We all like to share when we find a "little gem" of a movie.

But sometimes, we find a dud. This was a dud.

This film, "Alligator" (1980), came up in my Amazon recommendations, and since it starred Robert Forster, one of my favorite actors, I thought I'd give it a shot. I was especially interested in it because it came out very shortly after 1979's "The Black Hole", my favorite Forster performance, and I wanted to see another film where he still had his youngish looks. "Alligator" earned its R rating based on extensive gore, with old-timey practical blood-and-guts effects (not a bad thing) and, unusually for an American film, a fairly graphic child death-- one of the many victims of the Alligator.

There was also a brief topless scene with the main female protagonist, Robin Riker. For you ladies out there, there were also a couple of shirtless scenes with Mr. Forster, back when he was still trim and, as I mentioned, youngish. But otherwise, a slow-paced movie, poorly-written, and oozing cheese. It was nice, at the end, seeing some actual pyrotechnics (how many movies, nowadays, use only CGI explosions and flames?).

But this was generally just not a good flick. This one will not be going in my collection; instead off to the rubbish it goes. Oh, well . . . not every movie can be a gem.