ALBINO ALLIGATOR

SYNOPSIS:
An inept trio of small time hoods, Dova (Dillon), Milo (Sinise) and Law (Fichtner), bungle a job and take shelter in a basement bar, a perfectly maintained relic of the 1920’s prohibition era. At the same time, a Canadian gun runner escapes the FBI. Desperate for a car and a clean getaway, the trio take the five people in the bar hostage, and find themselves surrounded by Federal agents as well as the police - who believe they are onto the gun runner. What begins as a confusion of identities, develops into a question of desperation and the price we are willing to pay for survival, as the desperation of the hoods as well as the hostages escalates in the claustrophobic cellar bar.

"If you like Spacey the actor, you’ll like him equally as a director. He has made this directing debut as taut as a coiled spring, as edgy as a psycho on heat and as moving as a mother dying for her child. Of course, the script helps; Christian Forte began with the philosophical question, "what are you willing to sacrifice to survive?" and penned a thriller that works as a straight genre piece but also on a deeper level. Like all good movies, you’ll say. Spacey’s attention to his actors (careful casting, focused rehearsals and crucial sequences shot chronologically) pay off with stunning work from all concerned, not the least Faye Dunaway who sizzles with rekindled fire, and Matt Dillon, who tears himself apart with the moral dilemmas he has to face. The humour, scant but crucial to let the drama breathe, is beautifully handled throughout, as is the tension which begins at the opening credits and never lets up. Intelligent without being clever, Albino Alligator is a powderkeg of a debut for Spacey, and a movie that will engage movie fans for generations."
Andrew L. Urban