BY TODD GARBARINI
If
the title Killdozer is familiar to you, you may have seen it before. Originally
a novella by Theodore Sturgeon published in the November 1944 issue of Astounding
Science Fiction magazine, a Marvel Comics book in April 1974, and later appearing
in The Mammoth Book of Golden Age: Ten Classic Stories from the Birth of
Modern Science Fiction Writing (1989), Killdozer was adapted into a
made-for-TV movie which aired on Saturday, February 2, 1974. Sporting the
tagline “Six men…playing a deadly game of cat and mouse…With a machine that
wants to kill them,†and billed as A World Premiere ABC Saturday Suspense
Movie, there is little suspense in this overly silly tale of a Caterpillar D9
that is enlisted by a team of construction workers who have been assigned to build
a landing strip for an oil drilling company on an island near Africa. Were it
not for the movie’s literary origins, I would have sworn that it was an attempt
to rip-off Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971).
Kelly
(Clint Walker), the project’s foreman, and bulldozer driver Mack (Robert Urich)
uncover a meteorite which was buried many years prior – shades of “Who Goes
There?â€, the 1938 novella by John W. Campbell and later the inspiration for the
1951 and 1982 film versions of The Thing. The strange sound emitting
from the object fails to deter the men from attempting to move the meteorite, a
decision which proves to be fatal to Mack who dies several hours later as a
result of radioactive material emanating from the foreign object. In the
company of these men is a mechanic name Chub (Neville Brand) who fails to
ascertain why the bulldozer has been rendered inoperative; it is swiftly barred
from further use. In comes genius Beltran (James A. Watson, Jr.) who forgoes
the caveat and puts the D9 back to work. Unfortunately, the bulldozer becomes
sentient and has a life of its own, going on a rampage to destroy their only
radio communications a la Quint in Jaws (1975), and then it turns into
Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians until the film’s silly finale.
The
decision to make Killdozer into a film may have been inspired by the
publication of the Stephen King short story “Trucks†which appeared in the June
1973 issue of Cavalier, a men’s magazine. Mr. King later directed this as
Maximum Overdrive (1986) in the fall of 1985. Killdozer is a bit
of a dozer in 2021 but lovers of television films of the era of the 1970s will
find much to admire here: the technology of the time, the neat musical score by
Gil Mellé, the possessed titular “creatureâ€, and the performances of the lead
actors.
Kino
Lorber continues their track record of releasing nifty and semi-forgotten titles
on Blu-ray, and Killdozer is now available. This Blu-ray release
contains:
A
brand new 2K transfer, and the film image is very clean.
There
is an audio commentary by film historian Lee Gambin and film critic Jarret
Gahan. This is an excellent and informative listen and is truly the reason to
spring for this release, even if you’re on the fence about the actual film
itself.
There
is an audio interview with director Jerry London that runs just over twenty-two
minutes wherein he discusses making the film.
There is also a stills gallery and a set of
trailers for Fear No Evil (1969), Ritual of Evil (1970), More
Dead Than Alive (1969) and Sam Whiskey (1969).
The
disc also includes optional English subtitles.
There
have been several real-life incidents with near impenetrable vehicles
commandeered for ill-purposes with terribly sad and tragic results. On May 17,
1995, a military veteran named Shawn Nelson had suffered many personal
tragedies and stole an M603A Patton Tank and drove it through the streets of
San Diego, CA, wreaking havoc before being shot and killed. Some years later, fifty-one-year-old
Marvin Heemeyer, an avid snowmobiler, welder and automobile muffler repair shop
owner, was living in Granby, CO and got into a dispute with a company wanting
to build a concrete batch plant near his property. Push came to shove following
many acrimonious townhall meetings and arguments with the concrete company that
were either real or imagined depending on whom you speak with. Mr. Heemeyer,
inspired by the vigilante Vin Diesel action film A Man Apart (2003) and passionately
believing that God sanctioned him to do so, purchased a Komatsu D355 bulldozer
and modified it undetected over 18 months into an armored behemoth outfitted
with thick steel and cameras. On June 4, 2004, he bulldozed his way through
town, destroying the main building of the concrete batch plant and caused seven
million dollars’ worth of damage in a two-hour rampage until he was ultimately
stopped by a leaking radiator and an error in judgement, electing to shoot
himself rather than be taken into custody. A well-made documentary was made
about this horrible event called Tread (2020). It was directed by Paul
Solet. Strangely, no mention of Killdozer is ever made during the
88-minute documentary.
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