20th Century Fox produced this idiotic 3D mystery in gorgeous Technicolor. I’m sure it looked ridiculous to 1950s audiences, but it induces howls today, thanks to its remarkable cast of soon-to-be stars. Obviously, what I'm saying is that you should make an effort to see it. Sadly, it's not yet on DVD, although with a cast (and title) like this, I would think Fox would be able to move a few units.Is it a gorilla or someone dressed in a gorilla suit who is murdering members of Cy Miller’s (Raymond Burr) carnival? Since the main attraction is supposed to be a real gorilla, but is played by George Barrows in a suit, how can anyone tell? Gruff detective Garrison’s (Lee J. Cobb) main suspects are blond barker Joey (top-billed Cameron Mitchell) and brutish gorilla trainer Kovacs (Peter Whitney). Disney’s MIGHTY JOE YOUNG remake ripped off the ending of this movie. Anne Bancroft is smokin’ as Burr’s acrobat wife with great legs. Lee Marvin is a dimwitted comic-relief cop. Warren Stevens and John Beradino also play cops. Sure, it’s a dumb movie by the director of the execrable DON’T WORRY, WE’LL THINK OF A TITLE, but a must-see for trash-movie fans.
**spoilers for 'Gorilla at Large'**
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the asshole cop from this movie take on that ape without his gun. then we'll see if he's such a big man.
even more inexplicable than the audience being asked to believe that Anne Bancroft's character was married to the gorilla keeper was the fact that the leading man takes the policeman literally when he says that he'd love him like a son after he proved him not guilty. only in the 50's.
I actually saw this in 3-D a few years back (with a 3-D 3 Stooges short) some 3-D films. It was shown from a dual-projector print and was a lot of fun, if silly. Fortunately Lee Marvin got much better comedy chops by the time he did CAT BALLOU.
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