Bigfoot (1987) (TV)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Danny Huston

Writer:

John Groves (writer)

Release Date:

8 March 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Action

Plot:

A family goes to the mountains for a few days, and there they meet... Bigfoot! |

Plot Keywords:

Bigfoot | Sasquatch

Cast

Adam Carl	...	Kevin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Timothy Brown	...	Reporter #2
Lucy Butler	...	Reporter #1
Candace Cameron Bure	...	Samantha
Jerry Chambers	...	Alice
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Gladys Samco
Gracie Harrison	...	Laura
Joseph Maher	...	Jack Kendrix
Dawan Scott	...	Albert
James Sloyan	...	Dr. Zach Emerson
Bernard White	...	Lazlo (as Bernie White)
Dianne Wiest

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Sweden:11 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Big Bear, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Television

A really nice and pleasant made-for-TV Bigfoot family movie

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Made for television around the same time as "Harry and the Hendersons," this Walt Disney studio production makes for a surprisingly superior Sasquatch children's movie because it carefully avoids all the nauseating sentimental claptrap which made "Harry and the Hendersons" such an insufferably sappy piece of mushy muck.

Two single parents trying to make a go of it as a couple go camping in the Walla Walla mountains with their uncooperative kids in tow. The son digs nature and the daughter likes music, so hence they both can't stand each other and feel like their respective parents are neglecting them. The rivalry between these two characters is accurate and convincing; ditto the grudging acceptance the initially combative pair develop for each other when they get lost in the woods, run into a male and female Sasquatch, and get adopted by the gentle, misunderstood creatures so they can replace the child they recently lost. The parents, assisted by a gruff, but sweet and helpful Diana Fosseyesque lady anthropologist (superbly played by inestimable character actress Colleen Dewhurst), search for the missing kids. Meanwhile, a snide, supercilious millionaire (a pleasingly understated turn by Joseph Maher) doggedly tracks down the Bigfoots; he's assisted by a cynical doubting Thomas Native American helicopter pilot.

Director Danny Huston, the son of the legendary John Huston and the guy to blame for the uproariously awful Burt Reynolds psycho howler "The Maddening," lets the simple story unfold in a low-key and unforced manner, thereby keeping sentiment to a tasteful and thus tolerable minimum. Huston also elicits credible performances from a mostly non-star cast (James Sloyan and Gracie Harrison are solid as the parents; Adam Carl and Candace Cameron are excellent as the kids) and allows the relaxed, leisurely narrative to trot along at a completely believable real-life casually slow pace. John Groves' smart script never degenerates into icky-sweet pathos, dopey slapstick humor or graceless moralizing and draws the characters in a plausible manner. For example, Maher's villain isn't your standard mustache-stroking hamburger; instead he's a smug jerk who simply wants to capture Bigfoot for the glory alone. Moreover, the script cleverly plays around with Sasquatch film conventions and even gives the creatures a few endearing eccentric mannerisms. Frank Flynn's pretty, unflashy cinematography conveys a perfectly arresting approximation of everyday plain reality while Bruce Rowland's liltingly harmonic score is spare and unobtrusive throughout. Overall, "Bigfoot" serves as a textbook example of how to make a fantastic premise absorbing and persuasive by means of a cogently plain no-frills execution that puts said premise within the realms of possibility and rates highly as the only truly up-to-par Bigfoot kiddie picture to ever grace celluloid.