Skullduggery

Once upon a time there was a science fiction author named H. Beam Piper who wrote a classic book named "Little Fuzzy" which was about a man discovering a race of adorable little fuzzy humanoids on another planet. Mr. Piper died in 1964, but Hollywood and many of today's authors starting looting his grave before his cadaver got cold. This is the book where they got the idea for Ewoks from.

Skullduggery is such a blatant ripoff of "Little Fuzzy" I can wonder why I'm the only who's ever noticed?

But don't take my word for it. Here's a link to Project Guntenberg where you can download a copy of "Little Fuzzy" for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137

I watched this movie in the early seventies, at my hometown in Mexico. I must have been 14 or 15 at the time. I liked the movie a lot not because of the acting, but because of the subject, which captivated me. The ethical and philosophical question of what constitutes humanity. Maybe the cinematographic quality of the film is not great, but having seen this movie only once and still remembering its impact on me after almost forty years is a tribute to its merits. I remember vividly the shock the climax scene caused in me, and the anger at the injustice done to the poor critters, and their unresolved fate, which undoubtedly would not be a good one if we go by the conventional wisdom of the time. I do believe this movie is much better conceptually than it is generally considered. I hope it will someday be released on DVD. I would certainly buy it.

One of the most boring, silly, insipid, badly scripted and acted things ever to come out of the entertainment field. Even for Burt Reynolds, this was bad news. If you are home alone and bored to tears don't watch this drivel. Avoid at all costs.

The first half of the movie tastes like a remake of a jungle expedition in one of those old Tarzan classics starring Weissmuller, the second half tries to be something like a class in philosophy - what makes a human human etc. Sadly, despite a good cast and production both parts never really blend well together. The first part was entertaining to me, a simple but fun adventure movie, the second part was a rather boring affair to me - an attempt to make something significant but not really engaging, and in the context of the first half (adventure, romance) it just feels too much out of tune.

Continuing my plan to watch every Burt Reynolds movie in his filmography in order, I come to Skullduggery.

Plot In A Paragraph: Douglas Temple (a likable Burt Reynolds) manages to wrangle his way on to a jungle expedition in New Guinea when anthologist Sybil Greame (Susan Clarke) lands in his territory. While she searches for old bones, he searches for phosphor (which is used in the "new" colour TV's) they not only discover both, but a whole lot more.

I'm amazed by what I read on here sometimes, as some of the people rating this movie 2/10 or worse 1/10 clearly just didn't get it. Even if it was made today this movie would still ring true.

Burt Reynolds is incredibly likable and shows great promise for more important roles. However "Skullduggery" winds up a bit of a mismatch due to an inconsistent mix of humour and human drama. That's down to bad editing and poor direction.