The Great Alligator (1979)

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) (as Luigi Montefiore), 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 group of indigenous natives are subsequently killed and eaten, the rest that are still alive naturally blame the tourists and they set out to kill them. All while the survivors try to rally on a boat with the hungry crocodile in the water, and the blood-thirsty natives wanting retribution on land waiting for them.

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Plot Keywords:

trash movie | creature feature | psychotronic film | euro trash | z movie | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first alligator attack doesn't happen until almost 25 minutes in.

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Goofs

While on the boat ride to see Father Jonathan, several animals are shown including two orangutans. Orangutans live in Indonesia and Malaysia, not Africa.

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Connections

Referenced in Adjust Your Tracking (2013)

User Reviews

Il fiume del grande caimano: Not as bad as they say, but still bad

Filmed in beautiful Sri Lanka, The Great Alligator otherwise known as Alligators otherwise known as Big Alligator River has featured in several worst movies ever made lists. Honestly I think the people who included it need to watch more films, as this wouldn't likely make my bottom 500 despite still being bad.

It tells the story of a group of tourists who anger the locals and before you know it there is one angry giant alligator after them and the native people aren't very friendly either.

I can't come up with a reason folks would consider this one of the worst ever, sure it's bad but not to that degree.

It looks dated sure and the plot and pacing are really quite dire but all in all I've seen this very same thing done considerably worse.

I would certainly not recommend this to anyone, but it's not THAT bad.

The Good:

Some great nature shots

SFX aren't that bad

The Bad:

Very slow burner

Plot is a bit of a mess and gets worse the further in you go

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I don't approve of swine swindling

Adam (As in Adam & Eve) was an idiot

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

3 November 1979 (Italy)

Also Known As:

The Big Alligator River

Filming Locations:

Sri Lanka

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dania Film, Medusa Distribuzione

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1