ThiefHott Too much of everything

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

BA_Harrison I've seen a lot of Jaws rip-offs and killer crocodile/alligator films over the years, and can safely say that The Great Alligator is one of the lamest (even worse than Tobe Hooper's Crocodile). Not only is it wholly unoriginal, liberally pilfering ideas from Spielberg's film, but it's also extremely boring, a shame, because director Sergio Martino can usually be relied upon to deliver a reasonably entertaining time.Martino's film is set in an unspecified tropical country, which one might assume to be in Africa based on the tribes-people and hippos, although some of the wild-life—orangutans, king cobras—suggest further east. Of course, alligators are only indigenous to the U.S. and China, so your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, in the middle of an unspoilt area rich with fauna, businessman Joshua (Mel Ferrer) has set up a luxury tourist resort, Paradise House, which promises to bring its guests closer to nature. Unfortunately, with the titular killer reptile on the loose (be it crocodile or alligator… both species are mentioned), the guests get much closer to nature than they wish for.It takes a long time before we get to see the 'great alligator', which the locals believe to be a vengeful god come to punish the white folk, but when we do it's a massive disappointment (or in the case of some of the shots, a miniature disappointment), the models inanimate and totally unconvincing. Martino should have compensated for his crappy croc (or alligator) effects with loads of splatter, but the film is relatively gore free, with just a little blood in the water and a few of the guests impaled by flaming spears when the natives go on the rampage.As if a crap croc (or alligator) and almost zero gore wasn't bad enough, the film also suffers from annoying characters. The hero, top photographer Daniel Nessel (Claudio Cassinelli), is extremely irritating, continuously snapping away randomly at whatever he can, never once taking time to alter the settings on his camera, take light readings, or adjust the focus. Snap, snap, snap he goes, using up what must be a whole suitcase of film on nothing in particular. When he's not snapping away, he's putting the moves on hotel manager Alice (Barbara Bach), whose raison d'être is to be woman in peril, offered as a sacrifice to the river god by the natives. Bach is beautiful but wooden. Worst of all are the guests, a slutty mother and her annoying ginger daughter, a guy who thinks it's funny to pretend that he has drowned, and lots of people who dance badly to terrible music.Martino ends this train-wreck of a movie with what is one of the most unintentionally funny moments in Italian exploitation: having massacred most of the guests who haven't been eaten by the croc (or alligator), the savage natives see that their river god has been blown to smithereens by Daniel, and decide to call off the killing, smiling cheerily at the remaining visitors as though nothing has happened. It's enough to give Italian schlock a bad name.

Nicholas Dubreuil Not to be confused with Lewis Teague's "Alligator" (1980) which actually IS an excellent film, this "Il Fiume Del Grande Caimano" laboriously ends the exotic trilogy Sergio Martino made around the end of the seventies (including the rather watchable "L'Isola degli uomini pesce" and the not so good "La Montagna del dio cannibale"). Tracing outrageously the plot of "Jaws", the script fails at creating any suspense what so ever. The creature is ludicrous and its victims are simply despicable. Stelvio Cipriani's lame tune poorly illustrates the adventures of these silly tourists presented from the very beginning as the obvious items of the reptile's meal. No thrill out of this, rather laughters actually! And we could find this pitiful flick quite funny if the dialogs and the appearance of the natives were not so obviously inspired by pure racism. Very soon the giggling stops in favor of a sour feeling witnessing such a patronizing attitude. We could excuse badly made films and poor FXs, but not that kind of mentality. Never!

lazarillo This movie has generally been critically lambasted over the years, and quite unfairly. It's generally been regarded as a "Jaws" rip-off even though the only thing it really has in common with "Jaws" is a fake-looking beastie and a guy (Mel Ferrer) who doesn't want to scare off the tourists from the luxury hotel he is operating in an undisclosed Third World jungle location. The giant caiman (incredibly, this movie has even been taken to task by some people over its inaccurate English-language title)may not be just a normal overgrown monster, but may actually be the god of a nearby group of indigenous people (do you remember that from "Jaws"?--I sure don't), who turn out to be even more dangerous to the hapless tourists than the caiman. There is also a mad missionary (Donald O'Brian)living in a cave who might be the Robert Shaw figure, but might just as well have been "ripped-off" from the novel "Heart of Darkness" as from "Jaws".The hero (Claudio Cassanelli) is a photographer(i.e. not a sheriff)who comes to the resort for a fashion shoot. But then his model gets together with a native to make the beast with two backs out on a river island, after which they're both promptly eaten by the giant beast with one back, so it is up to the photographer and the PR spokeswoman for the hotel (Barbara Bach)to stop the rampage of this enraged "god" before he chows down on more tourists. And they also have the murderous and sacrifice-happy native tribe to deal with. This movie has a real social and environmental message about the developed world exploiting the developing world and despoiling nature. It's pretty muddled (not much more convincing than the ones found in most Italian cannibal films) but it's also very un-"Jaws"like.This movie has also been unfavorably compared to director Martino's previous cannibal outing "Mountain of the Cannibal God". This movie doesn't feature a naked Bond girl like Ursula Andress (and clothed latter-day Bond girl Barbara Bach is admittedly a poor substitute), but it also doesn't contain tasteless animal atrocity footage (watching people get eaten by a patently fake caiman is a lot more fun than watching a real monkey get slowly eaten by a real snake). It also gives the underrated Claudio Cassanelli a chance to shine, away from the shadows of big international and American stars like Andress or Stacy Keach (there's certainly no danger of Bach upstaging him). Sure the caiman's pretty fake, but this is still infinitely preferable to Tobe Hooper's "Crocodile" or other recent CGI garbage. Watch it and judge for yourself.

Michael A. Martinez Obviously a stylized foreign film like this would fly right over the heads of American audiences.The late Claudio Cassinelli stars as a photographer who (with his girlfriend Barbara Bach - wife of Ringo Starr) helps to combat a giant alligator god "Kruna" from destroying a multi-million dollar tourist trap (in more ways than one) in Africa somewhere. Of course their exploits are further complicated when the local tribesmen decide to go on a violent killing spree and slaughter nearly all the annoying tourists. (yay!) Mel Ferrer (Audrey Hepburn's hubby) also stars as the greedy landlord of the resort, who lives just long enough to see his dreams of wealth and high society burning to the ground.I really loved this movie; excellent Stelvio Cipriani 70's jungle music and some cutting-edge Giancarlo Ferrando camerawork gave this a uniquely cruel and menacing atmosphere. The alligator is great looking and the death scenes are done with great skill and panache. Great cast too, with small parts played by Bobby Rhodes, Richard Johnson, and Romano Puppo. Would have been Sergio Martino's best film if not for 2019 - After the Fall of New York. Not to mention an extremely high bodycount and a slick script co-written by George Eastman (!), Ernesto Gastaldi, Cesare Frugoni, and several others.Martino went on to ruin his career with such turkeys as Mani di Pietra (HANDS OF STEEL) and CASABLANCA EXPRESS.BTW - at one point the characters do express surprise that Kruna is an alligator, not a crocodile thank you very much.Highly recommended.