Endangered Species * (1982, Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, Paul Dooley, Hoyt Axton, Peter Coyote) – Classic Movie Review 11,567

A Colorado town’s cattle are being bumped off after operations done on them, and burnt-out former New York cop (Robert Urich) Reuben Castle and sheriff Harriet Perdue (JoBeth Williams) dig the dirt, in director Alan Rudolph’s 1982 science fiction film Endangered Species, a pretentious, truly weird, off-putting suspense thriller with a message.

The inquiry leads to a germ-warfare conspiracy plot, involving just about anyone you care to name if you are a liberal American.

Endangered Species is intelligent and full of good ideas, but it is too hysterical and muddled, and not really a success for the talented Rudolph this time.

The screenplay by Alan Rudolph and John Binder is in the interesting category but packs little credibility and, though there is a good cast, the acting is not up to much either, at least not enough to rescue it.

Also cast are JoBeth Williams, Paul Dooley, Hoyt Axton, Peter Coyote, Harry Carey Jr, John Considine, Marin Kantner and Dan Hedaya.

Films directed by Alan Rudolph: Premonition (1972), Nightmare Circus (1974), Welcome to L A (1976), Remember My Name (1978), Roadie (1980), Endangered Species (1982), Return Engagement (1983), Songwriter (1984), Choose Me (1984), Trouble in Mind (1985), Made in Heaven (1987), The Moderns (1988), Love at Large (1990), Mortal Thoughts (1991), Equinox (1992), Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Afterglow (1997), Breakfast of Champions (1999), Trixie (2000), Investigating Sex (2001), The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002) and Ray Meets Helen (2017).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,567

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