Village of the Giants (1965)
I was up late last night, flipping through channels, and noticed that the local monster movie show was running this film. When I was a little girl, the local stations would show this movie a lot, and I would watch it each time. It's one of those "it's so bad, it's good" deals. The mid-1960's saw a lot of youth-oriented films, many of which were mixed with other genres. In this case, it's science fiction.
The plot isn't much, but here it is: a group of bad kids, headed up by a would-be player named Fred (Beau Bridges) roll into a small California town. Well, more to the point, they crash their car on the border of town during a rainstorm, then get out of the vehicle to dance in the mud. Their conversation indicates that all they are about is having good times and starting trouble.
Meanwhile, a kid named Genius (a 12-year-old Ron Howard) has created a formula in his basement lab that makes things grow big. A cat gets into the stuff and grows, then a couple of ducks, and lastly, Genius' dog. His sister's boyfriend, Mike (Tommy Kirk), sees dollar signs and proposes selling the stuff. The ducks roam into the local go-go club, but no one thinks this is out of the ordinary. Fred and his crew overhear Mike talking about the formula. When trying to slick the information out of Mike and his girlfriend doesn't work, Fred and his gang steal the stuff. The bad kids get the bright idea to eat the stuff themselves, and take over the town. Then the fun really jumps off.
Typical of these types of low-budget drive-in movies, musical performances are thrown in to break up the action. The Beau Brummels, Freddie Cannon, and Mike Clifford do the musical honors. Plenty of shots of bikini-clad and short-skirt-wearing young women dancing are also featured.
The main draw of watching this film is seeing young performers, some of whom went on to bigger and better things. Ron Howard is now an Oscar winning film director. Beau Bridges has won a few Emmy awards. Toni Basil had a hit with the song "Mickey" during the 1980's.
The plot isn't much, but here it is: a group of bad kids, headed up by a would-be player named Fred (Beau Bridges) roll into a small California town. Well, more to the point, they crash their car on the border of town during a rainstorm, then get out of the vehicle to dance in the mud. Their conversation indicates that all they are about is having good times and starting trouble.
Meanwhile, a kid named Genius (a 12-year-old Ron Howard) has created a formula in his basement lab that makes things grow big. A cat gets into the stuff and grows, then a couple of ducks, and lastly, Genius' dog. His sister's boyfriend, Mike (Tommy Kirk), sees dollar signs and proposes selling the stuff. The ducks roam into the local go-go club, but no one thinks this is out of the ordinary. Fred and his crew overhear Mike talking about the formula. When trying to slick the information out of Mike and his girlfriend doesn't work, Fred and his gang steal the stuff. The bad kids get the bright idea to eat the stuff themselves, and take over the town. Then the fun really jumps off.
Typical of these types of low-budget drive-in movies, musical performances are thrown in to break up the action. The Beau Brummels, Freddie Cannon, and Mike Clifford do the musical honors. Plenty of shots of bikini-clad and short-skirt-wearing young women dancing are also featured.
The main draw of watching this film is seeing young performers, some of whom went on to bigger and better things. Ron Howard is now an Oscar winning film director. Beau Bridges has won a few Emmy awards. Toni Basil had a hit with the song "Mickey" during the 1980's.
Labels: Beau Bridges, Ron Howard, Tommy Kirk, Toni Basil
posted by Hillari | 1:31 PM
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