Village of the Giants (1965)

Delinquent teen-agers ingest a substance and grow thirty feet tall, then proceed to take over a small town.

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

H.G. Wells (novel), Alan Caillou (screenplay)

Stars:

Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Kirk	...	Mike
Johnny Crawford	...	Horsey
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
Ron Howard	...	Genius (as Ronny Howard)
The Beau Brummels	...	Themselves / Singers
Ron Elliott	...	Himself (as The Beau Brummels)
Ron Meagher	...	Himself (as The Beau Brummels)

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:

enlargement | downpour | teenager | teensploitation | hixploitation | 

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Taglines:

She's 30 feet tall!

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

The Unofficial Fanpage of Village of the Giants [United States]

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, 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

The beer that the delinquent teens drink after crashing their car is the once popular Blatz Beer.

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Goofs

After the giants return to normal size, there is a shot of a man on the courthouse steps, and the shadow of the camera is visible in the bottom left hand corner.

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Quotes

Elsa: I'm hungry too. What's for breakfast?
Fred: Sheriff, on toast.

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Connections

Featured in Svengoolie: Village of the Giants (2009)

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Soundtracks

Little Bitty Corrine
by Frank Slay and Freddie Cannon (as Fredrick A. Picariello)
Performed by Freddie Cannon

User Reviews

Poorly directed, poor acting, low budget, but fun.

If you want to watch a well made movie, this isn't it. 'Village of the Giants' seems to be a B movie that was intended to attract young kids and the teen audience of the early 1960s. What you will find here is a poorly directed, low budget, movie with bad acting, cheap special effects, and a plot that goes no where. You'll see a lot of bikini clad teenagers, go go dancing to some mild, early rock and roll music played by the Beau Brummels. The camera does show a lot of cleavage shots and wiggling butts that surely was and is one of the movies main attractions. This movie was most likely considered a little racy for it's day. Quite a bit of this movie brings up the anti authority, good teen versus bad teen issue. This is all very mild by today's standards. Actually this makes it humorous in today's world and it can be mildly entertaining if not taken too seriously. It is nice to see Ron Howard as a child actor in this movie playing the part of 'Genius'. You'll also find a couple of ex Mickey Mouse Club members in the cast. 'Village of the Giants' could be considered one of those 'it's so bad it's good' movies. You have to view this as a fun, but stupid movie and by no means look at it with a critical eye. Under the harsh light of criticism,'Village of the Giants' will disintegrate into the smallest piece of dust.