Eegah (1962)

Teenagers stumble across a prehistoric caveman, who goes on a rampage.

Director:

Arch Hall Sr. (as Nicholas Merriwether)

Writers:

Bob Wehling (screenplay), Arch Hall Sr. (original story) (as Nicholas Merriwether)

Stars:

Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Arch Hall Jr.	...	Tom
Marilyn Manning	...	Roxy
Richard Kiel	...	Eegah
Arch Hall Sr.	...	Miller / Mr. Miller (as William Watters)
Clay Stearns	...	Band Member
Bob Davis	...	George
Deke Richards	...	Band Member (as Deke Lussier)
Ron Shane	...	Detective
Addalyn Pollitt	...	George's Wife
Lloyd Williams	...	Mr. Kruger, Helcopter Pilot (as William Lloyd)
Ray Dennis Steckler	...	Mr. Fishman (as Ray Steckler)
Bill Rice	...	Chef

Storyline

While driving through the desert, a teenage girl is frightened by a seven-foot giant which appears in her path. After escaping, she returns to the site with her boyfriend and her father in an attempt to find the giant. They do, and it proceeds to terrorize them and the rest of Palm Springs, California.

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Plot Keywords:

eating with one's fingers | beard | bearded man | kidnapped woman | neanderthal | 

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Taglines:

The Crazed Love of a Prehistoric Giant for a Ravishing Teenage Girl!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Music

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 1965 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Eegah!

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fairway International Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastman Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The helicopter featured is a Bell 47G-2 (serial #2005, registration N5187B). The Bell 47 series helicopters are probably seen in more productions than any others, and it was the first ever featured in a TV show.

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Goofs

In close-ups, the helicopter pilot has rather bushy hair, but in the long shot, when he's landing the helicopter, he has a crew cut.

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Quotes

Tom: You're funny, Mr. Miller. Really funny.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teen-Age Strangler (1993)

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Soundtracks

Valerie
Written by Arch Hall Jr. and Deke Richards
Performed by Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers

User Reviews

"Did I mention my tires are filled with water?? ....My tires are filled with water!!"

Watching this movie is an experience akin to being run over by a dairy truck...it leaves you dazed and confused, with an overwhelming memory of cheese.

'Eegah!" is one of those enjoyably wretched films of a long gone era, made in a time when anyone thought they could make a film, and indeed, anyone could. (See "Manos" or "Teenage Strangler" for further examples.). The script is so disconnected and incoherent, the actors so unconvincing and affected, the whole vibe so amateurish and transparent in its effort to be cool and hip and with it, while having no clue as to what 'hip' really is....that you almost want to affectionately pat the cast and crew on their little heads and comfort them. "There, there, Arch Hall Sr., you did your best, that's all that matters," you want to say.

That is, when you don't want everyone associated with the film dead.

Arch Hall Jr. has been the target of numerous remarks comparing his face and appearance unfavorably to everything up to "a pile of napalmed squirrels heaped around a parking meter" (Rick Johnson from Creem magazine). In his defense, I am sure that he probably didn't look all that bad in person. But there is that unfortunate blond Pompadour and an unfortunate snub nose and too much skin bronzer, and the results on camera are indescribably uncompelling. So the camera hates him, and the poor kid is completely out of his depth; he can't act, he can't sing, and he can't do action, and the director keeps forcing him to do all those things front and center for the entire movie. You can only wonder if the kid actually thought his performance in EEGAH was going to make him the new Fabian, or if he knew that he would be lucky not to get lynched by the public when the film was released.

There are three songs 'performed' (along with an swinging band instrumental piece) by AH Jr in this film, and they are all guaranteed classics of unintended low comedy. The most side splitting is the one where Arch and his amps are poolside, and he starts lip-syncing to a song about about 'Vicki'.A coloratura soprano voice kicks in behind him a measure later, doing solfeggio on the melody line a full two octaves above his thin little voice and completely overpowering it. It's the goofiest, most overblown, inappropriate thing possible to do to this simple little ballad, but they tear right into it with gusto. What was the arranger smoking when he came up with this? (Or what did he start smoking in order to get through having to arrange it in the first place???)

The plot is also endearingly pathetic in its attempt to work in a 'Beauty and The Beast' motif between the female lead and Eegah himself...Roxy is apparently supposed to be torn between her fear of Eegah and her sympathy for him as an innocent. Or else she's supposed to be torn between Eegah and Arch Hall Jr. However...I have no idea what the young lady playing the girl was like in real life, but there has rarely been a poorer choice to play an ingénue. She does faint on cue real good, though.

Any time a film chooses to end with a quote from the Bible, you can bet that the filmmakers knew they were in trouble and wanted to invoke a 'class act' so they could gain validity from association. Given how creepy and self important Arch Hall Sr's performance was during the film, his quote from the Old Testament about "There were Giants In the Earth' , which was meant to serve as Eegah's eulogy comes completely out of nowhere, and leaves you going..."What? Huh?" And the final embrace between Archy and Roxy, where he dubs in the line "Remember...I love you" and no ones' lips move is fully as bad as "Watch Out For Snakes"...but because it comes after the movie has bludgeoned the viewer fully into a coma, I don't think people remember it as often.

Watch EEGAH! at least once. You'll have a great time heaping scorn on it.