ThiefHott Too much of everything

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

lost-in-limbo After making films such as "Driller Killer", "Ms. 45" and "Fear City", we would see film-maker Abel Ferrara direct a straight-to-TV movie "The Gladiator". With this being the case, the limitations are there and I could only think what could have been if he was given full control as the context of the story was right down his alley. Maybe this is what interested him to the project, or those who hired him saw his previous films and would have liked to see him recapture the spirit of those features for his production. Still even with those restraints, "The Gladiator" for most part is an effectively brooding revenge piece shot on the cheap, but filled with some grit and style in the signature touch of Ferrara. The nigh-time sequences pack atmosphere with its neon lighting and Ferrara does a tidy job framing it with its rocking soundtrack. It's "Death Wish" on the motorway. A maniac in a custom-built car known as "The Skull" is terrorising motorists and after the death of his brother one night, mechanic Rick Benton vows to end it. He converts his pick-up truck into an armed and dangerous machine calling himself "The Gladiator". Every night he goes out on the road searching for "The Skull", but also trying to rid the roads of any reckless drivers, but the police led by Lt. Frank Mason see him as a menace. Also people who constantly call into a radio station seem to be divided on the actions of "The Gladiator".The smart script attached does seem to have more to say, than being a straight-up action exploitation fare. There it tackles the issue of taking the law into your own hands, how things can get out of out-of- control and while at same time spitting out facts and statistics of the danger of drink driving. It does kind of get heavy handed on the last point, but never does it take away from the film's enjoyment. A laid- back Ken Wahl plays the lead role as the young man haunted by the death of his younger brother and agreeable in the part. You do feel sorry for his character, as he portrays a level-headed and reflective character that slowly goes off the rails. Across from him is very solid support by Nancy Allen, Stan Shaw and Robert Culp as the detective in charge of "The Skull" case. The maniac driver motivation seems to be road rage (accidentally provoked or just waiting to be) and he's never seen, until the final shot where Ferrara pit's the two in a thrilling demolition climax in a junkyard. There are some exciting set-pieces, but the final 10 minutes top it.

ivo-cobra8 The Gladiator (1986) made for TV movie really dose get a great job done and teaches us a lesson. The car that was used in this movie by the psychopath who was driving black 69 Dodge. The similar car was later used in TV movie Wheels of Terror with Joanna Cassidy in the main role. I thought The Gladiator movie used the car as maniac murder by Wheels of Terror but i was wrong. Wheels of Terror used the story of the car from this movie. I watched Abel Ferrara 's movie when i was a child and it was really good awesome movie. Haven't seen this movie for about 15.years until today, i watch it the first time on YouTube someone upload it.Ken Wahl and Nancy Allen made outstanding terrific cast as the main actor and actress in this movie. The Gladiator (1986) is a decent road action flick that made a job well done. I wish that today they would make movies like this now. The most shocking is when the psycho push and hit Rick and Jeff in the truck and Rick's younger brother dies. That could be true because so many people died like on this way on a road when accident happened, it really did shocked me, than his brother put that anger and become a vigilante and a road warrior "The Gladiator" seeking justice. Chasing the most dangerous drunk drivers that cost accidents on a road and kill so many innocent people and cops call's The Gladiator a criminal? I am lost if The Gladiator really would exist he could stop drunk criminals. 2.years ago in Slovenia second main city Maribor a young fellow drive drunk and was speeding he drove out of the road went to the plant his car jump off the grass in the air and he hit a young mother who was pregnant at the time with her second child. All what he got was 2.years and 1.month of prison and that murderer did not even apologize to the family of victims, no he didn't. After he woke up with a little injuries in his head and realizing what he did he took his plate off the car and fled the crime scene. He did not call ambulance not police officers or fireman's zero. He let the poor young mama dieing in cold blood. Slovenia is horrible you can do anything here , in my country there is no justice and if The Gladiator really would exist, he would stop this psycho murderer yes he would. I am giving this movie higher rank even for 80's action drama flick I am glad i watch this movie and i can download from torrents.Another thing: I said before The Gladiator teach us a lesson and i am right, drunk driving is dead dangerous. I watched another movie in 80's License to Kill not a Bond film but a Drama movie with Denzel Washington who he was playing a young lawyer who was prosecuting a drunk driver murderer who caused a car accident and killed a young graduate teenage girl and who was getting away with it. They were showing us what someone who is drunk can do behind the wheels. That movie was really great i watched 2.years ago on TV i missed the beginning but i went watching it anyway. Today drunk driving nobody takes serious nobody.I watched Death Proof Quentin Tarantino's film and it is the most boring stupidest unreal movie ever made, it dose not compare to this movie. I so so so wish they would still make movies like this today. I miss the 80's The Gladiator really touched me and i will watch this movie again. 10/10

Woodyanders When one thinks of the singularly raw, gritty and hard-hitting cinema of Abel Ferrara (who's rough'n'tumble films include "Driller Killer," "Ms.45," and "Bad Lieutenant"), several scattered idiot box credits aren't the first thing to spring to mind. But back in the mid-80's the often fiercely indie and underground Ferrara briefly went mainstream and somehow wormed his way onto the boob tube, where he directed the "Crime Story" pilot, a few episodes of "Miami Vice," and this fairly generic, yet miraculously rough-edged and compelling made-for-TV feature. Ken Wahl of "Wiseguy" TV show fame gives a somewhat stolid, but overall acceptable and engaging performance as an amiably zhlubby blue collar ordinary shmoe ace automobile mechanic whose younger brother gets killed by a drunk driver in a sinister black muscle car. Haunted by his bro's untimely death and angry as all hell, Wahl builds himself a lethal souped-up tow truck, hits the dark, hazy, perilous Los Angeles nocturnal streets looking for that spooky muscle car, and winds up becoming a self-appointed vigilante who takes out all those leering, unruly, bellicose, recklessly inebriated killers on wheels who pose a general threat to decent, law-abiding folks on the road with them. Naturally the cops want to nail Wahl real quick and the media turns him into a folk hero.Okay, so the plot is little more than a vehicular "Death Wish" variant crossed with "Duel" and the picture does suffer somewhat from unavoidable mild'n'middlebrow TV movie sanitizing (the sporadic sappy pop-slop tunes mewling away on the soundtrack are especially irritating), but Ferrara's strong, sturdy and stylish direction certainly compensates for these minor flaws. As usual with Ferrara, he takes a provocative questioning stance with the obsessive, tormented protagonist, vigilantism is properly addressed as the knotty, nothing remotely simple or easy about it issue that it really is, James Lemmo's slick, polished, glittering neon-hued cinematography vividly depicts a luridly gleaming nighttime atmosphere, and the palpable evocation of the scary, forbidding and dangerous urban hellhole jungle setting positively seethes with a frightfully omnipresent menace. Moreover, there are fine supporting turns by Nancy Allen as a sweet radio talk show host, the always reliable Robert Culp as a hard-nosed detective, and Stan Shaw as Wahl's nice dude best buddy, David Frank supplies an effectively spare, shivery, jazz-flavored score, and the final showdown between Wahl and the muscle car delivers the pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, metal-mangling auto-to-auto stand-off goods. Sure, it's not exactly one of Ferrara's best-ever offerings, but this generally solid and satisfying item sure ain't no lemon, either.

The Rev I was in sixth grade when i first saw this movie, it had everything i was looking for in an "automobile chase" movie, at that time that was what i was into, roadwarrior etc.....It had the drunk on revenge main character....who soups up his truck to take down drunk drivers after his brother gets hurt by one. And not to mention the standoff automobile fight scene in the end that would make vaughn from crash, pass out in ecstasy.did i mention that i loved able ferra movies before i even knew who he was?!If you ever get a chance to see this vehicle vigilance movie. then do so. Other wise you will miss his really cool harpoon gun.