director Sergio Martino was in full-on exotic horror mode when he shot two movies back to back with 
the same four actors: Island of the Fishmen, which was transformed by New World Pictures into the gory Screamers, and this belated Jaws knockoff (with a dash of the Dino De Laurentiis King Kong) about a tropical paradise invaded by the titular reptile. A hot property at the time thanks to her starring role in 1978's The Spy Who Loved Me, Bach was making films left and right at the time (including a third Italian film, The Humanoid), 
end up being pretty charming when the gory mayhem kicks in after the one-hour mark. Before that the film sticks to traditional monster movie structure by moving as slowly as possible for the first two acts, but it's always fun to watch Bach strut her stuff and you even get a hilariously crazed turn by Richard Johnson (Zombie) in a wild wig and fake beard as the local traumatized crackpot who's been stuck in a cave since his fellow missionaries fell afoul of the beast's sharp teeth. Also on hand as sort-of comic relief is little Silvia Collatina, who would go on to play the spooky redheaded kid Mae inHouse by the Cemetery a couple of years later. Incredibly, Martino co-wrote the film with a fleet of other scribes including prolific giallo scribe Ernesto Gastaldi and George Eastman, which makes one wonder what those writing sessions felt like if they were all working on it at the same time. Not to be overlooked is the ridiculous percussive, pop-influenced score by Stelvio Cipriani, an infectious piece of work on its own with track titles like "Alligator Boogie-Woogie" and "Dance Your Fear Away." (Keep an ear out during that senior citizen dance scene for his pop song "Spend the Night with You," which pops up in other films like La supplente va in città .) 
the trailer, and the Italian credits, it's mainly of interest for including the German Super-8 version (Der fluss der Morderkrokodile). In 2005, the now-defunct NoShame released a pretty nice transfer of the film for the time as The Big Alligator River, including the standard English track (which dubs Bach 
for some reason) and the Italian dub with optional subs if you feel so inclined-- though the English track works just fine and at least has Ferrer and Johnson's real vocal performances. Martino pops up for "In the Croc's Nest" (34m55s), a video interview about shooting the film in Sri Lanka and working with his stars on multiple projects, with a brief appearance by production designer Antonello Geleng as well. Also included are the English-language and Italian international trailers, a gallery of poster art, and liner notes featuring a not-very-serious essay by Richard Harland Smith and cast bios. The same configuration minus the featurette was reissued in 2010 from Mya Communications under the title Alligator. (Weirdly, everyone refers to the creature as a crocodile in the actual film, but close enough apparently.) 
being disappointed in how the several crocodiles used for the film didn't quite come off correctly. (Choice line: "This movie is probably the worst one made by Sergio but it's interesting anyway.") Underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia turns up last in "Shooting Underwater" (7m18s), discussing how the below-water scenes were done in the same "dirty pool" at De Paolis Studios used later for Phenomena. 
2024, Severin Films upgraded the film to UHD and Blu-ray (yes, this one hit 4K before any of Martino's gialli!), as well as a standalone Blu-ray. "3 Friends and an Alligator" is ported over here (with radically improved subtitles) along with the English trailer, while "Beware of the Gator" is a tweaked version of the Morabito interview, and the Battaglia one is repurposed here as simply "Underwater." "Down by the River" (10m42s) is a new Sergio Martino interview about the demand for Jaws imitations around that time, as well as the state of his career and the ins and outs of navigating the local government during shooting. In "Minou" (16m34s), Collatina recalls auditioning for the film to play a little girl who's "a bit naughty" as well as her fellow actors on the film and getting to fly out of the country for the first time to work for the "kind" Martino. In "Later Alligator" (16m48s), Geleng goes into more detail about the creation and transportation of the star reptile, the techniques used to make it seem (more or less) alive, and the bits like the cave location that were filmed back in Rome. Geleng also pops up in "Alligator Land" (6m12s) to show off a large collection of production drawings for the film. Easily the most bittersweet aspect of the release is "Paradise House: Christianity And The Natural World In The Great Alligator" (18m50s), a video essay by the late Lee Gambin who applies his enthusiasm and expertise for the animal attack film to this depiction of the contrast between Christian white outsiders and the local Africans whose culture is turned into palatable entertainment for tourists. Bonus points for the opening FBI warning screen, which spotlights the best line of dialogue in the entire film. 
