Quick Review: The Great Alligator (1979)

Amazon likes to tell you how much they are doing to help us through these hard times.  For me, that includes Streaming of random Films.  For instance, this 1979 'gem' from Sergio Martino...

In Sri Lanka, a man-Mel Ferrer- is making a Tourist Trap-style Hotel.  I'm sure that you'll get thousands to fly that far out for your Ballroom Dancing.

Among the crew, we have Sergio Martino regular Barbara Bach on deck too.  Bonus.

As part of the prep for the opening, they have some Models shoot with the Natives.  One of them ends up getting hots for the other, as you can see.

In spite of some obscure rule about not 'pairing off' during the Full Moon, the pair do it.

Kuma, the God of the River, comes to life as a giant (and great) Alligator.
That or a slightly-less-than-convincing effect.

As the deaths start to pick up, the Photographer Martin and Bach talk to the Tribe.  They aren't exactly with the people who just moved in.

To be fair, it is kind of a 50/50 blame-sharing, as far as I can tell.

The Alligator eventually gets more blatant in the Third Act and attacks a boat full of Tourists and Staff.

The water is also magic, as it changes from clear blue to dark green between just about every shot.

Can anyone survive an attack by the world's hungriest Alligator?  Is the creature the only threat?

To find out, stream this Film on Amazon or any other source.

It's not as bad as you might think.  It's not as good as you'd hope.  The Great Alligator proves to be a decent, but not overwhelming kind of Film.  I guess it is just kind of whelming, then.  The Plot is pretty stock, save for the mystical aspect thrown in.  Granted- said Alligator doesn't do anything that couldn't be explained away by a real Alligator.  I guess you can assume that its constant desire to attack people- even though it should be quite full- is an example of it being driven by magical rage.  I've watched what felt like 40 of those 'Ghosts kill you for entering a Building' Films, so I guess I can buy that.  It is hard to judge the Acting too much, given that it is all dubbed.  You can badly dub the best Actors and they may seem like the worst.  The Film is certainly enjoyable, at least once you get past all of the set-up.  It is definitely more of a Cult Classic than a Classic.  The only thing that has aged worse than the way the Film portrays the Native People is maybe the F/X.  Bear in mind that this is supposed to be a *giant* Alligator and everything is to scale...

A pretty silly, but self-serious Film.  If you like Jaws with more casual racism, silly effects and bad dubbing, you're in luck!