Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman!

Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman is a fun old-fashioned B-movie, maybe the quintessential B-movie. Starring Allison Hayes and the vivacious Yvette Vickers, this movie a true sci-fi soap opera. It's also, as it turns out, a movie about spaceships and alien intervention. 

The story begins when a rich woman (Hayes) (she owns a very large diamond) suspects her derelict husband (William Hudson) of philandering. Her suspicions are true, and further the woman has a pretty severe drinking problem. So one night while looking for her wandering spouse she sees a glowing globe from which emerges a space giant who terrifies her when he reaches for her throat. (He wants the diamond which can apparently power his ship.)

No one believes her since she is such a lush. But she and her hubby go looking again and find the giant, the hubby then abandons his wife to the giant's mercies. He runs back to his floosie girlfriend (Vickers) and the two decide to skip town. Meanwhile the woman shows up back at home unconscious and in the process of becoming a giant. Doctors attempt to treat her and the sheriff investigates and finds the space ship. But all this comes to naught when the woman goes on a rampage looking for her philandering husband and seeks revenge on her female rival.

The movie is surprisingly well acted, and a strong cast can save even the most ludicrous premise. Any yarn, no matter how outlandish can be made credible if the people delivering the story sell it. And these folks do, in spades. That's what makes this one rise above the limited special effects and the low budget. It's a story that resonates, it's weird but it resonates.

I happened to watch the movie this time with a pretty decent commentary by Tom Weaver and Yvette Vickers. The latter offered up some great stories and was exceedingly pleasant throughout. Actors are usually awful on these things, but Vickers was great. 

Highly recommended.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Girls On Film - Yvette!

Yvette Vickers is one of the most vivacious women ever to grace the big screen and alas also one of the most tragic. Whenever Yvette is in a movie she steals all the attention. It's really not fair to other actors to have to hang around in a scene while the tempting Vickers slithers across the screen, alluring and radiating danger. You know she's trouble and you don't care.

Sadly the end was tragic. Yvette Vickers was a woman who was isolated and alone in her final days, so much so that when she passed away in her home it was months before her body was discovered. This staggering to me that such a thing could happen, but then I think of folks I've lived next to who didn't have a network of people to care for them, or even expressed much interest. It's hard to believe that Yvette Vickers was one of those but evidence suggest it was so.

But I'll never forget her. I bet I'm not alone.

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Attack Of The Giant Leeches!

The Giant Leeches is cheapo delight of a monster movie. It's loaded with bristling memorable characters, not the least of which is the vivacious Yvette Vickers.  But that's saying a lot. The plot of this movie is dead simple. Giant man-sized leeches appear in the bayous and begin to abduct and kill the local population. While this is going on a woman cheats on her jealous husband and a local warden tries to date while fighting off monsters in his spare time. 

I would love to see a really good copy of this movie as despite owning it several times I have yet to run across a print which wasn't muddy and too dark. While the script is minimal this movie is filled with some good character acting and even the leads are above what you'd expect in a production this small and cheap. So on the human front this movie out performs. 

But famously it's in the area of monsters that it falls short. The monster leeches are difficult to decode as the movie tumbles along and at no point is any of them larger than the men who operate the cheap-jack costumes. I only wish there had been a leech as giant as the one on the poster -- that's scary stuff. 

This one is fun for what it is, a low to no budget offering filled with some fun lines delivered by folks who know their craft, at least a little bit. 

And did I mention Yvette Vickers?

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