Endangered Species story

movie: Endangered Species (1982) · 1982-09-10

A burnt out New York ex-cop Reuben Castle and a female sheriff begin to fall in love while investigating a string of mysterious cattle mutilations in a small Colorado town.

16 total · 9 major · 7 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
adolescence	major	Mackenzie was a stereotypical rebellious teen.
biological weapons	major	The cattle mutilations turned out to be the result of a secret organization of some kind testing a banned biological agent on cows. This they hope would sway the Cold War balance of power in favor of the United States.
crackpot theory of cattle mutilation	major	The film followed Reuben and Harriet as they investigated a mysterious series of cattle mutilations in and around a rural community. Explanations as to the cause ranged from aliens to it being a secret government project.
father and daughter	major	Ruben and his rebellious teenage daughter Mackenzie drove from New York City and took up home in a nondescript rural area.
law enforcement	major	The sheriff of a small county was investigating the cause of a spate of cattle mutilations.
romantic love	major	Reuben and Harriet fell in love over the course of investigating together a series of mysterious cattle mutilations.
rural character vs. urban character	major	The no nonsense, big city ex-cop Reuben Castle's approach to investigating crimes was contrasted with the more friendly approach taken by rural sheriff Harriet Perdue.
secret government project	major	While it is unclear as to whether the secret organization was a government one or not, the allegation that the government might be secretly behind the cattle mutilations was entertained..
single fatherhood	major	Reuben was a single father to Mackenzie, and they discussed how she had grown up without a mother.
alcohol abuse	minor	Reuben started off the film in a treatment facility for alcoholics. He had a bad relapse later in the film and went to Harriet's house blind drunk in the middle of the night.