I remember watching this as a kid back in the late 70's and early 80's. As a child I wanted to believe that bigfoot existed and so I bought into all the "supposed" evidence that this documentary brought out. In 1985 I taped this show off of late night tv. The picture is pretty bad, not due to the age of the tape but the condition of the film when it was broadcast. The colors are very muted, everything seems to have a green tint to it and most colors are not identifiable. About once a year I still watch this show. It brings back memories.
However, when I now watch this film I can't help but to chuckle at the so called "evidence" that is displayed. Most of it is open to interpretation and not concrete proof and some of it has been, evidently, proven a hoax since this film was released. I believe most of the so called witnesses either were out and out lying to the interviewers so that they could get their 15 minutes of fame or they so wanted to believe in bigfoot that they convinced themselves that what they saw was a bigfoot. In many ways it's like those who believe they have come in contact with aliens or seen a space ship. Have you ever noticed that most of us never see an alien or space ship but those who have seen one of them once have usually seen one of them more than once.
What I enjoy most about this film is Peter Graves interviews and narration. If you are able to view this film watch and listen to Peter Graves as he creates a fact out of a thin air. For example, Mr. Graves will ask a person who has witnessed a bigfoot sighting about their experience and then he will make a statement of fact something like this: "...now that we've established that bigfoot does exist..." and then he'll move on to his next point. In other words he takes an unverifiable event and treats it as fact. Now, as a 33 year old adult, I can't help but to chuckle at how this film attempts to sway the viewers opinion on the existence of bigfoot.
This so called documentary does try to appear unbiased by interviewing professors and experts in various fields some of which believe in bigfoot and some that do not. Again, this is not what it appears. Watch how the comparisons are made. Peter Graves usually asks someone who believes in bigfoot to explain why he believes and then he asks another person why he doesn't. Once the person who does not believe gives his reasons Mr. Graves goes back to the first person and gives him a chance to refute what the person who does not believe in bigfoot has said but Mr. Graves never gives the person who does not believe in bigfoot a chance to respond to the first persons refute. Thus the person who believes in bigfoot gets the first and last word.
For some reason I still enjoy this film. I guess I don't really believe in Bigfoot or the Lock Ness monster anymore. With today's technology I think we would have more concrete proof that these two entities exist. That being said this documentary is fun to watch. It's kind of like Santa Claus for an adult. You no longer believe but it's still fun to read or watch the stories and remember when you did believe! Not that it will happen anytime soon but I do wish they would release this film in DVD form.
However, when I now watch this film I can't help but to chuckle at the so called "evidence" that is displayed. Most of it is open to interpretation and not concrete proof and some of it has been, evidently, proven a hoax since this film was released. I believe most of the so called witnesses either were out and out lying to the interviewers so that they could get their 15 minutes of fame or they so wanted to believe in bigfoot that they convinced themselves that what they saw was a bigfoot. In many ways it's like those who believe they have come in contact with aliens or seen a space ship. Have you ever noticed that most of us never see an alien or space ship but those who have seen one of them once have usually seen one of them more than once.
What I enjoy most about this film is Peter Graves interviews and narration. If you are able to view this film watch and listen to Peter Graves as he creates a fact out of a thin air. For example, Mr. Graves will ask a person who has witnessed a bigfoot sighting about their experience and then he will make a statement of fact something like this: "...now that we've established that bigfoot does exist..." and then he'll move on to his next point. In other words he takes an unverifiable event and treats it as fact. Now, as a 33 year old adult, I can't help but to chuckle at how this film attempts to sway the viewers opinion on the existence of bigfoot.
This so called documentary does try to appear unbiased by interviewing professors and experts in various fields some of which believe in bigfoot and some that do not. Again, this is not what it appears. Watch how the comparisons are made. Peter Graves usually asks someone who believes in bigfoot to explain why he believes and then he asks another person why he doesn't. Once the person who does not believe gives his reasons Mr. Graves goes back to the first person and gives him a chance to refute what the person who does not believe in bigfoot has said but Mr. Graves never gives the person who does not believe in bigfoot a chance to respond to the first persons refute. Thus the person who believes in bigfoot gets the first and last word.
For some reason I still enjoy this film. I guess I don't really believe in Bigfoot or the Lock Ness monster anymore. With today's technology I think we would have more concrete proof that these two entities exist. That being said this documentary is fun to watch. It's kind of like Santa Claus for an adult. You no longer believe but it's still fun to read or watch the stories and remember when you did believe! Not that it will happen anytime soon but I do wish they would release this film in DVD form.