Monday, November 9, 2009

GRIZZLY


It's no secret that this movie is a blatant rip off of the "Jaws" formula, so I'm gonna get the hows out of the way right off the bat.

Locale: State forest, being ravaged by unusually aggressive Grizzly bear, is on brink of being closed down for the busiest holiday time of the year. Needless to say, the Superintendent is not thrilled.

Hero: Park Ranger (Christopher George) sick of being muscled by the bureaucrats, bent on stopping the horrific bear killings.

Grizzled Naturalist: Although, unlike Hooper of "Jaws", being a rich kid with lots of high-tech toys, he's a freakin' weirdo who lays around in strange woodland disguises, trying to record info on the local wildlife.

Pilot with war stories: Andrew Prine plays a helicopter pilot who helps in the search for the bear, even spins a campfireside yarn about Vietnam bloodbaths, ala Robert Shaw's lengthy USS Indianapolis monologue in "Jaws".

And an exploding killer creature.

The whys. To make money. "Grizzly" was the highest grossing independent film of it's year, which I believe was 1976. A surprising amount of blood for a PG-rated movie makes the movie still maintain an occasional shock value, but the FX are terrible, and some of the acting is even worse.

Lots of nice scenery though. Gorgeous woodland locales. I stayed up late for this one many times. It's a true crap classic.

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