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2.4 KiB
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2.4 KiB
Plaintext
One of a pair of memorably awful sub-cheap monster flicks produced by Ken Curtis in the late 1950s. (Yes, *that* Ken Curtis, of Gunsmoke, Sons of the Pioneers, and John Ford Western fame) Like its mate "The Killer Shrews", this one held a special place in the hearts of all grade-Z cinema lovers long before MST3K took their crack at it.<br /><br />Begin with some of the most unappealing rural locations ever captured in lifeless black and white, and a soundtrack apparently recorded with equipment which was state-of-the-art (in 1929). Combine these with sfx featuring a Gila Monster torpidly slithering through sand and twigs and crude miniatures. Stir in hot rods, misunderstood teens, a DUI deejay, a would-be singing idol and his French girlfriend, a rock-and-roll theremin score (trust me: the concept sounds far better than the reality), and a much-too-liberal helping of town drunk. Voila! You have one fabled hunk of drive-in movie cheese.<br /><br />(As an odd side-note, the director Ray Kellog must have decided early on that one of the defining characteristics of the Southern white male of that era is a seemingly irresistible urge to put one of their legs up on the nearest object. Seriously: The guy was in love with the pose. You could make a great party game out of taking a drink every time a knee goes up! Just be sure to have a designated driver.) <br /><br />I won't bother with the plot (such as it is) and the producer is actually more notable than any of the film's "stars".<br /><br />Looking stolidly determined to get the thing over with, long-time Western bit player Fred Graham sleepwalks the role of "Sheriff Jeff". There's also Ken Curtis' old colleague from the "Sons of the Pioneers", singer, musician, "comic" and long-time Western bit player "Shug" Fisher in an excruciating performance as the town lush, "Old Man Harris".<br /><br />Except for those two, though, this movie seems to have terminated the brief careers of every other actor associated with it, including Don Sullivan. Too bad, really, as he was quite natural and even charming in the lead role -- if you can get past one really annoying tune and another so sugary that diabetics should hit the mute or leave the room, immediately.<br /><br />This is a prime example of a movie that's so bad it's good. It may not have the preternatural, almost otherworldly incompetence of an Ed Wood film, but it manages to conjure up a certain uniquely goofy and slipshod ambiance of its own. |