Village of the Giants (1965)

Delinquent teens ingest a substance and grow to 30 ft tall, then proceed to take over a small town.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

H.G. Wells (novel), Bert I. Gordon (story),

Stars:

Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Ron Howard

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Kirk	...	Mike
Johnny Crawford	...	Horsey
Ron Howard	...	Genius (as Ronny Howard)
Joe Turkel	...	Sheriff (as Joseph Turkel)
Beau Bridges	...	Fred
Joy Harmon	...	Merrie
Robert Random	...	Rick (as Bob Random)
Gail Gilmore	...	Elsa
Tisha Sterling	...	Jean
Tim Rooney	...	Pete
Kevin O'Neal	...	Harry
Charla Doherty	...	Nancy
Toni Basil	...	Red
Hank Jones	...	Chuck
Jim Begg	...	Fatso

Storyline

Mike thinks he's hit the jackpot when his girlfriend Nancy's kid brother, who they call Genius, creates a growth compound that results in animals growing to huge proportions. A group of delinquents led by Fred has come to town and when they get their hands the goo, as Genius calls it, their giant size make them unstoppable. While Genius tries to recreate the formula, Mike and other teenagers in town, serve the giants. Genius simply can't reproduce the formula but fortunately comes up with the next best thing.

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Plot Keywords:

giant | growing | teen | duck | kidnapping | 

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Taglines:

Giant teenagers terrorise a town

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

The Unofficial Fanpage of Village of the Giants [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 October 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Cidade dos Gigantes

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 North Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Berkeley Productions, Embassy Pictures Corporation, Joseph E. Levine Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vicki London was originally cast with a larger role, but declined to disrobe in preproduction, so her part was changed with Joy Harmon's, and much of London's subsequent screen time was cut. Her agent kept her in the movie at full pay, while London didn't seem to object to what happened, since she saw the whole thing as forgettable.

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Goofs

Some shots of Merrie dancing reveal that the boy with the cowboy hat is absent from her chest (they do not have a doll hanging off her shoulder straps for the effect). Also, when they show close-ups of the boy with the cowboy hat hanging from her chest, the other giant teens are absent.

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Quotes

Merrie: Oh don't make book on it. When Fred wants something, he usually gets it.

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Connections

References War of the Colossal Beast (1958)

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Soundtracks

"Nothing Can Stand In My Way"
by Jack Nitzsche and Russ Titelman

User Reviews

Colossally silly

Turn off the brain for this campy craziness. Ron Howard, in his Opie days, invents "goo," which, when ingested, causes super growth. Beau Bridges leads a bunch of bad teens, Tommy Kirk (of Disney comedy fame) is the leader of some good teens, and you are the befuddled audience trying to believe what is transpiring on the screen.

Natch: the idiotic bad teens get a hold of the goo, and turn into colossal idiotic bad teens who take over a small town somewhere. Apparently, the presence of 30 foot hostile giants does not interest anyone outside of the town, so the townsfolk are left to fend for themselves. Of course, nobody in the town except the good teens bother to do anything about it.

Once the giants appear, the action is limited, probably due to a lack of budget for special effects. The growth sequence is about all they really focused on, where they --oh, never mind. It's the highlight of the film, though, trust me. Progressively cheaper and cheaper effects parade their way through the story after that. My favorite is the scene where they try to "tie up" a giant Beau Bridges. You see two plastic poles (supposed to be his legs) being roped by the good teens. They then try to fasten the ropes with hot rods orbiting the "surprised" victim. Every once in a while, they show Beau making spasmodic and confused expressions in slow motion. By the way, whenever they show a character in slow-mo, you know it's one of the giants.

The movie knows it's idiotic, and makes no effort to conceal it. Good for a laugh at how absurd it is.