Deadly Harvest (1977)

"To most of us, it came as a surprise. Not many understood. Too few cared enough to stop it. Then, it no longer mattered how many understood or cared. It was too late.The beginning of the end came in the late '70s. The climate changes... the energy crisis, the shortages, the high costs of growing and transporting grain, the lack of government support for research programs. The disappearance of arable land beneath the monoliths of reinforced concrete and steel as the urban centers continued their unchecked sprawl into the countryside. The industrial pollution that poisoned the earth, the water, and the air. And the continuing growth of population out of all bounds of reason. More and more people, less and less food.By the end of the '70s, the fabric of society was breaking down in most parts of he world... And then, the bubble burst." So begins a cautionary tale from the sages in Hollywood, who even thirty years ago were desperately trying to warn us unwashed masses about the dangers of climate change facing us. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? So what is "The World's Scourge" as described in the movie's tagline? GLOBAL COOLING! Draw your own conclusions.P.S. - This would make a great double feature with "An Inconvenient Truth".

'Deadly Harvest' sounds like the title of some 'Children of The Corn' type of film, with cannibals being mowed down by wheat threshers, or something else suitably gruesome. But no, it's actually a Canadian version of one of those Hollywood 70's "be forewarned" sci-fi epics (ala 'Soylent Green' or "No Blade of Grass'); this one telling the tale of a massive, global food shortage at the end of the seventies resulting in a hunger panic that reaches the good folk who live out on the farms. The film's lead farmer is played by Clint Walker who occupies the space of one acre all by himself. And his acting, as always, is about as tinny and wooden-handled as a plow, too. He plods through this film like an inoffensive sasquatch, with a landslide of oily hair that makes it appear he bathes in a bog. Kim Cattrall, a Canadian actress all of 20 years old here, gets little to do as Walker's daughter. Her face bulges with baby fat so she's almost unrecognizable as the 'Sex and The City' woman of today. Nehemiah Persoff is collecting a paycheck on this one and probably dispensed with the craft services since he provided his own ham in every scene he's in. Otherwise, it's nondescript actors doing nondescript work with nondescript dialogue. Really, this little movie held some promise with its intriguing concept, but let itself down by executing said concept so poorly. The perfect example of this is the climactic battle between Persoff's gang and Walker's that is nothing more than another wild west shootout. Walker's comment at the end that things are about to get much worse does add a chilling coda, although it is the next stage of the disaster that Walker alludes to, with city folk ravaging the countryside, that we really want to see. Oh, and the music score by somebody named John Mills-Cockell is a cheap synthesizer drag. This film could have been a dark comic masterpiece if, instead of a food shortage caused by failing crops and overpopulation, it was about obese Americans so hungry that they've eaten all the food the world can produce and, even with extinction at hand, can't stop eating. Ah well, food for thought.........

It's the end of the world as we know it. Cause? A massive lack of food resources. Yes, freak weather conditions have caused starvation on a massive scale, and it's not too long before neighbour turns on neighbour in the quest for a good meal.Clint Walker plays the heroic farmer who, in an effort to keep his family fed, fights off all sorts of unsavoury characters. People will do literally anything to get their hands on a bit of grub...including murder.Deadly Harvest is an interesting attempt to show how quickly society can collapse when faced with crisis, and how fast man will resort to primate savageness in order to save his own skin.The film concentrates on two families, at first the closest of friends, then embedded in a bitter feud of survival of the fittest. But it's not just his pals that Clint has to contend with. It's a world where the richest man is he who has a well stocked larder (or in Clint's case, a farm full of fodder). However, with no law and only disorder, the richest man is also target no. 1.Released only limitedly in 1976, Deadly Harvest is a member of the popular end-of-the-World subgenre. It's all bleak here, the ending only promise that things will get worse. Is this a terrifying vision of things to come? Convincing performances, and good direction by Timothy Bond certainly give it a feel of realism that at times is unsettling.Ultimately however, this is fairly familiar territory, the family unit facing the apocalypse has all been done before ('Panic in the Year Zero!' With Ray Milland for example), and it all seems a little tame. What surprised me more than anything was that there wasn't even one reference to cannibalism! Is this really a HSF (horror,sci-fi and fantasy) Film?In fairness, considering that the film was produced on a very low budget, and is virtually unheard of, this is a bad effort at all. If nothing else, it serves as a stark warning to farmers; if you think things are bad now, it's only going to get far far worse!"Interesting" Facts: Clint Walker starred in several genre made-for-TV movies, including, 'Scream of the Wolf', 'Snowbeast' and 'Killdozer'. This was Timothy Bond's directorial debut. He went on to make the 1992 version of 'The Lost World' and several TV episodes including additions of 'Friday the 13th - The Series', 'Star Trek - The Next Generation' and 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'.

"Deadly Harvest" was made at a time when the Earth's climate was thought to be cooling due to a sun-blocking shroud of pollution. The film takes this premise to a setting in which winter begins in August! The world's food supply is almost gone and the social order is breaking down.Unfortunately, this film mostly comes across as just another cheap, violent 'tax shelter' ripoff. Walker is wooden (and his wood is weaker than usual) as the heroic farmer, while Persoff is inappropriately hammy as the arch-villain. Geraint Wyn-Davies of later "Forever Knight" fame had yet to show talent here.The film does take on a haunting quality near the end as it tours a frozen, near-deserted Toronto and witnesses a family's last meal. -Tony