Deadly Harvest is a 1977 Canadian science-fiction^[2] "eco-thriller" film^[3] 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,^[4] brought on by global cooling due to, among other named causes in a voiceover, overpopulation, urban sprawl, the energy crisis, pollution, the high cost of transporting grain, and "a lack of government support for research programs."^{[3][note 1]} The film was produced by Anthony Kramreither and Len Herberman, with a screenplay by Martin Lager, and features an unreleased score by John Mills-Cockell.^[6] The film is notable as Timothy Bond's first film,^[5] and as an early example of survivalism in film, having been compared to No Blade of Grass.^[2]

Deadly Harvest was Clint Walker's final lead role;^[6] after its theatrical release he went into semi-retirement, accepting only occasional acting roles.^[7] The feature also marked the film debut of Geraint Wyn Davies, credited as "Gary Davies",^[8]

In an over-industrialized near future,^[2] 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 Catrall) 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 Franklin farm, unexpectedly exchanging gunfire with the militia. Grant's wife (Dawn Greenhalgh) and Susan's groom are both killed, galvanizing Grant. Franklin and his son fight off Logan, killing him and his thugs using farm machinery. Finding an address on the back of the discarded map, he drives to Toronto seeking revenge on Ennis.

It seems likely that this is not the end of the family's troubles - nor of the world's.

Timothy Bond had previously only directed stage plays, while scriptwriter Martin Lager was similarly first a playwright when they took on Deadly Harvest, which was shot in Toronto and Pickering, Ontario in winter, adapting the day for night technique to a "December-for-August approach".^[3]

The film had its premiere at the first Montreal World Film Festival,^[9] on August 21, 1977,^[10]

In a 2017 review, Erwann Perchoc calls Deadly Harvest an interesting B movie. Admittedly, the film is a bit of a pastiche of its American B movie precursors, but the presentation is distinguished by substitutions for the usual Hollywood staples: chases take place in fields and the final demolition derby is a match between tractors.^[5] However, the script holds up well, with a particularly successful melancholy atmosphere created by the dull yellow and orange colours - almost sepia - and by the somewhat dated score, full of "half-detuned" synthesizers, comparing the film's pessimistic outlook to Philip Wylie's The End of the Dream: the film depicts the disintegration of social bonds, increasing levels of violence in human relations, and attempts at mutual aid as all doomed to bitter failure.^[5]

Peter Kenter calls the film's approach to the famine "almost quaintly Canadian"; a food riot consists of about "two dozen disappointed citizens scuffl[ing] weakly with each other in front of the local government food distribution centre," followed by "driving action--long, drawn-out travel sequences as characters ply the roads ... in monster Cadillacs and big ass pick-ups, despite repeated references to a critical fuel shortage," which Kenter attributes to Bond's and Lager's backgrounds in the theatre, "treating long commutes like scene changes on stage."^[3] As for the soundtrack, it "is downright creepy, switching between eerie synth, lumbering keyboards and maudlin piano themes with alarming impropriety."^[3]

Deadly Harvest was released on VHS in March 1986 (New World Video)^[11] and on October 7, 1991 (Anchor Bay).^[12]

The film was released on DVD on June 1, 2003 (Osiris Entertainment),^[13] and on February 18, 2012 (Desert Island Films).^[14]

A number of outlets, including music magazine The Quietus reported about or engaged in speculation by fans of Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada that that the title of their fourth studio album, Tomorrow's Harvest, was inspired by Deadly Harvest, noting that "this idea seems to be reflected by the song titles", in particular "Cold Earth", "Sick Times" and "New Seeds", and that "the album sleeve and the overall mood of the record" were thematically similar.^[15] Erwann Perchoc suggests the score by John Mills-Cockell anticipates both the sound of the duo^[5] and common themes such as agricultural revolt and the end of the world.^[16] Boards of Canada have denied that Tomorrow's Harvest deals with post-apocalyptic themes, stating "it is about an inevitable stage that lies in front of us."^[17]

• Deadly Harvest on IMDb

• No Blade of Grass (film)