Main Cast: Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, Shug Fisher, Jerry Cortwright, Beverly Thurman
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 74 minutes
Plot
In The Giant Gila Monster, most of the plot is given over to a group of hot-rod enthusiasts, headed by nice-guy Chace Winstead (Don Sullivan), who sometimes breaks into song. Before long, the titular gila monster, which is just that -- a real gila monster -- is lumbering about on miniaturized sets terrorizing the community, killing at random, knocking over trains and barns, and in general making a nuisance of itself. When the monster threatens to devour Chace's kid sister, he attempts to dispatch the beast with a hot rod full of nitroglycerin. The Giant Gila Monster was originally released on a double bill with The Killer Shrews. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Don Flourney - Gordy; Pat Simmons - Sherry; Fred Graham - Sheriff; Ken Knox - Steamroller Smith; Desmond Dhooge - Hitchhiker
Credit
Ray Kellogg - Director, Aaron Stell - Editor, Gordon McLendon - Executive Producer, Jack Marshall - Composer (Music Score), Wilfrid M. Cline - Cinematographer, Ben Chapman - Production Manager, Ken Curtis - Producer, Louise Caldwell - Set Designer, Ralph Hammeras - Special Effects, Wee Risser - Special Effects, Earl Snyder - Sound/Sound Designer, Ray Kellogg - Screenwriter, Jay Simms - Screenwriter
The Giant Gila Monster is a 1959 black-and-white science fiction film directed by Ray Kellogg, and produced by Ken Curtis. It stars Don Sullivan, Lisa Simone, as well as Fred Graham, Shug Fisher and Bob Thompson. This low-budget B-Movie featured a cast of unknown actors (Shug Fisher being the most notable cast-member). The low-budget effects included a live gila monster, filmed on a scaled-down model landscape. (At one point in the film, the gila monster attacks a model train.) The movie has been released on DVD and is considered a cult classic.
The movie opens with a young couple parked in a remote, southwestern locale overlooking a ravine. A giant Gila Monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing the couple. Later, when some friends of the couple decide to assist the sheriff (Fred Graham) in his search for the missing teens, one of the friends (Chase, played by Don Sullivan) locates the crashed car in the ravine and finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile attacks a train that the authorities realize that they are dealing with a (roughly) 70-foot poisonous lizard. By this time, the creature attacks the local town (emboldened by its recent attacks and hungry for humans). It eventually makes straight for the local dance hall where all the teenagers had gathered for a sock hop. However, Chase, a young mechanic and hotrod racer, manages to pilot a nitroglycerin charged car straight into the monster, effectively terminating it in a fiery explosion (but only after Chase had jumped from the car).
This movie was used in an episode of Steve Smith Playhouse, in which Canadian comedian Steve Smith re-dubs the dialogue of only one character in various B-movies to achieve a humorous effect.
The movie can be seen on Ozymandias' monitors in the 2009 flim Watchmen.
Both The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster were produced by Ken Curtis, directed by Ray Kellogg, and screen written by Jay Simms.
The movie's theme song "Gila Monster" was used as a "stunt" to debut the long-running beautiful music format of one of producer Gordon McLendon's radio stations, KABL (now KKGN) in San Francisco, in May 1959.
The font of the movie's title on promotional posters has been copied on most albums and associated promotional materials released by Glenn Danzig's musical acts Samhain and Danzig.
DVD releases
In addition to being featured on numerous "bargain box" discs, The Giant Gila Monster has been restored in color and released as a double-feature, alongside The Killer Shrews, by Legend Films.
The MST3K version, along with an exclusive interview with star Don Sullivan, has been released by Rhino Home Video, as part of the Collection, Volume 10.2 box set. Rhino also offers the individual disk for purchase on their web site (for those who already bought the now-recalled Volume 10 and who don't want to buy the additional box set).
The Giant Gila Monster also was released as part of the box 50 Horror Classic DVD. It was on disk 4 of the 12 disc boxset
