Village of the Giants

Village of the Giants
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
Produced by Bert I. Gordon
Written by Bert I. Gordon
Alan Caillou
Based on The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth
1904 novel 
by H.G. Wells
Starring Tommy Kirk
Johnny Crawford
Beau Bridges
Joy Harmon
Robert Random
Tisha Sterling
Music by Jack Nitzsche
The Beau Brummels
Cinematography Paul Vogel
Edited by John A. Bushelman
Production
company
Berkeley Productions
Distributed by Embassy Pictures (original release)
Columbia Pictures (television syndication)
MGM (Video and DVD release)
Release dates
  • October 20, 1965 (1965-10-20)
Running time
 81 Minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $750,000[1]

Village of the Giants is a 1965 science-fiction/comedy movie with many elements of the beach party film genre. It was produced, directed and written by Bert I. Gordon, and based loosely on H.G. Wells's book The Food of the Gods. The story revolves mostly around a chemical substance called "Goo", which causes giant growth in living things, and what happens after a gang of rebellious youngsters get their hands on it. The cast was mostly teens, or young actors playing teens, and The Beau Brummels and Freddy Cannon make musical guest appearances.

The movie was a low-budget exploitation film and not a huge hit (released mostly to drive-ins as part of a double bill), but had some notable use of special effects and undoubted sex appeal, and went on to become a cult classic. The movie proved far more successful years later, when released on home video.

Plot

Village of the Giants takes place in fictional Hainesville, California. After crashing their car into a roadblock during a rainstorm, a group of partying, big-city teenagers (Fred, Pete, Rick, Harry, and their girlfriends Merrie, Elsa, Georgette and Jean) first indulge in a vigorous, playful mud-wrestling fight, then hike their way into town. Fred remembers meeting a girl from Hainesville named Nancy, and they decide to look her up.

Nancy, meanwhile, is with her boyfriend Mike, while her younger brother "Genius" plays with his chemistry set in the basement. Genius accidentally creates a substance he names "Goo", that, when consumed, causes animals, including a pair of ducks, to grow to gigantic size.

The out-of-town teens break into the local theater and clean up from the rain, then go to a nearby club where The Beau Brummels are performing. Shortly, the giant ducks turn up, followed by Mike and Nancy. Everyone is astounded by the size of the ducks, wondering how they got so big. Mike explains that it's a secret, but following a suggestion made by their friends Horsey and Red, they host a picnic in the town square the next day, roasting the ducks and feeding everybody. Freddy Cannon is featured singing a song in this scene.

Fred and his friends also see potential in whatever made the ducks grow, but their minds are purely on profit. They scheme to learn the secret, and are ultimately successful, escaping with a sample. Back at the theater, the gang argues over what to do with the Goo, now that they have it. Feeling peer pressure, Fred slices up the Goo, giving everyone a piece each, which they consume a moment later. As the Goo takes effect, they each grow to over thirty feet tall, ripping right out of their clothes. At first everyone is shocked and regretful, but realizing their newfound power at their new size, the gang decide to take over the town.

Overnight, the giants decide to isolate Hainesville from the rest of the world. They rip out the telephone lines, overturn broadcasting antennas, and block the remaining roads out of town. When the sheriff and Mike arrive to deal with them, they discover that the giants have no plans to leave – and are literally holding the sheriff's daughter, as "insurance" that they won't have any trouble. While the town's adults seem paralyzed, the teens decide to fight back. An attempt to capture Fred results in Nancy being taken hostage.

Meanwhile, Genius continues to work, trying to produce more Goo. Mike asks Genius to forget the Goo for a while, and make them a supply of ether – having noticed the giants only leave one guard on the hostages, Mike and Horsey plot to subdue that guard, recover the guns, and free Nancy and the sheriff's daughter.

Having led the giants outside the theater, Mike plays David to Fred's Goliath, to distract them while Horsey and the others effect the rescue. Genius' newest attempt at Goo results in an antidote. He rides over to the square on a bicycle with a pail full of the fuming antidote. As the giants breathe in the fumes, they all return to normal. Mike cold-cocks the surprised Fred, and promptly runs him and his friends, looking silly in their now-oversized clothes, out of town.

However, as Fred and the others reach their car, they meet a travelling band of midgets who have (the torn-out telephone lines, overturned broadcasting antennas, and blocked roads notwithstanding) heard about the "goo" and its effects and are heading into the town to investigate the substance.

Cast

Role Actor
Mike Tommy Kirk
Fred Beau Bridges
Genius Ron Howard (billed as "Ronny Howard")
Horsey Johnny Crawford
Merrie Joy Harmon
Rick Robert Random (billed as "Bob Random")
Jean Tisha Sterling
Nancy Charla Doherty
Pete Tim Rooney
Harry Kevin O'Neal
Elsa Gail Gilmore
Red Toni Basil
Chuck Hank Jones
Fatso Jim Begg
Georgette Vicki London
The Sheriff Joe Turkel (billed as "Joseph Turkell")
The Sheriff's Daughter, Cora Debi Storm
As himself Freddy Cannon
As himself Mike Clifford
The Beau Brummels Ron Elliott
Ron Meagher
Declan Mulligan
John Petersen
Sal Valentino

Music

The movie's instrumental theme song, by composer and arranger Jack Nitzsche, was originally released as "The Last Race" on Reprise Records, months before the movie appeared, and which would later be used as the main title music for Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's portion of the film Grindhouse, in 2007.

The Beau Brummels, singers Freddy Cannon and Mike Clifford all make appearances. Cannon enjoyed a string of hits during the 1960s, including "Palisades Park" and "Tallahassee Lassie", and performs "Little Bitty Corrine" in his signature style (wearing a cardigan sweater in the summertime), while Mike Clifford (veteran of The Ed Sullivan Show, and later an actor) croons the movie's obligatory slow song, "Marianne". Clifford is also credited with another song, "Nothing can Stand in my Way", but this does not appear in the film. There was no official soundtrack release for this movie.

Production notes

Director

The film's director, Bert I. Gordon, was involved with many size-themed movies in his career (perhaps coincidentally, his initials are "BIG"). Besides Village, these include: King Dinosaur (1955), Beginning of the End (1957), The Cyclops (1957), The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), War of the Colossal Beast (1958), Earth vs. the Spider (1958), and The Food of the Gods (1976).

The film was made by Gordon's newly formed Berkeley Productions. It was to be the first of a three-year 12-picture deal between Berkeley and Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Productions. Some of these were to be for TV, others for films.[1] The next two films were meant to be The Creatures of Dr Freak and Horror House[2] but neither were made.

Casting

The cast features a number of children of established Hollywood actors: Beau Bridges (son of Lloyd Bridges), Ron Howard (son of Rance Howard), Tisha Sterling (daughter of Ann Sothern), Toni Basil (daughter of Louis Basil) and Tim Rooney (son of Mickey Rooney).[3] Debi Storm completed her role as the sheriff's daughter in just three days. Vicki London, who played Georgette, is absent from the screen for most of the giant scenes in the movie. Robert Random and Joy Harmon each also appeared in episodes of Gidget, which debuted in the fall of 1965.

The cat appearing in this film was named Orangey (later renamed Minerva), and Village of the Giants was the second time he played the role of a cat larger than a human, the first being Scott Carey's (actor Grant Williams) pet in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). His most famous roles were as "Rhubarb" in the film Rhubarb (1951) and the cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).

Tommy Kirk made the film after his arrest for drug possession. He later said he wasn't "too embarrassed" about the film. "It's kind of a crazy movie but the production values are pretty good and it sort of holds together. I could have done without the dancing ducks, though."[4]

Beau Bridges has one of his earliest roles as the unofficial leader of the teenagers who turn into giants.[5] He later recalled:

When I did it, I was about 18 or 19, and I took it all quite seriously. I thought it was my chance to really be a spokesperson for my generation, you know? I had that long speech when I’m in the theater, and I’ve eaten this goo… I address the police chief of the town about the young people, the teenagers, that he says are losing control, and I speak out about freedom and everything. I took it so seriously, and I think I even rewrote my lines. Now, though, it’s, uh, a little embarrassing.[6]

Original script

Alan Caillou's original script called for the sheriff's deputy (played by Rance Howard) to be stepped on by the giants. If the scene was ever filmed, it did not make the final edit, and no known footage of it exists.

Locations and props

Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed on the Columbia Pictures backlot, where portions of I Dream of Jeannie and The Partridge Family were also made. The lot is now owned by Warner Brothers. The scene where the giants convene outside the Hainesville theater was shot at the Courthouse Square lot at Universal Studios, where Back to the Future and Gremlins were later made. The film's goo was a simple mixture of angel food cake with pink-colored dye. The beer the "teenagers" are drinking at the beginning of the film is Blatz, and the 'Teen magazine Joy Harmon reads during one part of the film is an actual issue, from the summer of 1965. The tiny yellow custom hotrod (with the surfboard) that is used in the street scene to tie up Beau Bridges' feet is The Surfite, designed by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

Reception

The Los Angeles Times said the "best things" about the film were the "special effects and photographic trickery ... after, of course, those endless views of healthy young torsos gyrating to the rhythms of the Beau Brummells or Freddy Cannon ... Alan Caillou's script keeps the action fast and the dancing swinging."[7]

Legacy

In January 1994, Village of the Giants was featured as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (episode 523). The episode was dedicated in memoriam to the recently deceased Frank Zappa.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Fully Occupied 'Upside Down' Man By A.H. WEILER. New York Times (1923–Current file) [New York, N.Y] 07 Mar 1965: X7.
  2. ↑ Wolper to Film Africa Saga Briggs, Andrew. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 04 Sep 1965: B6.
  3. ↑ Producers Get the Action Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 27 May 1965: C8.
  4. ↑ Minton, Kevin, "Sex, Lies, and Disney Tape: Walt’s Fallen Star", Filmfax Issue 38, April 1993 p 68
  5. ↑ Coburn in 'What Did...?' Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 22 May 1965: B5.
  6. ↑ Will Harris, "Beau Bridges on the time he had to fart on Elizabeth Taylor in a Ustinov film", Random Roles – AV Club, 16 Jan, 2014 accessed 20 January 2014
  7. ↑ 'Village of Giants' Very Big With Teens Harford, Margaret. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 17 Dec 1965: e23.

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