In the seventies Jaws was
big business which meant that all the independent filmmakers wanted their own
animal attacks movie. Grizzly, from director William Girdler, was one of the
first to market. It also happens to be the best of the bunch. With the new
Blu-Ray getting released it was time for me to upgrade and check out this old
favorite.
Classic poster |
Two girls
are camping in the woods, which itself shouldn’t be much concern. But we the
audience gets to see that something is stalking them. There is an attack, an
arm comes off, and the rangers are alerted when the girls don’t check in. This
leads our main character, Ranger Kelly, to realize that there is a rogue bear
in his woods. He also realizes quickly that the park supervisor is going to
blame everything on him for “missing” one when the moved them to the high
country. Kelly goes looking for help in the form of a bear expert named Arthur
Scott, who figures out that this isn’t your normal black bear. It is a grizzly
and a huge prehistoric throwback at that!
The rest
of the movie is taken up by a series of attacks on people unlucky enough to
cross paths with the beast. In hot pursuit are Kelly, Scott, and a helicopter
pilot named Stober. The three men bicker and do battle with the menace… sound
familiar? Finally, after some blood is shed we finally get the answer to the
age-old question that has plagued mankind. Who wins in a fight between grizzly
bear and rocket launcher?
Well she was disarmed by the bear... Ha! I made a funny. |
This is a
great movie that I remember watching on television in the late seventies. The
plot is solid and wastes no time getting us to the good stuff. Director Girdler
keeps the action moving spreading the kills evenly in with the character and
story development. The movie focuses on the three male leads played excellently
by Christopher George (Kelly), Andrew Prine (Stober), and the always awesome
Richard Jaeckel (Scott). Much like the movie that Grizzly is attempting to
emulate the dynamic between the three men hunting for the bear is the heart and
soul of the plot. We even get a take on the epic monologue with Stober telling
a story about an Indian village and a pack of bears that mirrors Quint’s from
Jaws.
I will say
in an effort to stay on the male leads it feels like the female love interest
and the obstructive park supervisor are ignored and disappear far too quickly.
Why were they even included if they were going to be discarded and never return
long before the movie ends? That is really my only complaint about Grizzly.
We get a
combination of mechanical bear and real one in the attack sequences. If you
pick up the Blu-Ray make sure to check out the special features where they
explain how they wrangled the bear to get the shots that they needed for the
movie. It is interesting to see how they pulled this off without anyone
becoming supper. The bear wasn’t trained all too well and was quite large. I’ve
already mentioned that we see an arm off early on, but we also see a horse lose
its head, and a little boy lose his leg. R.I.P. horsey!
This is an
excellent example of a movie that was made for the drive-in circuit to cash in
on what was popular at the time. The ingenuity of independent filmmakers to get
the money and get these things shot and in the drive-ins before their window
closed has always fascinated me. When the movie is good, like Grizzly, I
consider it a bonus. I highly recommend this one and if you can pick up the new
Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber.
© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer
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