Village of the Giants

First off: even though I am a huge MSTie, I must say: I have not seen this on MST3K (though I would like to). That said: I caught this on AMC the day before Halloween, and man, it sucked even more than I thought it would. The whole plot (Ron Howard invents a gook that turns things giant) is okay, but it is executed "howwibly, howwibly" (to quote Lord Blackadder). The actors are wooden and idiotic. This shouldn't matter too much, since this quite obviously was an exploitation flick - but hey, I hate exploitation flicks - and this is no exception. There were a lot of stupid jokes - Howard's character "genius" was a dumb running gag for kids under eight; the scene with the guy hanging off the giant girl's bra wasn't as funny as I thought it would be; and the end with the midgets marching to town to get the "goo" (as the formula is called) is kinda funny but really stupid. No matter how you judge it, this film is a piece of trash. I hope M&TB did a good job ripping on it, but alas, for now it's only hope. Three stars for "Village of the Giants", since there are a LOT worse movies out there.

First off: even though I am a huge MSTie, I must say: I have not seen this on MST3K (though I would like to). That said: I caught this on AMC the day before Halloween, and man, it sucked even more than I thought it would. The whole plot (Ron Howard invents a gook that turns things giant) is okay, but it is executed "howwibly, howwibly" (to quote Lord Blackadder). The actors are wooden and idiotic. This shouldn't matter too much, since this quite obviously was an exploitation flick - but hey, I hate exploitation flicks - and this is no exception. There were a lot of stupid jokes - Howard's character "genius" was a dumb running gag for kids under eight; the scene with the guy hanging off the giant girl's bra wasn't as funny as I thought it would be; and the end with the midgets marching to town to get the "goo" (as the formula is called) is kinda funny but really stupid. No matter how you judge it, this film is a piece of trash. I hope M&TB did a good job ripping on it, but alas, for now it's only hope. Three stars for "Village of the Giants", since there are a LOT worse movies out there.

This completely ridiculous tongue-in-cheek adolescent sci-fi comedy romp represents 60's kitsch at its most delightfully dumb and inoffensive. The plot alone is pure silliness: A precocious little * scientific genius named -- what else? -- Genius (none other than future "Happy Days" TV show star and mainstream feature director Ron Howard!) creates a special formula called goo that causes both people and animals to growth substantially in size. Of course, a no-count band of rowdy rebellious teenagers led by the suave Fred (an embarrassingly bad turn by Beau Bridges) eat the goo and become evil tyrant towering behemoths who take over the town. It's up to nice guy Mike (former Disney movie star Tommy Kirk) to stop them. Boy, does this hilariously ludicrous honey deliver the campy goods with a gut-busting vengeance: we've got fumbling (mis)direction by the ever-inept Bert I. Gordon, uproariously poor and unconvincing (not so) special effects (the huge wooden legs are especially laughable), extremely variable acting, a pair of giant dancing ducks, hopelessly dated "hip" slang (favorite line: "Dig that nitty gritty"), a cheerfully silly tone, blithely lewd and idiotic humor (one dude hangs off the breasts of a busty lady giant!), an excellent rock soundtrack, and more insanely groovy dancing than you can shake a tail feather at (the lengthy sequence with the over-sized teens dancing up a storm is positively sidesplitting!). Better still, Jack Nizsche supplies a terrific catchy score (the rumbling instrumental tune "The Last Race" is simply fantastic), both Freddy Cannon and the Beau Brummels make special guest musical appearances, and such hot babes as Joy Harmon (the buxom blonde car wash girl in "Cool Hand Luke"), Tisha Sterling, and Toni Basil provide a plethora of delicious distaff eye candy. Stanley Kubrick film regular Joe Turkel plays the no-nonsense sheriff and Rance Howard even briefly pops up as a deputy. All in all, this infectiously inane stupidity sizes up as a total goofy hoot.

Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town. So, this film has a pretty decent cast with boy genius Ron Howard, giant Beau Bridges, and go-go dancing Toni Basil. And it is directed by one of the B-movie greats, Bert Gordon. But it is just bad. Sure, Quentin Tarantino used the theme song in his "Death Proof" and the kids like to drink Blatz beer, but it seems like more of this movie is spent on watching kids dance or bands playing music. The actual plot takes up little time. The only good thing I can say about this movie (besides the good points mentioned) is a claim a kid makes about how the rebels are no better than the old authorities if they just replace them and keep the same power structures. That could have been explored more, but I guess I should not expect too much from a psychedelic 1960s disposable film.

I feel I should first mention that I watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of this movie. And after watching it, I am glad I saw that version instead of the original version. The movie is poorly made in every area that you can think of. Though the original version was only eighty minutes long, I could still see even in the MST3K version that the story was ridiculously padded with dance/song numbers and other material that does not advance the plot at all. The special effects are awful as well, so bad that they are not unintentionally amusing at all, instead just embarrassing to witness. Maybe because of the cheap special effects, the story was clearly written to be tongue in cheek, but isn't the least bit amusing. But the worst thing about the movie is that there is not one likable character. The bad teens are bad, and the good teens are stupid and annoying. As you can see, the original version is a movie that is tough to sit through. The constant ribbing of the movie by the MST3K version does make the movie watchable - barely.

What did I not like about this movie? Tommy Kirk in summerwear, a smug Beau Bridges, Ron Howard going the Bill Mumy route, and typical teens roaming free and checking the scene...he's so gone, Jasper!! Besides go-go dancing, booty shaking, and cleavageploitation, this one has some moments, but some parts just drag and stall. See the plastic breasts gag and you just laugh seeing a guy hanging off of them! The music is definitely dated, but has a neat psychedelic feel; probably the only thing going for it. After awhile, I screamed in utter agony, "Enough dancing already!" The sheriff, played by Joe Turkel, also appears as a blackmailing beatnik in BIG's Tormented!. Why is it in his negotiation scene with Beau and the gang, his voice was noticeably faded out? Great editing John Bushelman!! I really wished Tommy fell into the water filled basement without turning the electricity OFF! Hey, isn't the town square the same universal lot where they shot the town of Hill Valley from Back to the Future? I recognized that clock tower!! I'm going to have 10 buckets of mini-wings right now.

Juvenile swingers get a dressing down after growing to gigantic heights. 20 years ago, our local TV channel 9 used to show this dreck every other month--and even as a kid, I wondered why everyone's reactions were sooo slooow (the drowsy actors seem as though they're underwater). Tommy Kirk (the only teenager with a receding hairline) attempts a 'Samson and Goliath' with cocky giant Beau Bridges (looking a might square, and struggling to hide his embarrassment), yet even the rocks which fly from his sling-shot are in slow-motion! It's possible to get a momentary kick from these tacky antics, but the ugliness of the entire concept is self-defeating. It's hard to laugh at something so utterly cringe-worthy. * from ****

I first saw this great campy film 20 years ago on TV and its got a great mixture of INTENTIONAL camp, the beginnings of a pre-hippy teen rebelliousness (1965), and some great music from Beau Brummels. The key to this film is not to take it seriously...the cast and crew didn't. "Genius" (Ron Howard) invents "GOO", a substance that turns rebel teens into giants who take over a village and the only hope is for Genius to find an antedote. He does just in time and it all works out in the end. But not before we get some giant ducks dancing to BBs live perfomance of "Woman" and other great pre-psychedelic background music. It's a trippy comedy of it's era. You can trash it, but then you miss the point. Also don't miss those sexy giant teen girls; when they grow their bikinis pop off.

Village of the Giants (1965) * (out of 4) Incredibly bad "giant" movie from Bert I. Gordon about a boy named Genius (Ron Howard) who creates a formula that turns things huge. At first this formula is tested on some ducks and a dog but then an annoying group of teenagers get their hands on it. Once the teenagers are giants, they take over the city and lay down their own form of the law. Gordon's VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS is without question one of the director's worst movies if not the very worst. There's no doubt that Gordon made a lot of bad movies throughout his career but thankfully most of them at least had some charm to them that made them entertaining and worth watching. That's certainly not the case with this movie, which is pretty annoying from the opening scene to the very last. Worst of all is that the film is very confused as to what it wants to be. I say this because the film seems to be a mix between the director's "giant" movies and those BEACH PARTY films. This film kicks off with one of the dumbest dance scenes in the history of cinema as the annoying teens get out in the rain, dance and roll around in the mud. Things get even worse once they become giants because the material is just too silly to be taken serious. There certainly aren't any scares to be had with how silly everything is and the "silly" aspects are just as bad because the teenagers are annoying and they ask for dumb things like the adults having a curfew. Then there are the special effects, which are the worst you're going to see in any movie from Gordon. The giant effects are just so downright awful that you can't believe the producers allowed them to be used. Just take a look at the sequence where the people in town are turning over their guns while a "giant" watches them. Not only is the special effect bad but the director obviously didn't even bother to tell the extra to "look" at this giant. I mean, if dozens of people were lined up with a giant next to them, don't you think they'd look over at that giant? VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS is what some might call innocent fun but there's no fun to be had here no matter what.

This film opens with a group of presumably drugged out teens emerging from their rather badly wrecked automobile, only to dance around it maniacally and flop in the mud. Before long, one of them gets the idea to "go into town and make a little noise" or some such rot, and the fun begins when they run into giant ducks in the local dance parlor. These giants are the product of a goo accidentally created by a Opie-era "Ronny" Howard, who goes by the 'nickname' genius. Amazingly, a sniveling Beau Bridges is the gangleader and they find the goo and dare each other to eat it, then halfheartedly try to run the town. See the spineless Tommy Kirk bust a rigged chair on a giant fake leg!! See Beau Bridges and the fairly hot Toni Basil and another hot girl traipse around in curtain-like toga-sarongs! See director Bert I. Gordon make even more of an ass out of himself than ever and feel his ire as Mike and the bots tear him to shreds as usual! Laugh along as Tom Servo wrestles with his aversion to the movie "Willow", which he fantasizes was budding in young Ronny Howard's mind even then! And through it all, thrill to the exhilarating surf tones of the fabulous Beau Brummels! At least it's in technicolor.