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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

Starring Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, Lisa Simone, Shug Fisher, Bob Thompson
Directed by Ray Kellogg
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young mechanic assists a rural sheriff in investigating a series of unexplained wrecks, and discover a gila monster that's grown to gigantic proportions is responsible.

Despite its low budget, and wretched special effects, this movie's a fun charmer, with Sullivan very likable in the lead, and delivering some pleasant songs as well.  The gila monster, a normal sized one photographed by itself, is simply not convincing as a giant beast, not sharing the screen with any of its victims, with only some miniature cars and bridges in the background and some booming sound effects to point out its size.  Nevertheless, I was entertained, and didn't have a problem looking past the film's failings.  

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