The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Charles B. Pierce

Writer:

Earl E. Smith (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 December 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Mystery | Drama | Horror

Tagline:

A True Story.

Plot:

A documentary-style drama which questions the existence of a monster in an Arkansas swamp. It is really...

Plot Keywords:

Bigfoot | Giant Creature | Sasquatch | Independent Film

Cast

Vern Stierman	...	Narrator
Chuck Pierce Jr.	...	Jim as a boy
William Stumpp	...	Jim (adult)
Willie E. Smith	...	Willie
Lloyd Bowen	...	Himself
B.R. Barrington	...	Himself
J.E. 'Smokey' Crabtree	...	Himself (as Smokey Crabtree)
Travis Crabtree	...	Himself
John P. Hixon	...	Himself
John W. Oates	...	Himself
Buddy Crabtree	...	James Crabtree
Jeff Crabtree	...	Fred Crabtree
Judy Baltom	...	Mary Beth Searcy
Mary B. Johnson	...	Mary Beth's sister
Louise Searcy	...	Herself

Runtime:

90 min | USA:85 min | 87 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:G

Filming Locations:

Fouke, Arkansas, USA

Company:

P & L

Trivia:

The original title of the film was "Tracking the Fouke Monster".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Mr. Turner and the Ford brothers are on the porch shooting at the monster, Turner's flashlight alternates between a regular size flashlight and a large lantern flashlight (the same lantern flashlight the Constable gives them later).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Southern Fried Bigfoot (2007)

A Warning

One of my brothers took a girl he really liked to see "The Legend of Boggy Creek" on their first date in 1972. She never went out with him again. Word to the wise.

This is basically a pseudo-documentary with incredibly cheesy music ("Hey there, Travis Crabtree," a local lad is serenaded as he travels to the home of a slackjawed yokel whose name escapes me, but not the fact that he shot off his own foot). As for the "Creature Theme," my brother and I took great delight in parodizing the lyrics:

This is where the creature goes / when he needs to blow his nose

etc. etc. etc. and other preteen humor (?).

But for your basic seventies celebration of Middle American white trash culture, it just doesn't get any better than this. Young girls in curlers, alone in the trailer with a big hairy creature stalking around outside! Cats meeting horrible fates just from espying said creature! Corn-pone accents galore! NOW how much would you pay?