Village of the Giants

What did I not like about this movie? Tommy Kirk in summerwear, a smug Beau Bridges, Ron Howard going the Bill Mumy route, and typical teens roaming free and checking the scene...he's so gone, Jasper!!

Besides go-go dancing, booty shaking, and cleavageploitation, this one has some moments, but some parts just drag and stall. See the plastic breasts gag and you just laugh seeing a guy hanging off of them! The music is definitely dated, but has a neat psychedelic feel; probably the only thing going for it. After awhile, I screamed in utter agony, "Enough dancing already!" The sheriff, played by Joe Turkel, also appears as a blackmailing beatnik in BIG's Tormented!. Why is it in his negotiation scene with Beau and the gang, his voice was noticeably faded out? Great editing John Bushelman!! I really wished Tommy fell into the water filled basement without turning the electricity OFF! Hey, isn't the town square the same universal lot where they shot the town of Hill Valley from Back to the Future? I recognized that clock tower!!

I'm going to have 10 buckets of mini-wings right now.

This film opens with a group of presumably drugged out teens emerging from their rather badly wrecked automobile, only to dance around it maniacally and flop in the mud. Before long, one of them gets the idea to "go into town and make a little noise" or some such rot, and the fun begins when they run into giant ducks in the local dance parlor. These giants are the product of a goo accidentally created by a Opie-era "Ronny" Howard, who goes by the 'nickname' genius.

Amazingly, a sniveling Beau Bridges is the gangleader and they find the goo and dare each other to eat it, then halfheartedly try to run the town. See the spineless Tommy Kirk bust a rigged chair on a giant fake leg!!

See Beau Bridges and the fairly hot Toni Basil and another hot girl traipse around in curtain-like toga-sarongs! See director Bert I. Gordon make even more of an ass out of himself than ever and feel his ire as Mike and the bots tear him to shreds as usual! Laugh along as Tom Servo wrestles with his aversion to the movie "Willow", which he fantasizes was budding in young Ronny Howard's mind even then! And through it all, thrill to the exhilarating surf tones of the fabulous Beau Brummels! At least it's in technicolor.

If you want to watch a well made movie, this isn't it. 'Village of the Giants' seems to be a B movie that was intended to attract young kids and the teen audience of the early 1960s. What you will find here is a poorly directed, low budget, movie with bad acting, cheap special effects, and a plot that goes no where. You'll see a lot of bikini clad teenagers, go go dancing to some mild, early rock and roll music played by the Beau Brummels. The camera does show a lot of cleavage shots and wiggling butts that surely was and is one of the movies main attractions. This movie was most likely considered a little racy for it's day. Quite a bit of this movie brings up the anti authority, good teen versus bad teen issue. This is all very mild by today's standards. Actually this makes it humorous in today's world and it can be mildly entertaining if not taken too seriously. It is nice to see Ron Howard as a child actor in this movie playing the part of 'Genius'. You'll also find a couple of ex Mickey Mouse Club members in the cast. 'Village of the Giants' could be considered one of those 'it's so bad it's good' movies. You have to view this as a fun, but stupid movie and by no means look at it with a critical eye. Under the harsh light of criticism,'Village of the Giants' will disintegrate into the smallest piece of dust.

Turn off the brain for this campy craziness. Ron Howard, in his Opie days, invents "goo," which, when ingested, causes super growth. Beau Bridges leads a bunch of bad teens, Tommy Kirk (of Disney comedy fame) is the leader of some good teens, and you are the befuddled audience trying to believe what is transpiring on the screen.

Natch: the idiotic bad teens get a hold of the goo, and turn into colossal idiotic bad teens who take over a small town somewhere. Apparently, the presence of 30 foot hostile giants does not interest anyone outside of the town, so the townsfolk are left to fend for themselves. Of course, nobody in the town except the good teens bother to do anything about it.

Once the giants appear, the action is limited, probably due to a lack of budget for special effects. The growth sequence is about all they really focused on, where they --oh, never mind. It's the highlight of the film, though, trust me. Progressively cheaper and cheaper effects parade their way through the story after that. My favorite is the scene where they try to "tie up" a giant Beau Bridges. You see two plastic poles (supposed to be his legs) being roped by the good teens. They then try to fasten the ropes with hot rods orbiting the "surprised" victim. Every once in a while, they show Beau making spasmodic and confused expressions in slow motion. By the way, whenever they show a character in slow-mo, you know it's one of the giants.

The movie knows it's idiotic, and makes no effort to conceal it. Good for a laugh at how absurd it is.

Goofy, fun mid 60s has goo in the plot and on the brain. Teenagers go giant with a potion cooked up somehow by little Ron Howard. These giants love to go-go in sexy harem outfits that somehow grow to fit them. Tommy Kirk is, as usual, excellent and amusing -- I think he had real potention to become one of the best actors of his generation. This movie is a bit too cheezy to be exciting or scary, but it's worth a good laugh.