Killdozer (1974)

Wonderful character development!

Sick Product of a Sick System

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Released to TV in 1974 and directed by Jerry London based on Theodore Sturgeon's novella, "Killdozer" stars Clint Walker as the foreman of a small construction team 200 miles off the coast of Africa. Things go awry when a malevolent alien lifeforce is released from a meteorite that crashed on the planet hundreds or thousands of years ago. The thing possesses the bulldozer that tried to move the rock and proceeds to pick the men off one by one. Who will survive, if any? I realize that this was an ABC Movie of the Week so you have to have mercy, but many of those flicks were quite good and sometimes great, like "Tribes" (1970), "Duel" (1971), "The Night Stalker" (1972), "Kung Fu" (1972), "Go Ask Alice" (1973), "Pray for the Wildcats" (1974), "Winter Kill" (1974) and "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" (1975), amongst others. "Killdozer" is cut from the same production cloth, but it's done-in by the limitations of its plot. My title blurb IS the movie and, as such, it's filled with dull 'filler' scenes and dialogue. Walker always makes for a great protagonist and the other 3-4 main guys are decent, but they're limited by the thin story and general lack of pizazz. As far as the former goes, there's probably about 45 minutes of material here, which would've worked for an hour show (with commercials), but 74 minutes is just too long. Concerning the "lack of pizazz," the story needed SOMETHING to perk it out of its doldrums, like perhaps a fetching female co-worker and the corresponding rivalry over her affections or fighting to save the proverbial 'damsel in distress' or vice versa. I don't know; I'm just making suggestions. When you have a confined location and only a few characters you have to get creative with the dramatics or events in order to maintain the viewer's interest (2007's "Wind Chill" is a good example). As it is, the movie's just a handful of guys stranded on an island with a slow mechanical, hulking adversary.ADDITIONAL CAST: Carl Betz, Neville Brand, James Wainwright, James A. Watson Jr. and Robert Urich. The movie was shot on a filming ranch in Valencia, California, as well as the nearby coast. GRADE: C-

I remember seeing this as a kid nearly 40 years ago. Other boys and I were captivated by it, we discussed it at school for a week! Recently I saw it on YouTube and I felt compelled to comment. The story centers around six construction workers on some digging project on "an island 200 miles off the coast of Africa". They hit a strange meteorite which is possessed by an electromagnetic alien lifeform (?) which transfers its energy lifeforce to the D9 bulldozer which struck it. Now possessed, the D9 emits a faint hum as it storms around the island killing off the men one by one.The story is a decent one for the sci-fi/horror genre. There are a few silly moments, like when one man sits stoically in the jeep as the D9 trundles toward him to flatten him. Why not jump out and run away? Sure he was drunk but even inebriated I think he could have outrun a bulldozer whose top speed is 4 miles an hour.The special effects are minimal so instead the movie focuses on its story, something which I wish more movies did so these days, rather than relaying on special effects exclusively. it's worth watching if you stumble across it.

No, just kidding. But isn't it what you want to say about this movie? Other than that, it's a space rock that meets a bulldozer. They fall in love, and decide to reenact the Terminator 10 years early. For some reason this bulldozer now hates those gave it a reason for existence and it's bound to put them out of existence.Problem is bulldozers move at like, what, five miles an hour. I could probably walk and get away from a bulldozer. Yet on an island that seems big enough, and in jeeps they can't seem to get away from the slowest most plodding movie villain ever.I guess that's why I love this movie. It's funny, it's unbelievable. It's so bad it's good. Besides it gave us the most memorable line in a movie ever, "In about a hundred years, I may get to like you."

Killdozer is set on a six square mile island about two hundred miles off the African coast where a small six man construction team working for Warburton Oil Resources Company are using heavy machinery to dig roadways & access routes. Unknown to them a blue glowing metallic meteorite has landed there & when pushy site manager Lloyd Kelly (Clint Walker) drives a huge D( bulldozer straight at it the blue glowing energy from within the meteorite possess the D9 bulldozer & start to go on a rampage of destruction & murder as it destroy the workers camp & sets out to kill them all. With no radio to call for help & the supply boat days away they workers must find a way to stop the D9 bulldozer or whatever it is that is controlling it...Directed by Jerry London this totally bonkers yet deadly serious made-for-TV sci-fi thriller is hard to find but is rather enjoyable in a camp silly sort of fashion & has one of the coolest villains ever. The script by Theodore Sturgeon & Ed MacKillop was actually based on a novel by Sturgeon & one has to say that Killdozer is probably the greatest film ever made about an alien possessed killer bulldozer. Period. At only 70 odd minutes in length it's short & while one or two scenes feel a little padded there's little in the way of a story to slow things down, I mean we never find out what the men are doing on the island nor do we discover what is controlling the bulldozer or what it wants as the whole film is basically grown men putting themselves in situations where the bulldozer can kill them since the thing is so slow & has such a large turning circle that most normal people would just run or indeed jump on it as it can't run you over if your sitting on it which does make sense if you think about it. I liked the seriousness of the script, the character's & the whole situation compared to the absurdity & silliness of the basic premise as I thought the whole thing worked, don't ask me how but it did. The character's all have slightly clichéd personalities but serve their purpose well enough & I liked the idea of the bulldozer being smart & setting traps & counteracting traps laid for it although the script could have gone further & there's never any explanation as to why it never runs out of fuel.I will admit the huge 70's bright yellow D9 bulldozer is a fairly imposing & impressive looking beast, it certainly has power & could do some serious damage. The setting prevents any large scale destruction but it's still cool to see the thing drive around destroying everything it comes across although it doubt it could sneak up on anyone as it's probably a noisy bugger. There's a neat bit at the end when the two last survivors try to battle the D9 bulldozer with a large crane but this cool while it lasts scene is a little too short. There's no blood or gore & while there are death's none are graphic & all happen off-screen in somewhat clumsily edited set-pieces. The cinematography is quiet nice with some cool angles.The budget probably wasn't that big & despite being set on an island Killdozer was filmed on the Indian Dunes in California. The optical special effects look a little dated but that's to be expected & they don't distract from the film too much. The small cast do alright with likable character actor Neville Brand making a welcome appearance.Killdozer is a fun throwback to the 70's that is a product of it's time for sure but one that still holds up pretty well today in late 2009 some thirty fives years after is was made. That bulldozer is just damned cool as well, I would love to drive one & just run over lots of stuff, you know? I'm sure I can't be the only one, can I?