How sad is this?

Good concept, poorly executed.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

But now it's not so hot. Like a lot of bad movies, "Killdozer" starts kind of fun. But pretty soon it drifts off into kind of dumb. It does have a solid cast. Across the board they were all solid. It's been 44 years I saw it last. The movie must have changed.

With a premise like this, it should have been funny, but alas, from minute one, as the awful font appeared, I found myself thinking that it was pretty lame.A Styrofoam meteorite plops down on a postage-stamp-sized island off the coast of Africa (not "a small Pacific Island during WWII", as Bill Leue wrote in his bewildering plot summary) where a construction crew, hacking out a base-camp for an oil company (not "building an airstrip" either, Bill) unearth said meteorite in the sand (There is also no "ancient non-material lifeform which has lived in the ruins of an ancient temple for millenia" either, Bill. What the hell movie did you watch? And what the hell is a non-material lifeform?) which proceeds to glow blue, and kill a guy, somehow. The blue glowing light thingie possesses the bulldozer, and it very, very slowly takes out another man on the crew, so dimwitted that he just simply sits in his jeep for nearly 20 seconds while Killdozer slowly meanders its way toward him, and *SPLAT*. It proceeds to stalk the remaining crew members, taking them out, very slowly, one by one. Killdozer even runs over their radio, eliminating any chance of contacting anyone with it. Who could they call, and what could they tell them? That they're being stalked by a bulldozer come to life? Clint Walker overacting outrageously, impersonating Clint Eastwood throughout the entire film is neither funny nor does he make a convincing hero. The "villian", Killdozer, was silly and, even if Killdozer had managed to kill the entire crew, so what? It would still be stuck, left to rust on that tiny little postage-stamp-sized island off the coast of Africa.Disappointingly dull and ultimately pointless.

Sure. It's ostensibly about a driver less Caterpillar D9 Bulldozer on the rampage. Go ahead and blame the gun! I guess if it had a driver the movie would be lacking a key plot device if not a title. Really? Like so many Hollywood tomes, "Killdozer" is prescient. It's the "China Syndrome" of over development...and more importantly, Clint Walker at least tried to show us how to stop it: by his God-like example. It's not Cheyene of the nightmare producing (in my 10-year-old case) made for TV "Night of the Grizzly". Clint barely put that humongous bastard down (the grizzly was badly burned in a forest fire as a cub, another unheeded environmental warning). But, I digress. Clint always met whatever threats or evils head on. He was quiet and determined--a lot reluctant and a little bit shy. A quiet smile and never a sound or complaint. Everone was drawn to him because of his heroic beauty and stature. He was the cast's and America's last and best hope. Unlike most of our heroes, he never let us down. And as an actor, Clint barely needed a script although he deserved a lot better ones than he got. In an episode of "Cheyene" he pushed a carload of ore out of a mine unassisted. My father was a coal miner who as a child drove mules that had the same relentless task. Life is cruel like that but Clint never was. It gave a kid hope. That was just enough. Thanks, Clint. God Bless you and God Bless the United States of America. That's what Hollywood can accomplish even when it's not trying. You made it look easy.

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?