"Today the pond! Tomorrow the world!" croaks the ad-line from this mossy eco-rampager shot in the Florida Everglades. Ray Milland plays Jason Crockett, a thorny old patriarch confined to a wheelchair on his swampy plantation. It's the Fourth of July and his family has gathered 'round to celebrate one more year of disregard for nature's bounty. They are the self-described "ugly rich," angry about anything that doesn't do their bidding, especially those noisy hoppers sliming about in the tall grass. And they aren't the only ones mad—the frogs are hoppin' mad, and web-footed amphibians don't just get mad, they get breedin'. Other avengers of the Everglades are called to duty—leeches, snakes, spiders, alligators, even snapping turtles come a-slithering and a-slopping out of the swamp. Symbol of a moribund and excessive America, the complacent Crocketts proceed with their oblivious merriment while cold-blooded killers slowly pick off the clan. The score for eco-amok mayhem: 600 actual amphibians triumphant, 11 Crocketts croaked.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Robert Hutchison, Robert Blees, from a story by Hutchison. Photographed by Mario Tosi. With Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke. (90 mins, Color, 35mm, From MGM)