Overview: The streets of Philadelphia are unsafe, but John D’Angelo has a solution. Thieves, pimps, and pushers beware: he’s declaring a personal war on crime. From the director of Alligator and the producer of Death Wish comes Fighting Back!

Tom Skerritt (M*A*S*H, Alien) stars as John D’Angelo, a proud husband and father fed up with the crime and fear his family endures everyday. When his wife, Lisa (Patti LuPone) and elderly mother are both victims of violent attacks, he organizes a team of locals to operate as a neighborhood patrol group. But when the patrol resorts to vigilante tactics, the lines between protection and personal vendetta become blurred, resulting in violence and corruption.

Directed by Lewis Teague from a script by Thomas Hedley Jr. (Flashdance) and David Z. Goodman (Straw Dogs), featuring a supporting cast that includes Michael Sarrazin (Frankenstein: The True Story) and Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die) and with a score by celebrated Italian composer Piero Piccioni (Christ Stopped at Eboli), Fighting Back (released overseas as Death Vengeance) finally makes its blistering Blu-ray debut!

Blu-ray Verdict: After his mother is brutally mugged in his own neighborhood and the Philadelphia police are unable to resolve the increasing rate of crime there, a delicatessen owner by the name of John D’Angelo (Tom Skerritt) decides to do something about it!

So, to that effect, he manages to convince a number of his neighbors to help him form a neighborhood watch group to alert the local police whenever they see something suspicious or illegal taking place.

What he doesn’t count on, however, is the resistance to their group by, not only the criminals, but the local politicians as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I saw this movie when it first came out back in 1982 and I was as impressed by it then, as I still am with it today, here on crystal clear Blu-ray.

And, although the main character was a bit too hot-headed at times, I still thought Tom Skerritt added just the right amount of anger and passion to make this movie seem pretty realistic and thus I can highly recommend it (as I always have done, in truth).

In conclusion, there’s nothing all that much to Fighting Back other than to say it’s not hateful, like Death Wish II. It still celebrates vigilantism and makes excuses for it and it also follows most of the major points established by the Death Wish franchise, but just doesn’t go into as much gory detail with it here.

High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Enough is Enough!, a new interview with director Lewis Teague
Danny-Cam, a new interview with camera operator Daniele Nannuzzi
Trailer
TV Spot
Image gallery
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Insect
Reversible sleeve 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

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