Killdozer (1974)

A small construction crew on an island is terrorized when some strange spirit-like being takes over a large bulldozer, and goes on a killing rampage.

Director:

Jerry London

Writers:

Theodore Sturgeon (teleplay), Ed MacKillop (teleplay)

Stars:

Clint Walker, Robert Urich, Carl Betz

Cast

Cast overview:
Clint Walker	...	Lloyd Kelly
Carl Betz	...	Dennis Holvig
Neville Brand	...	Chub Foster
James Wainwright	...	Dutch Krasner
Robert Urich	...	McCarthy
James A. Watson Jr.	...	Beltran

Storyline

Construction workers building an airstrip on a small Pacific Island encounter an ancient non-material lifeform which has lived in the ruins of an ancient temple for millenia. The entity is of course malevolent and commandeers the earthmoving equipment to the general detriment of all concerned.

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Plot Keywords:

bulldozer | drunkenness | alien | possession | based on novel | 

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Taglines:

Everyone Knows a Machine Cannot Kill. Except the Machine.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 February 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bul'dozer-ubiytsa

Filming Locations:

Indian Dunes - 28700 Henry Mayo Drive, Valencia, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the scene where everyone is leaving the camp one of the workers says he played in the 1964 Cotton Bowl and caught two touchdown passes. Phil Harris actually caught two touchdown passes for the University of Texas Longhorns in the 1964 Cotton Bowl. Harris was later inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. He played one season in the NFL before suffering a neck injury. He then went to law school and practiced for 37 years.

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Goofs

In the film's intro, an aerial view of the island said to be 200 miles from Africa shows it has one tree-covered hill surrounded by a sandy beach. Later, after the survivors of the initial attack flee up the hill, a much larger landscape can be seen in the background, including additional hills and, much further away, snow-covered mountains, revealing the filming site (probably in the hills outside Los Angeles).

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Quotes

Lloyd Kelly: The D9er's harmless now. It's outta fuel, racked up there somewhere, so we leave it be and let the company engineers come in and find the bugs in it later.
Dennis Holvig: And if you're wrong?
Lloyd Kelly: Tomorrow's gonna be another tough day.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1999)

User Reviews

Very Early ABC 'Movie of The Week' Title

Here's another title that's on the MIA list. "Killdozer" is an interesting little tale based a short story of late sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon. Very unusual that the setting of the story where this bulldozer runs amok is an island somewhere in South Africa. Too bad the movie doesn't go into detail about the strange force that possesses the machine and starts it on a murderous rampage. But watch for a very young Robert Urich - way before his stint on 'S.W.A.T.', 'Vegas' and 'Spenser; for Hire'. My mother and I enjoyed this movie along with others such as 'Duel'. There's a sub-plot to Clint Walker's character: trying to overcome his battle with the bottle which led to a certain fall from grace in the company he works for. One gets the impression that he was sent on this construction job as a sort of punishment. Much as I'd like to think all the vintage ABC programming is seared into my memory, it has been so long since I've seen this movie, I could be mistaken about one or two points.

Additional note: Clint Walker fans should also see another ABC movie title the actor did called 'Scream of The Wolf'.