Tonight on MeTV- we’ve brought back a sort of “beach party” movie- minus the beach- featuring some MeTV actors, a favorite singer pal of ours, some colossal cuties and super-sized studs- in a crazy sci fi dramedy from the mind of Bert I. Gordon, king of oversized menace movies! It all begins when a familiar–looking boy genius cooks up a formula that causes BIG trouble in what becomes the “Village of the Giants”!
We meet a group of alleged teens ( some seem a little older than adolescent) whose car breaks down on the outskirts of a quiet California town- and, after an impromptu dance in a mud pit, decide to go dirty up the local burg- in more ways than one! At home in the town , local gal Nancy is flirting with her boyfriend Mike, while her younger brother- nicknamed “Genius” for reasons about to become evident- is deep in his scientific experiments. His latest creation just so happens to explode, producing some pink foam that- when ingested by some ducks and his dog- makes them grow to titanic size!
Meanwhile, the semi-juvenile delinquents we saw earlier have broken into a deserted theatre to clean up, then head to a local dance club (where ‘60s sensations the Beau Brummels happen to be playing)! Nancy and Mike are there as well, and have a run-in with these visitors –when the giant ducks created by Genius’ “Goo” show up to astound the teen crowd! The newly- arrived troublemaker teens get wind of the fact that Mike knows how the birds got so big- and form their own “get rich quick” scheme; they’ll find some way to nab the formula, then sell it for big bucks! A random meeting with Genius by one of the female schemers helps them discover where the growth “Goo” is- and they set out to steal it!
Once they pull off their heist, and reconvene back at their theatre lair- a power struggle ensues, resulting in a dare contest- with everybody challenged to prove how fearless they are by eating a piece of the purloined pink stuff. Brave or fool-hearty, the delinquents each sample some of it- and the results are startling! They grow into giants- out-growing their clothing ( not that we’re complaining about that happening to a few of them)- and realize that with great size- comes great power that they plan to exercise!
The towering teens take control the town- cutting off any contact with the outside world. They take a hostage that keep the Sheriff at bay, and force the rest of the populace to do their bidding. Seeing the town’s adult population brought to their knees by the giants, Mike decides the only ones who can end their dictatorial take-over are he and his pals. Will the decent kids be able to save the town- and will Genius be able to use his intellect to bring the bad boys (and girls) down to size?
This 1965 movie was most certainly aimed at the teen audiences that were enjoying that era’s “Frankie and Annette”-type films- and followed their formula of handsome guys, pretty girls, and the combination of goofy comedy and some rock and roll – with a dosage of science fiction tossed in! Among the musical acts, you’ll see our friend Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon! As for the cast, we’ll fill you in on the familiar faces- including Ron Howard as “Genius”, Tommy Kirk as Mike, Beau Bridges as bad boss boy Fred, Johnny Crawford as good guy Horsey ( maybe a nod to his work in “The Rifleman”?), and 1982 hit maker Toni ”Oh Mickey” Basil as the dynamic dancing machine Red- as well as the luscious Tisha Sterling. Since Freddy Cannon is along for the ride- we’ll encore his fun live performance from this past Halloween season, with me joining him on stage! And, just in case this movie isn’t quite your cup of goo, we’ve added in just a little Svensurround throughout the movie.
"Village of the Giants" appears, bigger than life, on MeTV tonight at 8pm eastern/pacific, 7 central – if you’re not sure where and when to find us in your area, just check your local listings or at www.metv.com . Once again- MeTV invites you to live-tweet along with the hordes of fans on Twitter during the show- make sure you finish up your Tweet with the hashtag #svengoolie . Chicago area viewers can get wrapped up one more time by the “Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb” at 11 am on WCIU, the U !
Another Sven anniversary shirt is less than two weeks away! Be watching for it in our store. Also, make plans to see me at the Flashback Weekend horror convention on August 2nd and 3rd- there will be a special celebration of my anniversary Friday evening, a limited schedule of professionally- shot photo ops with me both Friday and Saturday, and my usual Saturday signing and hosting the costume contest. There will also be a special reception Saturday night at the Murray Brothers “Caddyshack” restaurant for VIP ticket holders only! Find more info under the “appearances” tab here on our website.
Join us tonight for some BIG time fun that’ll put the “goo” in “good times” on MeTV !
1770 Comments
The plot of the original is easily one of the ten best plotlines, ever, and has been re-used over and over, beyond even the more straightforward remakes. Both _Samurai_ and _Magnificent_ have fantastic soundtracks. _Samurai_ has a Toho Studios soundtrack with lots of brass, particularly trombones. _Magnificent_ features Elmer Bernstein's best work, from one of Hollywood's best composers. When the casts including Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Daisuke Katō, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Isao Kimura, Shinpei Takagi, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, Horst Buchholz, and Eli Wallach, what more can be said?
While _Battle_ wade's gleefully deep into the cheese--what do expect for a project involving Roger Corman?--the film does have its redeeming virtues. Robert Vaughn reprises his role from _Magnificent_. John Saxon is the heavy while George Peppard is the Space Cowboy. Richard Thomas pilots a starship with bosoms and Sybil Dancing is a Valkyrie with barely armored bosoms. In other roles are stalwarts Sam Jaffe and Jeff Corey. Marta Kristen is from Richard Thomas's planet and starts a relationship with the Space Cowboy as an older than ingenue analog to the Japanese and Mexican farmgirls in _Samurai_ and Magnificent_. Kathy Griffin makes her first screen appearance as an uncredited alien extra. What's not to like?
Wear it in good health!
Forbidden Planet is one of my favorite movies.
So I have been joking that Sven is playing it as my birthday present.
"What driver?"
Looking at the roadmap, K'ville is not so far off my track as I thought. I just can't plan that far ahead...
Also, as we'll see, Walter does not turn out to be a stool Pidgeon. See what I did there?
Keep that as a surprise.
That would have been a gas! See what I did there?
("If the slipper don't fit, you don't have to commit!")
Am having some Forbidden Fruits for breakfast, in preparation for tomorrow.
http://willoughbywolf.com
Stop calling me Shirley, and yes, Leslie Nielsen is in tomorrow`s movie.
Thanks for the birthday present, Sven!
Have not had coffee
yet but it's ☕ it's brewing 😊
Here we are Friday 🎩
Sven eve yeah🤖 good movie for tomorrow!
Oh happy day's 😱
We will be 104* the humidity is 50% 😨
stuffy and hot already
⛅ it rained last night and it's already 80*
only 7:am 🌡
Somewhere I heard could reach 120* ☠
that is deadly oh my gosh not sure where
terrible 😵
Our Sunday could reach
110* 😨 yikes!
Have to go out this🚗...
morning with my son and husband then to lunch 😉 or maybe it will be take out!
Well the heat is on in many places be safe
everyone keep cool🍦
my friends 🎏 🌬
Of Robbie the Robot and the Krell Id-monster, which is Ariel and which is Caliban? Explain and give examples.
My favorite Shakespearean play has always been OTHELLO, mainly because I love anything with monsters, and this one has a green-eyed one (LOL).
