I'll tell you why so serious

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

(Maybe some teeny spoilers)... A rollicking tale as anthropologists searching for signs of a "Missing Link" in New Guinea, discover a living group of them amidst the jungle. The expedition's villainous financier (Paul Hubschmid), upon discovering Phosphorus in the area, puts the little creatures to work as miners.The film's ending court case regards the "humanity" of a child stillborn to one of the lead creatures, the alleged result of an indiscretion by Burt Reynolds.Great cast includes appearances from Ausie great Chips Rafferty, Burt Reynolds, Wilfred Hyde-White. Some great creature make-up work by Bud Westmore rarely mentioned in the books.Sadly, apparently not yet released on DVD.

As another person has commented, this movie deals with some very important social and very HUMAN issues and should be viewed for what it is, not what you wish it would have been.If you are looking for a brainless action film, look somewhere else. This film is more likely to generate a strong emotional reaction than to wow you with fancy stunts and cliché jungle adventure shtick.People today are so used to excessive action films that gems like this one seem to be misunderstood or simply ignored. I am hoping this makes it's way to DVD so it can be appreciated in it's original theatrical format.For the thinking person who can appreciate something with a lot more depth than the 'tomb raider' ilk it may get lumped in with it is definitely worth a viewing.

Taped this late night movie when I was in grade 11, watched it on fast forward. I sugest you do the same. I though it would be and action film, but went to a cort tv type movie. In the end it fits in with the early 70's social activest type films. Glad I missed that era. 2/10

I must have unknowingly been in the test audience for the original version of this film at a local drive-in theater in 1970. I recently saw the current version on TV again, and was shocked at the mutilation of the original plot. The movie I remember was longer and the missing scenes and dialogue comprised a biting satire of race relations that still resonates in my memory today. The present version of the film has sadly had the best scenes and lines excised out, in the name of avoiding controversy in 1970.We have come a long way since then. This film was far more entertaining in it's original form, and deserves re-release in a Special Edition or Director's cut DVD!