Village of the Giants (1965-10-20)
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Directed By: Bert I. Gordon
Star Cast: Tommy Kirk , Johnny Crawford , Beau Bridges , Joy Harmon ,
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_**Cool score, gorgeous women and those wild 60s!**_ In some ways "Village of the Giants" (1965) is a godawful flick about a group of "kids" (more like mid-20s) who stumble upon a potion that turns them into giants. Godawful or not, there's just something mesmerizing about this flick! It's ridiculous and the "special effects" are laughable, yet it's full of energy and is thoroughly entertaining in a swingin' 60s kind of way; and entertainment's the name of the game. Highlights include: the weird bass-driven 60's score titled "The Last Race" by Jack Nitzsche (borrowed by Tarantino for "Death Proof"); the accompanying sensual dancing of the "teens" (they really don't know what else to do after becoming giants, so they just dance, lol); the cast includes a young Ron Howard, Beau Bridges, Robert Random and Tommy Kirk, as well as not one, not two, but three gorgeous 60's females -- Joy Harmon, Tisha Sterling and, best of all, a young redheaded Toni Basil (who went on to become a one-hit wonder with "Hey Mickey"). Watch out for Basil in the pool party scene. She also has an extended dance sequence late in the film in black leotards. So, yeah, "Village of the Giants" is a real turkey, but it's a golden turkey. " For comparison, it's superior to the contemporaneous "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (which was released 2.5 months earlier) in that it is (1) in color, (2) doesn't attempt to be serious melodrama in the manner of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and (3) lacks a sneering one-dimensional psychopathic vixen as antagonist. In other words, "Village" treads similar terrain to "Faster" but without the negative elements. The film runs 1 hour, 21 minutes, and was shot in Burbank and Hollywood, Ca. GRADE: B (Actually a "C" but "A" for entertainment value; so overall "B" )