The Great Alligator (1979)
"Il fiume del grande caimano" (original title)

Tourists on a tropical island anger an island god, who turns himself into a giant alligator and stalks them.

Director:

Sergio Martino

Writers:

George Eastman (story), Cesare Frugoni,

Stars:

Barbara Bach, Claudio Cassinelli, Mel Ferrer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Barbara Bach	...	Alice Brandt
Claudio Cassinelli	...	Daniel Nessel
Mel Ferrer	...	Joshua
Romano Puppo	...	Peter
Fabrizia Castagnoli	...	Minou's Mother
Enzo Fisichella	...	Maurice, lover of Minou's Mother
Lory Del Santo	...	Jane
Anny Papa	...	Laura
Bobby Rhodes	...	Joshua's forman
Clara Colosimo	...	Tourist
Peter Boom	...	Tourist With Rifle
Giulia D'Angelo	...	British Tourist
Marco Mastantuono	...	British Tourist
Piero Jossa
Marco Giannoni

Storyline

A tourist resort in Africa finds itself at the mercy of a huge man-eating crocodile from a local native legend which the croc is the incarnation of a native god angered by the intrusion of the tourists on its nesting ground. After a new natives are killed and eaten, they naturally blame the tourists and set out to kill them while the survivors try to rally on a boat with the hungry crocodile in the water, and the blood-thirsty natives on land waiting for them.

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Plot Keywords:

tourist | native | island | boat | giant | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

3 November 1979 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Alligator

Filming Locations:

Sri Lanka

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dania Film, Medusa Distribuzione, Medusa Produzione

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A clip of this movie is on "The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made" DVD Region 1 NTSC.

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Connections

Featured in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004)

User Reviews

Boring and dumb with special effects brought to you by---a Special Ed class.

Let me start out by saying I can enjoy just about any bad Italian horror movie or jungle exploitation flick from the 1970's. Seriously. This one was downright awful.

There are way too many elements that Martino tries to inject and none of them work (except for the croc-gone-wild thing) very well at all. There are some ignorant Westerners, of course, who set up a resort in the jungle somewhere. I don't even remember where it takes place...how sad is that... Basically, people come to the resort to see this native tribe and its' ceremonies but eventually they upset the 'Alligator God' of the river who then proceeds to go on a rampage, killing said vacationers and some tribesmen as well. Sounds good, yeah? Well, don't get your hopes up. There is minimal violence until the end, the special effects are so bad it was like a kindergarten class performed them and the love story thrown in is laughable.

There is seriously a few scenes where it appears they set up a camera underwater in a pool and threw a toy alligator, like a dart, into the water and that is supposed to be the gator attacking. I'm not kidding. In another wonderfully crafted special effect, a Matchbox van is targeted by the incredible sinking plastic gator, who all of a sudden is five times the size of a van. (A few minutes ago, he was only big enough to eat a human, but now he dwarfs a full-size cargo van...) It is really pathetic. The only other flick I can think of where the effects were so bad I was pulled out of the story was Bruno Mattei's masterpiece, "Rats," what with the plastic rats on the conveyor belt and all who COULDN'T be terrified.

Normally I'd say anything Sergio Martino was a solid must-see but this one is a must-pass. Waste of time and definitely not worth buying for the $15+ sticker price from No Shame. This one is a SHAME.

2 out of 10, kids.