The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

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The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
Topic Started: Sep 17 2006, 08:21 PM (413 Views)
Laughing Gravy	Sep 17 2006, 08:21 PM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	One of my favorite 1950s monster movies, Bert I. Gordon's The Amazing Colossal Man was our Friday night offering this week, and it deserves special mention. Anybody else love this? Glen Langan is Colonel Glen Manning, U.S. Army, who is one of the witnesses to the first-ever explosion of a plutonium bomb. Unfortunately, the darn thing doesn't go off until Manning gets too close to it for comfort, and it burns away his flesh and hair. Miraculously, the flesh grows back. And grows. And grows. And grows. It's a terrific showcase for Langan, who gets to holler "I DON'T want to GROW any MORE!" and "I'm not the FREAK! YOU are! I'm not GROWING, you're SHRINKING!" He drinks out of a water barrel, reads out of a teeny-tiny bible, and wears a bedsheet that thankfully expands as he does. Eventually his mind goes and he wanders the Nevada desert, slaughtering cattle and avoiding his pretty fiance, until the doctors jab him in the ankle with a giant hypodermic needle (with giant numbers on it). He uses the needle as a dart on one of the docs before the final showdown atop the Boulder Dam. Very few films are as enjoyable as this one with the padding this one's got; there are flashbacks of scenes that happened earlier in the picture, flashbacks to scenes that didn't happen in the picture, and a lot of shots of doctors sitting around dark rooms babbling pseudo-science (and always helpfully explaining to us, the audience, what the big words mean). You can kinda see through the colossal man as he rampages through Las Vegas, but we'd expect no less in a Bert I. Gordon picture. Col. Manning returned (but Langan didn't) in the equally enjoyable and even more padded War of the Colossal Beast ("Put the schoolbus DOWN, Glen!").



ilive4mycats	Sep 18 2006, 03:18 PM Post #2
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 350 Group: Members Member #122 Joined: July 25, 2006	I thought that that was truly a great performance by Glen Langan who really never got that big, or good a role again.



Grampy	Sep 19 2006, 07:52 AM Post #3
Agent of SHIELD Posts: 589 Group: Members Member #120 Joined: July 20, 2006	I love both the original and the sequel War of the Colossal Beast. As a kid, one or the other seemd to be on every few weeks on one of the local afternoon movie shows. Plus both films were featured on some of the Topps monster trading card sets of the early 60s. There are several images that impressed me as a kid-Langan/Manning in his loincloth, the giant hypo, Manning catching the atom blast full on and juicing on the hydroelectric dam's power lines. Images that still stick in my head and I haven't seen this in a few decades. This is a true fifties classic. Grampy
	Not a dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story!


rhomak	Sep 25 2006, 06:37 AM Post #4
Charter Member Posts: 17 Group: Members Member #15 Joined: September 4, 2005	The Amazing Colossal Man was definately a classic, and the sequal wasn't too shabby either. I have a question: wasn't there a third giant flick with the same big, bad, bald behemoth? I seem to recall Lon Chaney Jr. was in it. rhomak



Laughing Gravy	Sep 25 2006, 07:08 AM Post #5
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Why, you're thinking of The Cyclops, another Bert I. Gordon film. It actually preceded both of the Colossal Man films; Dean Parkin (hope I spelled his name right) played the mutated one-eyed giant, and when Langan turned down the sequel (or, more likely, asked for a raise) Parkin played the Colossal Beast, looking pretty similar to how he looked in The Cyclops.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 25 2006, 12:13 PM Post #6
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,340 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	AMAZING COLOSSAL and WAR OF were the first two non-serial VHS offerings I bought. After years of catching just the ends of both of 'em on TV, I finally got to see the credits again. Bert I. Gordon ruled!!!!! Incidentally, what did the I. stand for? (I'm hoping Isadore.)
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Sep 25 2006, 12:49 PM Post #7
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Melvin.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 25 2006, 05:09 PM Post #8
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,340 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Turns out, Ira. Which is OK. Isadore would have been a little better. If you want to have some fun, check out the reviews that Gordon's movies get on IMDB. Apparently there are people who think they are smarter than he was. I have news for them.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Sep 25 2006, 08:05 PM Post #9
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	I'm just glad to discover that his middle name actually started with the letter "I" and he didn't just give himself the nickname "Mr. B.I.G." because he made so many movies with giant insects, colossal people, and brobdingnagian ducks.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 26 2006, 05:54 AM Post #10
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,340 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Any movie with brobignagian ducks is jake with me.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Sep 26 2006, 07:10 AM Post #11
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Well, then, I sure th' heck hope you've seen Gordon's Village of the Giants, which has colossal dancing ducks. And colossal dancing hippies. And a boffo score by Jack Nitzsche.



The Batman	Oct 5 2006, 03:47 PM Post #12
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	I have always wanted to see The Amazing Colossal Man, when was it released to DVD? And by whom? Thanks, in advance.



Laughing Gravy	Oct 5 2006, 04:00 PM Post #13
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Sadly, the Colossal Man is not yet on DVD, although the sequel is.



The Batman	Oct 5 2006, 05:55 PM Post #14
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	Thanks, LG. sigh



Laughing Gravy	Aug 5 2007, 06:01 AM Post #15
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	And last night, we watched War of the Colossal Beast, an FNF favorite, although not as much of a favorite as the original. A grocery truck has vanished into thin air in Mexico, and the insurance company won't pay up because the truck seems to have been "carried off" into thin air, so the owner of said truck throws a big fit and bellows, "Get the picture?!?" after every sentence. His yowling draws the attention of Joyce Manning (pretty Sally Fraser), the sister of the Amazing Colossal Man, who believes her brother may have survived his fall from the Boulder Dam. Well, if he hasn't, we don't have much of a picture, and soon the colossal man -- now with much of his skull showing through, in iconic 1950s monster makeup -- is stomping around Los Angeles. Lotsa daffy dialog, cheezy special effects, overbearing Albert Glasser music, and a bit of comedy (Congress, Health & Special Services, and the military play musical chairs with Col. Manning as they pass the buck, a nifty and surprising bit of satire) combine to make this brief (69 min.) cheapie enjoyable; a memorable ending (in color!) at Griffith Observatory. War of the Colossal Beast originally played in theatres with another AIP favorite, Atatck of the Puppet People. It's available on DVD in England, and was briefly released over here as a double-feature DVD with Earth vs. the Spider; you can probably still find that one.


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