Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

From out of the arctic comes a gigantic flying, fire-breathing turtle that sets its sights on destroying Tokyo.

Director:

Noriaki Yuasa

Writer:

Nisan Takahashi (screenplay)

Stars:

Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, Junichirô Yamashiko

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eiji Funakoshi	...	Dr. Hidaka
Harumi Kiritachi	...	Kyoke Yamamoto
Junichirô Yamashiko	...	Aoyagi
Yoshiro Uchida	...	Toshio Sakurai
Michiko Sugata	...	Nobuyo Sakurai
Yoshirô Kitahara	...	Mr. Sakurai
Jun Hamamura	...	Professor Murase
Kenji Ôyama	...	Minister of Defense
Munehiko Takada	...	Soviet Representative
Yoshio Yoshida	...	Eskimo Chief
Jun Osanai	...	Chidori Maru Captain
Daihachi Kita	...	Chidori Maru Navigator
Kazuo Mori	...	Chidori Maru Radioman
Kôji Fujiyama	...	U.S. Arctic Base Commander
Osamu Ôkawa	...	U.S. Air Base Radar Technician

Storyline

A nuclear explosion in the far north unleashes Gamera, the legendary flying turtle, from his sleep under the ice. In his search for energy, Gamera wreaks havoc over the entire world, and it's up to the scientists, assisted by a young boy with a strange sympathic link to the monster, to put a stop to Gamera's rampage.

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Plot Keywords:

gamera | turtle | rampage | fire breathing | monster | 

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

15 December 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gamera

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 86 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the final kaiju movie to be filmed in black & white.

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Goofs

In the English language version, special effects director Yonesaburo Tsukiji is mistakenly credited as Yonesaburg Tsukiji.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[English version]
Alex: Here we are. It looks wild, huh?
Catherine: You can say that again.

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Connections

Spoofed in Justice League: Chaos at the Earth's Core (2005)

User Reviews

Horribly good... but still horrible.

Ah classic Gamera. Well this is the first Gamera movie in a relatively large series. Generally the first movie is the best movie in the series, but not so with Gamera. Actually the latest ones are the best, while this one is one of the worst.

The plot revolves around a turtle that can shoot flames from its shell to fly around like a flying saucer... seriously. It's that bad. I really could get into a very large post about all the things wrong with this movie, the first of them being the annoying main character/kid who is entirely stupid and is trying to protect Gamera from the military, while Gamera kills innocent people. The kid says "Gamera saved my life" but Gamera never did! The kid was standing on a tower, Gamera smashed the top of the tower where the kid was standing, and as the kid was about to fall, Gamera catches him, and then drops him. Doesn't sound like a friendly turtle.

Either way this movie is pretty awful and the ending is the funniest thing in movie history. I honestly saw it coming, but it was still funny.