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 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:

native | tourist | island | survivor | boat | 

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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

Technical Specs

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 Best of the Worst: RepliGATOR, Johnson Family Christmas Dinner, and Alligator (2016)

User Reviews

This lake ain't placid!

A year after The Mountain of the Cannibal God, Sergio Martino decided to go back into the jungle - although instead of bloodthirsty cannibals, this time he brought with him a ridiculous looking fake crocodile! The influence from this film obviously came primarily from Steven Spielberg's Jaws (which was a big hit among Italian film directors in the seventies), with a bit of the cannibal sub-genre thrown in for good measure. It's safe to say that this film isn't very good - and has nothing on Sergio Martino's more successful films (his Giallo's in particular), but at least the film is fun enough for most of the duration. The plot revolves around a legendary crocodile that lives near a tourist resort in Africa. Unfortunately, the over-sized crocodile is not pleased about the tourists' intrusion and so takes it upon itself to kill everyone! On the land, the natives believe that they are being killed by the tourists and so they take to the lake in a boat...but in the lake, the hungry crocodile awaits them!

Of Martino's three jungle movies (the other two being The Mountain of the Cannibal God and Island of the Fish Men), this one is definitely the weakest, although it's not all bad news as it's still entertaining enough. Naturally, the crocodile looks completely ridiculous but this adds charm to the film and I'd rather see a silly looking and obviously fake crocodile terrorising people than a CGI one. Unlike Martino's other films, this one doesn't feature much in the way of gore, nudity or sleaze which is a shame as I would have preferred more of all three. Like Island of the Fish Men, this film stars Barbara Bach and again she looks absolutely great. Her co-star is Claudio Cassinelli (also from Island of the Fish Men, as well as Mountain of the Cannibal God) and he looks the part as the rugged male lead. The scenery is good and the film is obviously shot on location, which helps Sergio Martino to build the atmosphere surrounding the "mythical" central monster. Overall, The Big Alligator River is silly and fairly poor quality, but it's a fun viewing and therefore isn't all bad.