Eegah (1962)

Starring Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel, William Watters, Clay Stearns
Directed by Nicholas Merriwether
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After witnessing a still living neanderthal man, a young woman trails it to the California mountains, where the beastly man captures her and her father, while her boyfriend tries to find them.

One of a series of film vehicles planned for his son by Arch Hall Sr., who also co-stars and directs under stage names, this is an amateur-looking and sounding production, although cinematographer Vilis Lapenieks would go on to some more distinguished credits, and Richard Kiel would later find fame as the Bond villain Jaws.  As for Arch Hall, Jr., others might denigrate his musical talent, but I was really fine with his numbers and found them rather pleasant.  I also thought he, Manning, Kiel, and his father (as William Watters) brought affable enough characters to the screen, and the screenplay, despite some awkward dialogue, had some good ideas about how a caveman might act and interact with others.  I think the major problem with the film for me was the long stretches of the movie traversing the identical scenery of the California mountains without much at all happening, which made the film seem far longer than its 90 minute running time.