Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made

An essential chapter in the life of every great director is the list of films he or she never shot. In 1954 Fuller set out for the Brazilian jungle to scout locations for adapting the adventure novel Tigrero. The shooting was canceled due to unreasonable insurance demands for stars John Wayne, Tyrone Power, and Ava Gardner, but the trip itself rewarded Fuller with the powerful experience of meeting the indigenous Karajá tribe, whose members he immortalized on acetate. Forty years later he returns to the same spot in the Araguaia River region as the protagonist of a documentary put together by two young admirers of his work. Mika Kaurismäki took up directing duties while Jim Jarmusch served as Fuller’s companion on the journey, and the pair engage in discussions as unpredictable as their adventures traveling to central Brazil. Cited by critics as the best film of the 1994 Berlinale, Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made not only presents the indigenous inhabitants as they come to terms with the influence of modern civilization, but it also expresses unreserved admiration for Samuel Fuller’s work and philosophy.