Also Known As:
Big Alligator River, Alligators, Caiman, Il Fiume Del Grande Caimano
Tagline:
"No es un animal, es un demonio!"
Plot:
In some far-flung corner of South Asia, eco-tourism pioneer Mel Ferrer has constructed a vacation getaway for rich Europeans and given it the irony-courting name of "Paradise House." As the film opens, he greets his first guests between forest-destroying blasts of dynamite. Among the new arrivals is past Bond girl and future Ringo Starr bride Barbara Bach, who's excited over her exotic new surroundings, until she catches wind of an unhappy lizard god that may kill everyone in sight.
Key scenes:
After fellow tourists begin disappearing, Bach and photographer pal Claudio Cassinelli launch an investigation that brings them to distinguished actor and '70s Italian horror-film staple Richard Johnson, playing a missionary who's come to believe in the mysterious lizard god. Among its mysteries: It looks more like an alligator than like one of the region's native crocodiles. (As divine mysteries go, that isn't exactly up there with the Holy Trinity or a Zen riddle.) Eventually, the native Kuma tribe turns on the interlopers and tries to make a sacrifice out of the bound, scantily clad, spread-eagled Bach, in an ancient ritual it might have borrowed from an issue of Oui magazine.
Can easily be distinguished by:
It's surprisingly short on alligator action. At times, budget restrictions make The Great Alligator's Giant Plastic Eye seem like a more appropriate title.
Sign that it was made in 1979:
Incessant disco rhythms help draw the beast out of hiding.
Timeless message:
It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature. Also, actors in quickie knockoff films should learn from the films they're ripping off. If Bach had caught a matinee of Jaws before heading for the jungle, The Great Alligator would be a much shorter film.
Memorable quotes:
Greeting guests, Ferrer keeps the sales pitch going by promising "all the fauna you see in the Disney films."
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