# Deadly Harvest (1977 film)

Deadly Harvest is a 1977 Canadian science-fiction "eco-thriller" film directed by Timothy Bond, about a farmer (Clint Walker) who struggles to keep food on the table and regain his son from a gang of marauding city-folk during a terrible worldwide famine, brought on by global cooling due to, among other named causes in a voice-over, overpopulation, urban sprawl, the energy crisis, pollution, and the high cost of transporting grain. The film was produced by Anthony Kramreither and Len Herberman, with a screenplay by Martin Lager, and features an score by John Mills-Cockell. The film is notable as Timothy Bond's first film, and as an early example of survivalism in film, having been compared to No Blade of Grass.

## Plot

   The beginning of the end came in the late '70s. The climate changes... the energy crisis, the shortages, the high costs of growing and transporting grain, the lack of government support for research programs. The disappearance of arable land beneath the monoliths of reinforced concrete and steel as the urban centers continued their unchecked sprawl into the countryside. The industrial pollution that poisoned the earth, the water, and the air. And the continuing growth of population out of all bounds of reason. More and more people, less and less food. By the end of the '70s, the fabric of society was breaking down in most parts of the world... And then, the bubble burst.
Deadly Harvest voice-over (quoted by Erwann Perchoc)
In an over-industrialized near future, climate change in the form of global cooling has shrunk available farmland and a worldwide famine has ensued. Government neither informs its citizens nor does anything to avert or even ameliorate the looming catastrophe.
In the countryside, cattle-thieving black marketeer Mort Logan (Nehemiah Persoff) raids at will, slaughtering scarce livestock. In response, some of the country folk act to protect their diminishing resources by forming a militia. Hydroponic farmer Grant Franklin (Clint Walker) and his family are among the few people with any food to spare, but the stoic farmer refuses to fight, avoiding trouble as he sees it. When his eldest daughter Susan (Kim Cattrall) loses their only cow to marauders from the city, he takes this, too, in his stride, though it would have fed the family for a long time. Michael, Grant's impetuous son (Geraint Wyn Davies), eager for action, joins the local militia.
Tensions rise in Toronto: there are food riots. Computer consultant Charles Ennis (David Brown) and his frail father (Tim Whelan) drive out from the city, begging for produce for his sickly sister (Nuala Fitzgerald): the shops in the city are empty. Suspicious at first, Grant yields after his daughter makes pleas on their behalf. The Franklins assemble a produce basket for the starving pair, off-handedly mentioning the wedding spread they are preparing for Susan the following day.
Ennis and his father are waylaid by militia men who accuse them of stealing the food, confiscating it. The elder Ennis, badly frightened, dies of a heart attack. His angry son goes back to Toronto and seeks out Logan, offering him a map to the Franklin wedding in exchange for a very small supply of food. Logan and his crew go to the wedding, unexpectedly exchanging gunfire with the militia. Grant's wife (Dawn Greenhalgh) and Susan's groom are both killed, galvanizing Grant. Michael fights off Logan, killing one of his thugs. Finding an address on the back of the discarded map, Franklin drives to Toronto seeking revenge on Ennis.
Logan delivers to Ennis a bag of food stolen from the wedding and vows to raid all of the surrounding farms before leaving. Franklin finds and begins to assault Ennis in his office until Ennis reveals that his father Tim was killed when Franklin's son Michael stole back the food Franklin had given them. Ennis shows Franklin data on his computer indicating that there are only 27 days of food reserves remaining for urban life support in North America.
Franklin races home; meanwhile, Logan and his crew return to the Franklin farm and a gun battle ensues.
It seems likely that this is not the end of the family's troubles - nor of the world's.

## Cast

* Clint Walker as Grant Franklin
* Geraint Wyn Davies (credited as Gary Davies) as Michael Franklin
* David Brown as Charles Ennis
* Jim Henshaw as John McCrae
* Dwayne McLean as Frank Wilcox
* Tami Tucker as Bobbie Franklin
* Kim Cattrall as Susan Franklin
* Dawn Greenhalgh as Leah Franklin
* John Stoneham as Sam
* Nehemiah Persoff as Mort Logan
* Timothy Whelan as James Ennis
* Les Carlson as The Minister
* Nuala Fitzgerald as Joyce Ennis
* Cec Linder as The Chairman (Henry)
* Sean Sullivan as Dr. Abbott (George)
* Leo Leyden as The Minister of Agriculture
* Michael Tait as Politician
* Jan Rubeš as Swenson
* Wally Crouter as Militia Man
In addition, the cast includes Rebecca Lager, Hoah Cowan, Brad Spurgeon, Stan Lesk, Richard Ayres, John-Peter Linton, Marcel Bérubé, and Terry Martin.