''Skullduggery'' is a 1970 American
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
directed by
Gordon Douglas produced by
Saul David
Professor Julian Saul David (born 1966) is a British academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on ...
and starring
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
,
Susan Clark
Susan Clark (born Nora Golding; March 8, 1943) is a Canadian actress, known for her movie roles such as ''Coogan's Bluff'' and '' Colossus: The Forbin Project'', and for her role as Katherine Papadopolis on the American television sitcom ''Web ...
.
The screenplay is based on the French novel ''
Les Animaux dénaturés'' (1952) (variously titled in English as ''
You Shall Know Them'', ''
Borderline'', and ''
The Murder of the Missing Link'') by
Jean Bruller
Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller (26 February 1902 – 10 June 1991) was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded the publishing company Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure. Born to a Hungarian-Jewish father, he joined the French Resi ...
(writing under the pseudonym "Vercors").
Plot
On an expedition in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, the Tropis, a tribe of apelike creatures, are being used as slaves by humans. When one of the Tropis is allegedly murdered, the following murder trial centers on the question of whether the Tropis are human or animal.
Cast
*
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
as Douglas Temple
*
Susan Clark
Susan Clark (born Nora Golding; March 8, 1943) is a Canadian actress, known for her movie roles such as ''Coogan's Bluff'' and '' Colossus: The Forbin Project'', and for her role as Katherine Papadopolis on the American television sitcom ''Web ...
as Dr. Sybil Greame
*
Roger C. Carmel as Otto Kreps
*
Paul Hubschmid
Paul Hubschmid (; 20 July 1917 – 31 December 2001) was a Swiss actor. He was most notable for his role as Henry Higgins in a production of ''My Fair Lady''. In some of his Hollywood films he used the name Paul Christian. He appeared in dozens ...
as Vancruysen
*
Chips Rafferty
John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death ...
as Father "Pop" Dillingham
*
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor on stage, screen, and occasionally television. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as Woodrow Wilson in the film '' Wilson'' (1944).
...
as Buffington
*
Pat Suzuki
Pat Suzuki (born Chiyoko Suzuki; September 22, 1930) is an American popular singer and actress, who is best known for her role in the original Broadway production of the musical ''Flower Drum Song'', and her performance of the song "I Enjoy Being ...
as Topazia
*
Edward Fox as Bruce Spofford
*
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964).
Ea ...
as Eaton
*
William Marshall as Attorney General
*
Rhys Williams as Judge Draper
* Mort Marshall as Dr. Figgins
*
Michael St. Clair as Tee Hee Lawrence
*
Booker Bradshaw
Booker T. Bradshaw (May 21, 1940– April 1, 2003), born in Richmond, Virginia, was an American record producer, film and TV actor, and Motown executive.
Early life
Bradshaw worked for his father, Booker T. Bradshaw Sr., president of Virgini ...
as Smoot
* John Kimberley as Epstain
* James Henry Eldridge as District Officer
* Totty Ames as Motel Manager
*
James Bacon as Commentator
* Gilbert Senior as Kauni
*
Clarence Harris
Clarence Lee "Curly" Harris (January 18, 1905 – July 14, 1999) was the store manager at the F. W. Woolworth Company store in Greensboro, North Carolina, during the Greensboro sit-ins in 1960.
Early life
Harris was born in Raleigh, North Carolin ...
as Siria
* Burnal Smith as Chief (as Burnal "Custus" Smith)
* John Woodcock as Spigget
*
Newt Arnold
Newt Arnold (February 22, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Arnold directed ''Bloodsport'', which was released in 1988 and has since become a cult film, as well as several other screen works. Arn ...
as Inspector Mimms (as Newton D. Arnold)
* Wendell Baggett as Reverend Holzapple
*
Michael Preece
Michael Preece (born September 15, 1936) is an American film and television director, script supervisor, producer, and actor best known for directing television series ''Dallas (1978 TV series), Dallas'' and ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' and films ''Th ...
as Nayler (as Mike Preece)
* Charles Washburn as Papuan
* Cliff Bell Jr. as Worker
* Alex Gradussov as Russian Delegate
* Jamie Alexander as Reporter (as Jim Alexander)
*
Saul David
Professor Julian Saul David (born 1966) is a British academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on ...
as Berl Tanen
* Bernard Pike as Associate Judge
*
Eduard Fuchs
Eduard Fuchs (31 January 1870, Göppingen – 26 January 1940, Paris) was a German Marxist scholar of culture and history, writer, art collector, and political activist.
Early life
Fuchs's father was a shopkeeper. Early in his life, the you ...
as Israeli Delegate (as Eddie Fuchs)
Production
Development
The book was published in the US as ''You Shall Know Them'' in 1953. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called it a "humanely sardonic story". It became a best seller.
The author adapted the novel into the play ''Zoo'', which was performed in Paris.
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor.
He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...
optioned the stage rights and got
Nelson Gidding
Nelson Roosevelt Gidding (September 15, 1919 – May 2, 2004) was an American screenwriter specializing in adaptations. A longtime collaboration with director Robert Wise began with Gidding's screenplay for ''I Want to Live!'' (1958), which ...
to adapt it under the title ''The Case of the Troublesome Topis''.
Giddings later said he showed the original novel by
Jean Bruller
Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller (26 February 1902 – 10 June 1991) was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded the publishing company Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure. Born to a Hungarian-Jewish father, he joined the French Resi ...
writing as "Vercors" to Otto Preminger with the idea of making a film of the book. After they viewed a play based on the novel presented in
Carcassonne
Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department.
Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...
, Preminger agreed but later became busy with other film projects.
Giddings ended up writing a screenplay. The rights to the novel were sold to producer
Saul David
Professor Julian Saul David (born 1966) is a British academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on ...
after he left
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. It was the first film he was to make under a deal with Universal.
The film was to have been the first major feature film production of
ABC Pictures with the film crew planning on shooting in
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
where an
Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
General who Gidding had known in World War II provided extensive cooperation to the production.
One of the producers from ABC Pictures wanted to talk to David about the film at short notice as he was flying to Europe. David refused to meet him due to the medical problems of David's daughter that precluded a meeting; however, David refused to tell the producer why he would not see him. Thinking himself insulted, the producer placed the film on hold with the production of the film being purchased by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
who insisted the film be shot in much safer and economical
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n locations.
Burt Reynolds agreed to star, turning down a lead role in ''
MASH'' (1970) to do the film.
Shooting
Filming started 6 January 1969.
On the first day of shooting David sacked his director
Richard Wilson and replaced him with
Gordon Douglas who directed David's ''
In Like Flint
''In Like Flint'' is a 1967 American Spy-Fi (subgenre), spy fi comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas (director), Gordon Douglas, the sequel to the parody spy film ''Our Man Flint'' (1966).
It posits an international feminist Cabal, conspiracy ...
''. The termination was put down to "creative differences".
After Burt Reynolds and Susan Clark were cast,
Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist, "for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun aut ...
expressed interest in playing the role of Otto Krebs that the screenplay described as a fat man. David thought Malden too thin and hired an actor he thought was corpulent,
Roger C. Carmel, but was dismayed when Carmel arrived on location having slimmed down for the role.
Producer Saul David created and named his character of Berle Tanen after then-MCA executives
Berle Adams and
Ned Tanen Ned Stone Tanen (c. September 20, 1931 – January 5, 2009) was an American film studio executive. The films he produced were some of the most popular films of the 1970s and 1980s, including the 2 key Brat Pack films '' The Breakfast Club'' and ...
.
Burt Reynolds later said the film had a "good script. The guy's a good writer, Lorenzo Semple Jr. Badly directed, kind of sloughed off. Susan Clark was good; she's a good actress. But nobody knew how to sell the picture. Any time you have Pat Suzuki dressed as a small ape, I think you're in trouble."
Reception
The film was not a success.
David had a number of films in development at Universal—''A Stretch on the River'', ''Marie Beginning'', ''Dove Creek Rodeo'' and ''The Tuck''—but none were made.
Further reading
*
See also
* ''
Little Fuzzy
''Little Fuzzy'' is a 1962 science fiction novel by H. Beam Piper, now in public domain. It was nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
The story revolves around determining whether a small furry species discovered on the planet Zarath ...
'', a novel series with a similar story
Notes
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Gordon Douglas
1970 films
American science fiction films
1970s science fiction films
Films directed by Gordon Douglas
Films based on French novels
Films based on science fiction novels
Films set in Papua New Guinea
Films shot in Jamaica
Universal Pictures films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films