Drop in...I'll flatten you.

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

Grade: C/C-

Despite the rickety start, this engaging little romp is almost impossible to dislike. Of course the premise is threadbare, the acting often terrible, and the eponymous monster is unmistakably a regular ol' gila monster shot in close-up.


(This little fella looks sorta like one of P.'s distant relatives.)

But the movie is just so relentlessly good-natured and pleasant, we couldn't help but be won over. Everybody's nice to each other (with one notable exception) and there's hardly a bad apple in sight. Heck, the town sheriff even gets along with the local kids, and makes an effort not to ruin their fun!


(The two male leads share a tender moment.)

Our main protagonist is one of those kids, and quite a busy fellow he is! A mechanic by day and engineering student by night, he also finds spare time to help the sheriff, woo his French girlfriend, care for his polio-stricken little sister, and build the perfect hot-rod.

Oh, and he likes to sing, too. That's his true passion.


(Our hero singing "The Mushroom Song". Is it a banjo? Is it a ukulele?)

In fact, The Giant Gila Monster is very nearly a movie about music. One of the secondary characters is a famous DJ, several key scenes involve music in some way, and the score -- which alternates between theremin schlock and "Yakety Sax" -- is prominent throughout. Plus half the cast seems ready to burst into song at a moment's notice.


(The town drunk reaches for a high note to match his high BAC.)

Don Sullivan is an engaging presence onscreen, with an easy, unselfconscious charisma that made us surprised to learn that he never really had much of a career. Too bad.

Perhaps the most telling sign of The Giant Gila Monster's charm is that, unlike so many other movies of its kind, we were actually rooting for the hero to make everything come out OK.

Of course, that was never really in doubt, since about five minutes in, we're dropped a pretty obvious hint about how things will end...


("Hello? Is this 1-800-NITRO-4-U?")

So gather round, steamboats and dreamboats, and give 74 minutes of your time to The Giant Gila Monster. It won't thrill you, and it certainly won't chill you, but it's got a pleasant spirit and decent miniature work. Heck, it may make you hearken back to a simpler time when people cared about each other, grown men could sing to little girls without creeping everybody out, and your local mechanic might well be the next big pop star.


("And then I said to that Kraut, no, you Heil Hitler!")