BA_Harrison I watched director William Girdler's animal attack movie Grizzly a while back and completely forgot to write a review about it. Still, it doesn't matter too much that the details are now a little vague, because this film can be summed up easily in three words: Jaws on land.Instead of swimmers being gobbled up in the sea, it's hikers and campers that are on the menu of an 18-foot tall grizzly bear in a national park, with concerned ranger Michael Kelly (Christopher George) in charge of hunting the hairy beast down. He is aided in this task by naturalist Scott (Richard Jaeckel) and helicopter pilot, Don (Andrew Prine), but is hampered by a stupid official who wants to keep the park open.Of course, Girdler's film isn't a patch on Jaws, the director not nearly in the same class as Spielberg when on top form, but it does offer up some cheesy B-movie fun, with a few gory killings (the first victim has her arm torn off and is gripped in a deadly bear hug, a young boy loses his leg, and a horse is decapitated!), an entertaining attack on a lookout tower, and a craptabulous finale in which the bear has a go at Don's helicopter before finally being blown to smithereens with a rocket launcher.

Thom Sirveaux Grizzly is, as many reviewers have noted, basically Jaws on land. Except cheaper. And not as well written. And not Jaws.It is wonderfully fun for what it is. The gore effects aren't too over-the-top, but they represent the budget this movie must've been made on back in 1976.One thing that's really worth noting is that the color effects are delightfully 60s-70s. The colors are rich and vibrant, with strong dark contrasts. The visual texture of the film has a very gritty feel to it, a heavy realism that is both reminiscent of filmstrips and such of the 60s and 70s that were used well into the late 80s. It's a rich color that becomes nostalgic for the time period.The writing and characters are often what you'd expect, with a couple surprises, but the actors take their roles seriously and some of the over-the-top clichéd dialog is delivered with such a straight face that it's actually good. Exchanges like "Listen -" "NO, YOU LISTEN!" carry a lot of acting talent with them - even if they were clichés then - they're played straight and played well. There is a lot of manly manliness in the movie, but none of it is parody, and that gives it a wonderfully dated charm as well.Richard Jaeckel's character is great every time he's on screen. His proto-Timothy Treadwell is a great addition to the story, and is a lot of fun.The monster effects, like the gore effects, are limited by a small budget, but they're adequate for the story, and are still fun.The ending is unintentionally wonderful if you watch it as a bad movie, and adequate if you watch it as a good movie.Overall, if you like bad movies, you'll be pleasantly surprised by this as a really good bad movie. If you like good movies, you'll be pleasantly surprised with the earnestness of the film, and you'll enjoy the visuals as well as the often quite good acting.

Bezenby This film scared the crap out of me when I was a small kid (what were my parents thinking?), so it was about time I relived it. I'm glad to say that although this is a rip off of some other movie (Enzo Castellari's The Last Shark I think), Grizzly is an effective animal on the loose film. And, strangely, the fourth film in a row I've watched set in a forest (after Forest of Fear, Don't go in the woods, and Attack of the beast creatures).Everything's dandy for forest ranger Kelly (Christopher George) and his helicopter pilot mate Andrew Prine (Andrew Prine) until two girls get gorily dismembered and eaten by a giant grizzly. In a plot point never done before in another film, the park's owner doesn't want to shut the park down due to tourist revenue, so it's up to Kelly, Prine, and some guy who walks around pretending to be an animal to find the Grizzly and put a cap in his arse.The bear, however, is super smart and chows down on rangers and tourists alike, killing one ranger while she rather unwisely takes a topless shower under a waterfall. In another plot point never thought before, some hunters set out to bring down the bear which just leads to more trouble.Two scenes have stayed with me over the years. The part where the bear attacks a small child and his mother, and the bit where one of the trackers is mauled, buried alive, and gets back up again to find the bear is waiting for him. There is something rather intimidating about a crazed, giant bear chasing people through a forest (unlike the film Grizzly rips off, which I think is Bruno Mattei's Cruel Jaws, once you're on land a shark can't chase you, but a giant bear in a forest seems like a bit more desperate situation especially as this one can tear down walls).It was gorier than I remembered, as limbs are torn off (including a child losing a leg), a horse having it's head torn off, and faces being clawed. I couldn't believe it when after the film a notice came up saying the film was a PG! Maybe my parents shouldn't have trusted such notices when I was a child.If Christopher George has made a bad film, I've not seen it. Just watch Pieces, Enter the Ninja and City of the Living Dead for further examples. What's that you say? Graduation Day? Hmm - time for me to go

ferbs54 A common thread runs through the four films of director William Girdler that I have seen: All are somewhat crudely made, shlocky entertainments, and all are nevertheless quite fun to watch. First, there was 1975's "Sheba, Baby," a lesser Pam Grier action flick; then, 1976's "Project: Kill," with Leslie Nielsen (of all people) starring as a drug-enhanced secret agent on the run who gets involved with the forever yummy Nancy Kwan; and then 1978's "The Manitou," in which a large tumor growing on the neck of Susan Strasberg turns out to be the developing fetus of a rebirthing Indian medicine man! And now, for this viewer, 1976's "Grizzly." Released a year after "Jaws" kicked box office tuchus, the film makes zero attempt to conceal its debt to Steven Spielberg's big-fish classic; indeed, the film's poster itself proclaimed its monstrous ursine protagonist "The Most Dangerous Jaws In The Land." In the film, for reasons that are never adequately explained, a 15-foot-tall, 2,000-pound grizzly takes to killing and eating campers in a national park (the viewer must assume it to be Yellowstone or Yosemite, although the picture was shot in Clayton, Georgia, near where the state borders both North and South Carolinas). Thus, it falls on head forest ranger Kelly (Christopher George), chopper pilot Don (Andrew Prine) and maniacal naturalist Scott (the great character actor Richard Jaeckel) to put a stop to the ferocious attacks....To "Grizzly"'s credit, the viewer does not have to wait long to see the film's first attack sequence, and these scenes crop up fairly regularly throughout. The film is fairly bloody (or should I say grisly?), and there really is no way of predicting who will be attacked and who will survive; even little moppets are open game! As if the film's debt to "Jaws" were not already transparent enough, however, "Grizzly" gives us POV shots from the bear's eyes, accompanied by ominous music; a scary nighttime tale told by one of the hunters; a bureaucratic jerk who wants to keep the park open, despite the obvious danger; and an explosive death for the beastly nemesis at the picture's end. The acting by the film's three leads is certainly passable, although the thesping by the lesser players (especially the grizzly's victims) is often quite lame. Girdler's film has been shoddily put together, like his others, and, most egregiously, features a "monster" that just isn't that fear inducing; indeed, despite his murderous inclinations, the grizzly here often looks kinda cute and cuddly (although still a long way from Winnie the Pooh or Yogi!). One element of the film that this viewer did enjoy was the breezy, outdoorsy score by Robert O. Ragland, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra of London; so reminiscent, somehow, of many of these cheezy, mid-'70s entertainments. Other aspects of "Grizzly" to find pleasure in: the best horse decapitation scene since "The Godfather" and the hilarious name of the film's editor-- Bub Asman. I wish MY name was Bub Asman! Anyway, as I mentioned up top, all in all, good, shlocky fun. My psychotronic guru, Rob, by the way, tells me that Girdler's follow-up film, 1977's "Day of the Animals" (also starring George and Jaeckel), is even more fun than this one, and it will surely be my next visit to the world of Girdler....