The Good, the Bad & the Absurd
Allison Hayes in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Warner Brothers
Directed by Nathan Juran
Written by Mark Hanna
1hr 5min / Not Rated
CAST: Allison Hayes (Nancy Fowler Archer), William Hudson (Harry Archer), Yvette Vickers (Honey Parker) Roy Gordon (Dr. Isaac Cushing), George Douglas (Sheriff Dubbitt), Ken Terrell (Jess Stout), Otto Waldis (Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb), Ellen Stevens (Nurse), Michael Ross (Tony the Bartender/Space Giant), Frank Chase (Deputy Charlie).
Here we jump ahead to 1958 to look at a movie that is all three: Good, Bad & Absurd. I believe there is more good than bad and equal parts good and absurd; since it is a must see–you be the judge. The plot involves aliens (well, one alien anyway) a cheating husband, a floozy, and one very ticked off wife. The ticked off wife comes in contact with a giant alien and then takes on his proportions. How could you go wrong with that set up?
Allison Hayes, William Hudson & Yvette Vickers as Wife, Cheating Husband and Floozy in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
The movie is more silly science fiction brought to you partly by writer Mark Hanna who had a hand in writing Roger Corman’s incomprehensible The Undead (1957). This film at least has the added bonus of intentionally funny dialogue like:
Honey Parker: Didn’t you say she was in the nuthouse for awhile?
Harry Archer: A private sanitarium.
Honey Parker: What’s the difference. She was off her rocker, wasn’t she?
Harry Archer: I suppose so. They’ve got some fancy name for it.
and:
[Finding a giant footprint on the Archer’s yard]
Deputy Charlie: Wow! What is that?
Sheriff Dubbitt: I don’t know. Whatever it is, it wasn’t made by some Japanese gardener.
The idea of the film was designed to ride the wave of films that were popular at the time, The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). All in all a film that is about what it purports to be about–Attack of the 50 Foot Woman works on its own absurdly funny terms.
Facts, Rumors, & Hearsay
The ad for this movie was designed by Roger Corman and is in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. It was also chosen as one of the 25 best movie posters of all time (coming in at #8) by Premiere Magazine.
Principle photography was completed in only eight days.
NEXT: The Good, the Bad & the Absurd continues…
