FANTASIA OBSCURA: Is This The Worst Film Burt Reynolds Ever Made?
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, though, a film can be a lot like its subjects: Both were better off not having been discovered…
Skullduggery (1970)
Distributed by: Universal Studios
Directed by: Gordon Douglas
Please note that this is not the film we teased last time; that review has been pushed back, in order to address more current events.
We almost failed to acknowledge the recent passing of Burt Reynolds. At first, it didn’t seem like we could, as he wasn’t really noted for his work in genre films during the Rebeat era; the closest thing that came to mind off hand was his playing a Marlon Brando-inspired actor in The Twilight Zone episode “The Bard,” unless you wanted to make some extremely generous interpretations of what constitutes genre to try and fit in any of the Smokey and the Bandit films for review. (Most of his work in genre stayed in television and occurred much later on, such as his Troy Garland on the series Out of This World.)
However, our brilliant staff at Rebeat brought up the one genre film Reynolds was in during this time. We owe our thanks to them for coming through to keep this from being forgotten.
And our thanks will be given as soon as we can find forgiveness for making us watch this damned thing…
We open in Papua New Guinea (at least for a few establishing shots, as the rest of the pic was shot in Jamaica trying to pass, badly), where we are introduced to Dr. Sybil Greame (Susan Clark) who is readying an expedition to discover fossils of primitive human ancestors. Her expedition is supposed to include Father Dillingham (Chips Rafferty) and Doctor Spofford (Edward Fox) as the two main principals to accompany her into the field.
However, two ne’er-do-wells are at the airstrip spot Dr. Greame when she arrives. We’re quickly introduced to Douglas Temple (Reynolds) and Otto Kreps (Roger C. Carmel) who have a plan: They will pose as scientific colleagues and guides to join up, in order to stake a claim in her area of examination on a large deposit of phosphorous, which it’s explained is an essential element in the manufacture of cathode ray tubes for color TVs and highly in demand. By going along, they can offer a little help with her effort while they do some prospecting on the side.
Having conned their way into the expedition, we watch as the group treks to their dig site, engaging in some of the worst elements of the “Darkest Africa” trope to ever be put on screen. And yes, they used these despite this being in (Jamaica trying to fool us into thinking that it’s) New Guinea; the sheer lack of giving one as they throw this at the audience is probably hoping that it can charm us with audacity, much the same way Reynolds’ characters would try and do to other characters later in the decade. (He, however, could make it work…)
After too long going through this, our story takes a sharp turn when the party discover the “Tropi,” a race of bipedals that may possibly be a missing human evolutionary step, maybe even the “missing link” that would give evolution a buttressing that it probably doesn’t need, but for our purposes, it couldn’t hurt, right? They look wild at first as they shy away from the party, but ultimately Kreps learns how to earn their trust, especially of one female, Topazia (Pat Suzuki).
The interaction progresses quickly as the Tropi start showing that they are willing to perform tasks for trade items, especially canned ham. This draws in Greame’s boyfriend and financial backer, Vancruysen (Paul Hubschmid), who when he partners with Temple and Kreps for their phosphorous claim convinces them to use the Tropi as miners. And the exchange between Kreps and Topazia… Well, let’s just say that since Carmel played Harry Mudd in Star Trek, that there was no better person to cast who would break this ‘Prime Directive,’ ifyouknowwhatImean…
This leads ham-fistedly into a courtroom scene where the fate of the Tropi get argued, forced by the result of Kreps and Topazia’s dalliance, that has Temple pleading to murder in order to establish that the Tropi are human, while facing prosecution by the state’s attorney general (William Marshall). It’s a sequence where meanings are forced to be examined and questions are raised without good answers…
…one of which wasn’t, “What the hell, man?” Based on the novel You Shall Know Them by Vercors, the book was adapted for the screen by Nelson Gidding, whose reputation as a master of print-to-screen adaptation had no reason to be challenged other than for this effort. In interviews about the film, Reynolds would claim that he liked the script, then put the fault on the film on the director’s shoulders.
And it’s an easy argument to make when looking at the production history. Originally, the film was offered to Otto Preminger to direct, but he passed in favor of other projects. When Saul David picked up the option as producer, his first choice to direct was Richard Wilson. It would have been his last feature work, had the project not gone into turnaround and ended up at Universal, which insisted on shooting as little in New Guinea as possible. Soon after the move to Jamaica, David had Wilson replaced with Douglas, which probably had a lot to do with why the pacing was so off and some of the shot choices were off-putting.
Whether the script can get a pass for the final film, however, doesn’t mitigate the mess left behind. It tries to have it both ways, by asking us to consider our basic humanity and the responsibility of civilized beings to work with less developed cultures, while throwing every f’n’ “Bwana” trope it could pull up before we get to the Tropi themselves. And even after we get there, there’s a few shockingly random lines about race brought up in the courtroom, tinged in the tensions of that time, that a better script with even a lesser director could have done without, thus not needing to bring the film to an uncomfortable halt for a few moments.
This, more than any other reason, including suppositions by Reynolds that Universal just could not figure out how to market the film, led to its being forgotten. It’s a leaden mess that tries to say something interesting, badly. It’s easy to see why the film so completely disappeared off almost everyone’s radar; acknowledging it exists invites pain when you think too much about it, so the less have to look at it through our memories, the better.
Interestingly, when discussing the film, Reynolds made no disparaging remarks about any of the actors who were on the project. On the other hand, there’s an unprovable supposition one could make here: This film sports a clean-shaven Reynolds, who desperate to get this as far behind him as possible, made him decide from then on out to sport his trademark facial hair. Again, it’s unprovable, but maybe the film has some value as the reason we get the famous Reynolds ‘stache…?
We will certainly miss Burt Reynolds, ‘stache and all. Not this movie of his, though; screw it!
NEXT TIME: A cigarette maker used to say to women, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” trying to co-opt the movement for equality; some would say that this film was just as guilty of that, too…
