The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

Mark Hanna (screenplay) and
Bert I. Gordon (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 March 1958 (Sweden)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Not even the U.S. Army can keep her away from the man she loved--but only the U.S. Army can save her from the monster he became!

Plot:

Lt. Col. Glenn Manning is inadvertently exposed to a plutonium bomb blast at Camp Desert Rock. Though burned over 90% of his body...

Plot Keywords:

Camp Desert Rock | Giant | Mushroom Cloud | Helicopter | Radiation Induced Growth

Cast

Glenn Langan	...	Lt. Col. Glenn Manning (as Glen Langan)
Cathy Downs	...	Carol Forrest
William Hudson	...	Dr. Paul Linstrom
Larry Thor	...	Maj. Eric Coulter, MD
James Seay	...	Col. Hallock
Frank Jenks	...	Truck Driver
Russ Bender	...	Richard Kingman (as Russell Bender)
Hank Patterson	...	Henry
Jimmy Cross	...	Sergeant at Reception Desk
June Jocelyn	...	Nurse Wilson
Stanley Lachman	...	Lt. Cline
Harry Raybould	...	MP at Main Gate
Jean Moorhead	...	Woman in Bathtub
Scott Peters	...	Sgt. Lee Carter
Myron Cook	...	Capt. Thomas

Also Known As:

The Amazing Nth Man (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Approved | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Boulder City, Nevada, USA

Company:

Malibu Productions

Trivia:

American International Pictures released this in a double feature with The Cat Girl (1957).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Colossal Man is rampaging along the strip, four cops standing by two police cars fire at him but when the giant tears the cowboy from atop the Pioneer Club and throws it at them, the cars are gone and there is a crowd of people around the cops.

Quotes:

Manning: [reading newspaper] "Man Lives Through Plutonium Blast"
[laughs cynically]
Manning: They call THIS living?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fear in the Dark (1991) (TV)

Atomic Bombs Away

Burt I. Gordon's "The Amazing Colossal Man" was the first sci-fi film I saw as a kid that actually scared me. But it wasn't the effect of a bald Col. Glenn Manning running around Las Vegas that I found frightening; it was the actual atomic bomb test-blast footage I found so horrific. At the age of six, seeing houses blown like matchsticks into blazing debris was enough to cause nightmares. The same footage (recently restored by Peter Kuran for the "explosive" documentary "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie") can still sends shivers down the spine of any self-respecting anti-nuker.

"The Amazing Colossal Man" still ranks as one of the better b-grade drive-in movies. It is unintentionally funny, full of impossible science and very entertaining. The cast does their best with the material (from a script by George Worthing Yates) but I suspect no one took the project very seriously, least of all Mr. Gordon. It is also highlighted by another thunderous Albert Glasser score.