For all the phony fx and Ferrigno's campy though lovable Hulkisms, this film is everything that Lee's pathetic re-hash wasn't!
Bixby as David Banner had such pathos and dignity. Being older than most reviewers here, I remember fondly the late Bill Bixby in "My Favorite Martian" (another TV series unwisely and embarrassingly updated for the big screen....think "The Flintstones," "Mission Impossible," "Wild Wild West," "I Spy," etc - all complete and utter dead losses) But as I was saying, Bixby was an utter gentleman, and in this film he gives us the tortured scientist who carries this unwanted creature of destruction within him. He conveys vividly, his pain, his desperation and his regret for his wayward experimentation. Bana in the remake was a totally miscast idiotic wuss and with less credibility than the tea lady. Everything Bixby and Ferrigno stood for was washed down the plughole in two hours of split-screen insensitivity and dumbass special effects. Ferrigno...green and in tight beach shorts looks way better!
I recently bought this DVD for a miserable $2.95 in a bargain-bin. It is the only time I have ever felt saddened by the fact. This film and Bixby himself should never have been thus demeaned.This is a movie that is far better than its production values might otherwise suggest. Bixby directs (and acts) with commendable emotion.
At the end, it is almost as if he sensed his own approaching mortality. The Hulk had been such a huge part of his life, those two words "I'm free" might be seen as pretty much his epitaph.
If you laugh at this film, you should never have been watching it!
