Jolt Country

John D'Angelo is sick and tired of the criminals that have taken over Philadelphia. Things get personal when D'Angelo and his wife get crossways with a pimp and are run off the road, leading to his wife Lisa having a miscarriage. Later that week, D'Angelo's mother has her finger cut off by brazen bandits trying to remove her wedding ring! D'Angelo has had enough, and forms a Neighborhood Patrol with other members of the community who wish to clean up the town. Before long, D'Angelo and his organized mob are breaking as many laws as the criminals running the streets!

Dino De Laurentiis has produced hundreds of films, including a run of gritty crime movies in the 70s and 80s including Serpico, Death Wish, Three Days of the Condor, and The Shootist. According to legend after De Laurentiis lost the rights to Death Wish II, he produced Fighting Back instead.

The film touches on a lot of social issues, too many perhaps, and doesn't deep dive into any of them. Unlike modern films where a film's point has to be mentioned a dozen times to drive it home, many of the issues Fighting Back breaches are casually touched upon. In one scene, D'Angelo's son has a friend over for dinner who they discover is on drugs -- the pointa being that not only has the criminal stench of Philadelphia invaded D'Angelo's own home, but that John has been so focused on cleaning up the neighborhood that he has neglected his own home. In a modern film this might be mentioned half a dozen times and could even be a major part of the film's plot; here, it's just one of a dozen ideas that disappear as quickly as a purse-snatcher. Issues of racism, poverty, and revenge are all touched upon but not driven home. Perhaps the film's most conflicted message is that instead of being punished for his deeds, D'Angelo is eventually elected mayor. The film's closing shot has white children playing peacefully in a park filled with white snow, their reward for having cleansed the Philly suburbs of pimps, bandits, criminals, thieves, and, apparently, all black people.

Typically these movies have a "crime doesn't pay" or "you can't win by meeting violence with violence"... but not this one. Woe to the dope slinger working the corner outside any theater showing this film back in the early 80s.