara. Whilst the film is thin on characterisation, it's never regarded as the focus of the film.

    There's something though about Ferrara's film-making that i can't quite put my finger on. It's no secret that his films don't look very good, and most of them have a televisual feel to them alongside, at times unintelligible audio. However they completely suck me into his world. All of his films have this underlying, stoic, brooding atmosphere, that i find intoxicating. Ferrara is able to bring his films to life in ways that few directors can. His night-shots, despite the poor, indie quality of the cameras, look beautiful, much like the work of Michael Mann or Katheryn Bigelow.

    Nearly all his films are divisive and rough around the edges. This film is more straight forward, then most of his others films such-as: Bad Lieutenant, The Driller Killer etc. Whilst i respect and even at times admire his low budget, guerrilla style of film-making, it's not enough to save this film from it's poor, under-cooked screenplay, and bland characters.
    5koohii

    Made for TV/Direct to VHS fodder

    Ah, the 1980s, when Mullets ruled and hair bands screeched like howler monkeys, and Hollywood produced schlock like this as fast as movie cameras could roll.

    To say this was made on the cheap is an understatement.

    It's sort of a PSA for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

    We're missing half the story.

    Who says that the baddie's car is called "The Skull Car?" It's not in the movie. That Skull Car attacks randomly? No, he just goes in for disproportionate revenge over petty actions (kinda like our "Hero" does). Is he insane? Well, maybe if the movie had bothered to give him even a single line of dialog, we might know that.

    Instead we're just told that the black car driver is insane. Insane villains don't have motivations or back-stories.

    1980s action heroes don't know the law about how citizen's arrests work.

    Also, when are streets in LA ever that empty? Maybe in the 1920s?

    The one thing that movies from the 1980s have that modern movies don't is that the cameras actually focus on the action (such as it is) so that you can see it clearly.

    The end result is better than, say, any of the Halloween or Friday the 13th movies, but not by much.

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    Related interests

    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The five 1969 Dodge Chargers used in this film were actual "General Lee's" from The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), sold by Warner Bros to this production. Out of the five, two survived in the hands of stunt driver George A. Sack Jr. They are now being restored for "Dukes" stunt coordinator Gary Baxley by Smith Bros. Restorations.
    • Goofs
      (at around 41 mins) Rick is driving through and there is a flashing red light for the crosswalk. He's looking for bad drivers but he runs straight through the crosswalk while a person is walking in front of him.
    • Quotes

      Joe Barker: There's order to the chaos of the universe - as above, so below. I mean, even here, there's a natural order posed by me, because here: I am God.

    • Alternate versions
      Abel Ferrara had to cut approximately 11 minutes of footage from the final cut due to the restrictions imposed by New World Television on the running length. A scene where Rick (Ken Wahl) and Susan (Nancy Allen) go out for a meal and debate the motives behind the gladiator made up the majority of the cut footage; it is unknown whether future DVD releases will contain missing scenes to this date (May, 2007).
    • Connections
      Referenced in A Short Film About the Long Career of Abel Ferrara (2004)

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    FAQ1

    • Based on true events?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 3, 1986 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Der Gladiator
    • Filming locations
      • California, USA(Location.)
    • Production companies
      • Walker Brothers Productions
      • New World Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 38m(98 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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