AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Michael_Elliott The Amazing Colossal Man (1958)** (out of 4)Lt. Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) is one of many people at a test site for a plutonium bomb when things take a bad turn. A plane crashes near the bomb so Manning runs to try and save the pilot but the bomb ends up going off. He's left with third degree burns but the doctors are shocked when the next day his skin is like brand new. Soon they begin to realize that he's growing at a rapid pace and it's having an effect on his mind.THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN is one colossal bore. It's easy to see why this film has gained such a huge following but I honestly believe it's due to the posters and promotional stills more than the film itself. Director Bert I. Gordon made a career out of doing these "growth" pictures so there's no question that he was qualified for the material but you have to wonder what the screenwriters were thinking because the film just doesn't have much in it.Well, to be honest, the screenwriters were probably limited due to the tight budget so this is perhaps why the majority of the film has the colossal man sitting in a bed or under a tent. These scenes just drag out the running time and in the end they're just downright boring. Also boring is the relationship with the fiancé because she basically just stands around asking if there's anything she can do. The film finally picks up some steam during its final act when the giant breaks free in Las Vegas but by the time this happens it's just too late.The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a movie like this. The special effects are all pretty lame and it's obvious how they were done. Even for the standards of the era these effects really aren't all that special. THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN is slightly entertaining if you like this genre but there's no question that there's not too much here.

gavin6942 Lt. Col. Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) is inadvertently exposed to a plutonium bomb blast at Camp Desert Rock. Though burned over 90% of his body, he survives, and begins to grow in size.Jim Nicholson of American International Pictures had the rights to Homer Eon Flint's 1928 novel, "The Nth Man" about a man who was 10 miles high. Nicholson thought it could be adapted to cash in on the success of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (released six months earlier in 1957) and originally announced Roger Corman as director. Charles B. Griffith was hired to adapt the novel and he turned it into a comedy. Then Corman dropped out and Bert Gordon was hired. Gordon worked on the script with Griffith but the collaboration only lasted a day before Griffith quit. Instead, Griffith's regular writing partner, Mark Hanna stepped in.Before Gordon became involved, the film was conceived with Dick Miller in mind for the lead. Unfortunately, this never happened, though it would have been a great casting coup. It was Gordon's first movie for AIP. Interestingly, although he has come to be known as "Mr. BIG", this was not even his own idea! Paul Corupe calls the film "a surprisingly nuanced creature feature dealing with the emotional aspect of body horror." He sees it as an "atomic-age update" to "The Wolf Man" in that sense, which seems a stretch. But the point is correct -- although now seen as campy or cheap, it was actually rather clever in its own way. They even bothered to address the issue of how his clothes grow.

MARIO GAUCI For the most part, this is easily among director Gordon's better genre outings: incidentally, the Atom Age of Fantasy movies supplied numerous titles in which animals expand to enormous size as an after-effect of radioactive contamination, but this affliction was occasionally directed to humans as well – including the notorious ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN (1958) and the film under review. Here, we get a U.S. Army officer (Glenn Langan) being exposed to a Plutonium bomb blast and having his skin literally torn away, including all his hair; however, this ostensibly dead tissue regenerates itself after just one day and, slowly but surely, he himself grows to gigantic proportions! The script makes a valiant attempt to treat both the spectacular and psychological aspects of the central theme; indeed, it succeeds much better in the latter department (the hero understandably despairs over his unwarranted condition, which invariably affects his relationship with devoted fiancée Cathy Downs, but is also shown to have a debilitating impact on his physical and mental health!) than in the former (courtesy of the exceedingly dated special effects work, rendering the somewhat rushed climax all the more underwhelming!). A couple of scientists are brought in to attempt to reverse the process but, by the time, they hit upon a cure (having managed to shrink both a camel and an elephant!), Langan's character has gone off the deep end (not even recognizing his girl or bothering to speak anymore) and on the rampage in Las Vegas! In the end, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN is the type of picture for which drive-in cinemas were created (actually, Gordon would have this very film playing at one such setting during his own ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE {1958}, which I watched only last week!).

mrb1980 "The Amazing Colossal Man" gets my vote for Bert I. Gordon's best movie, meaning that it's not nearly as bad as his others.Gordon's sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s had the same basic plot: 1. Monster is created. 2. Monster attacks. 3. Monster is destroyed, accompanied by inept special effects. In this film, luckless serviceman Glenn Manning (Langan) is exposed to intense radiation from a plutonium bomb, and is burned over his entire body. The attending physician (Hudson) gives him zero chance for survival, but the next morning his skin has miraculously healed. Afterwards, Manning disappears, and his wife (Downs) finds him at a remote army base--50 feet tall! The healing process apparently had some unintended side-effects, and now Manning is kept in a circus tent. Hudson tells Downs that Manning is in pretty bad shape, and that "his mind will go first", a sure clue to the rest of the film. Sure enough, Manning goes crazy and escapes into the Nevada desert. Meanwhile an Army scientist (Larry Thor) has succeeded in his miniaturization experiments, and thinks if he can just give Manning an injection, everything will be fine. Of course, the usual no-nonsense 1950s Army guy (James Seay) shows up and says that if Manning causes any trouble, "we'll stop him cold!" Manning attacks Las Vegas, tearing up a few casino signs and causing a ruckus. Off go Hudson, Downs, and Thor in a helicopter, toting a 6-foot hypodermic needle. In the film's best (and funniest) sequence, Thor and Hudson give Manning an injection in his big toe, whereupon Manning picks up the giant needle and impales Thor with it. Sure looks painful.Apparently by now Gordon was out of ideas, because Manning shows up next on Boulder Dam, carries Downs around for a few minutes, then as soon as he puts her down, Seay yells, "FIRE!" His Army guys blast Manning with a variety of weapons, and in a very bad show of special effects, Manning ends up in the Colorado River. The End.What sets "The Amazing Colossal Man" apart from the rest of Gordon's 1950s films are the story and acting. The story is actually pretty intelligent (compared with, say, "The Beginning of the End"). The acting is not bad, and the little-known Langan gives something of a minor tour-de-force as Manning. Hudson, Downs, and Thor are also quite adequate in their roles.I recommend this film as a pretty good time-filler. Try watching without paying too much attention to the special effects. Gordon actually filmed a sequel, "War of the Colossal Beast", but it's pretty rock-bottom.