Grizzly (1976)

A fifteen foot tall grizzly bear terrorizes a state park. Christopher George leaps into the carnage to stop it.

Director:

William Girdler

Writers:

Harvey Flaxman (screenplay), David Sheldon (screenplay),

Stars:

Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher George	...	Kelly
Andrew Prine	...	Don
Richard Jaeckel	...	Scott
Joan McCall	...	Allison
Joe Dorsey	...	Kittridge
Charles Kissinger	...	Dr.Hallitt
Kermit Echols	...	Corwin
Tom Arcuragi	...	Tom
Victoria Johnson	...	Gail (as Vicki Johnson)
Kathy Rickman	...	June (as Catherine Rickman)
Mary Ann Hearn	...	Margaret
Harvey Flaxman	...	Reporter
Mike Clifford	...	Pat
David Newton	...	Mike
Mike Gerschefski	...	George

Storyline

A fifteen-foot grizzly bear figures out that humans make for a tasty treat. As a park ranger tries rallying his men to bring about the bear's capture or destruction, his efforts are thwarted by the introduction of dozens of drunken hunters into the area.

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Plot Keywords:

bear | grizzly bear | park ranger | rifle | helicopter pilot | 

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Taglines:

Not since JAWS has the terror been like this!

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Genres:

Horror

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Killer Grizzly

Filming Locations:

Clayton, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$750,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 684,572 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Joda Productions, Montoro Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview with producer Edward L. Montoro published in the 1st May 1984 edition of 'The Hollywood Reporter', Montoro said he though this movie to be the best film that he ever produced.

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Goofs

When the body of Ranger Tom is shown after the tower collapse, there is a movement in his neck muscles.

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Quotes

Charley: Kelly, you're a maverick. We don't have room for mavericks!

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Connections

Remade as Grizzly (2014)

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Soundtracks

What Makes a Man a Man
(uncredited)
Music Composed and Conducted by Robert O. Ragland
Lyrics by Aruther Hamilton
Music Arranged by Jack Hayes and Robert O. Ragland
Orchestrated by Jack Hayes

User Reviews

Not-so-gentle Ben

To say that "Grizzly" is a rip-off of "Jaws" is only going part way to describing the genesis of the film. It has also taken a page from "The Towering Inferno" with opening credits that are so similar in their presentation that it's laughable. (There's even a lodge owner with the same type of glasses William Holden wore in "Inferno".) The film follows the basic formula (which would be copied in dozens of films thereafter) of "Jaws" with innocent people being mauled and devoured by an unseen enemy. Like Bruce the shark, Grizzly doesn't make his full appearance right away. Rather, the audience is treated to perspective shots of branches and foliage being shoved away as he approaches the next morsel...er...camper. (This approach was also utilized in the 1976 "King Kong", so the derivation continues.) George plays something akin to Head Ranger of the forest in question. When he isn't head-butting with the park supervisor (Dorsey), he's calling upon buddies Jaeckel (a naturist who prowls around with pelts on his back to better study the animal kingdom) and Prine (a helicopter-piloting Vietnam veteran) to help him track down this man-killing beast. Meanwhile, the body count rises and rises as victims fail to notice a 15 foot, 2000-lb grizzly bear coming up to them from nowhere! Finally, just when the cast is dwindling to that of a one man show, the climactic showdown between man and beast occurs with the bear getting a similar comeuppance as Bruce the shark did in "Jaws". Some of the scenery in the film is nice, though apart from the credit sequence, it is hardly ever exploited to its full potential. The three lead males do an okay job with Jaeckel scoring the most points with his quirky portrayal. It's a little sad to see George literally chain-smoking through the film when he would be dead of a heart attack in just 6 years at age 54. Prine affects a spotty cornpone accent that does little to bring his sketchy character to life. By far the worst presence in the film is that of McCall as George's love interest. Not only does her character have nothing to do with the plot or the title beast at all, but the actress is so annoying that one keeps hoping she will be next in line for the human buffet. Looking like a less-surgically-enhanced Katie Couric and with a voice twice as grating, she is a big debit to the film. WHERE was Lynda Day George?? Though the formula of "See camper, See camper die" gets more than a little tiresome, there are a couple of memorable moments. One is when the bear wants one victim so badly, he levels a towering ranger station! Among the sillier moments is one in which a female ranger says she is going to soak her feet in the stream, yet proceeds to strip down to bra and panties and let her hair out of its ponytail! There are campy bits like heads, arms and so forth being yanked off (mostly suggested rather than explicitly shown) and plenty of fake blood spewing here and there. There are worse "Animals on the rampage" flicks, but this is hardly a strong piece of movie-making. In a useless aside, both Prine and George posed for nude photos of themselves in the 70's, but here nary even a chest is in sight.