Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century
Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century
| 23 December 1977 (USA)
Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century Trailers

Professor Wassermann is asked by industry magnate Morgan Hunnicut to lead an expedition to study the giant Yeti creature found frozen in a large ice block on Newfoundland's coast. The professor does not know that Hunnicut intends to use the prehistoric creature as a trademark of its multinational industrial group. A very big mistake.

Reviews
StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.
Thehibikiew Not even bad in a good way
Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
jfgibson73 With a giant monster movie, you really only need a good-looking monster and some fun action sequences to make me happy. Yet, not many of the movies I've seen in this genre ended up being much fun. Here is one that I enjoyed for the most part. It is cheaply made and has laughable acting, dialog, and special effects. It would be one of the worst movies ever for someone expecting a straight up adventure film. For fans of b-movies and camp classics, it has its moments.The movie starts out with some routine exposition, but once the monster gets going, it delivers. The look of the monster is pretty goofy, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it. The facial expressions the actor uses are just so crazy, especially his often-used sad puppy dog face. He becomes protective of two children, but gets tangled in the crossfire of two companies battling for supremacy (I forget which industry the companies are involved in, but obviously something with a stake in 50-foot cavemen). The movie is most fun when the Yeti is allowed to be destructive. It's hard to imagine a movie getting made today in which a giant monster would be showed stepping on the bad guys. There was also a good tease at the end that looked like the Yeti would meet a tragic end as a result of not belonging in the modern world. I liked the fact that the movie didn't end predictably and the Yeti was allowed to return to nature. The final shot of the Yeti superimposed over images of giant ice flows falling apart was an appropriately crazy was to end this out-of-control mess. Except for several stretches that were fairly slow, the movie was worth the watch. Although it is not a well made movie, as many IMDb reviewers have pointed out, there are those of us who will find it entertaining.
Woodyanders Most yeti pictures are fatally undermined by a grave paucity of energy and enthusiasm. Not so this gloriously bent, batty and berserk over-the-top Italian-made shot-in-Canada kitsch gut-buster: It's a wildly ripe and vigorously moronic ghastly marvel which reaches a stunning apotheosis of righteously over-baked "what the hell's going on?" crackpot excess and inanity.A freighter ship crew discovers the body of a 30-foot yeti that resembles a hirsute 70's disco stud (complete with jumbo wavy afro) perfectly preserved in a large chunk of ice. They dethaw the beast, jolt him back to life with electric charges, grossly mistreat him, and keep the poor hairy Goliath in an enormous glass booth. Before you can say "Hey, the filmmakers are obviously ripping off 'King Kong'," our titanic abominable snowdude breaks free of his cage, grabs the first luscious nubile blonde Euro vixen (the gorgeous Pheonix Grant) he lays lustful eyes on, and storms away with his new lady love. The yeti gets recaptured and flown to Toronto to be showed off to a gawking audience. Of course, he breaks free again, nabs the vixen, and goes on the expected stomping around the city rampage.The sublimely stupid dialogue (sample line: "Philosophy has no place in science, professor"), cheesy (far from) special effects (the horrendous transparent blue screen work and cruddy Tonka toy miniatures are especially uproarious in their very jaw-dropping awfulness), clunky (mis)direction, and a heavy-handed script that even attempts a clumsily sincere "Is the yeti a man or a beast?" ethical debate all combine together to create one of the single most delightfully ridiculous giant monster flicks to ever roar its absurd way across the big screen. Better still, we also have a few funky offbeat touches to add extra shoddy spice to the already succulently schlocky cinematic brew: the vixen accidentally brushes against one of the yeti's nipples, which causes it to harden and elicits a big, leering grin of approval from the lecherous behemoth (!); the vixen nurses the yeti's wounded hand while he makes goo-goo eyes at her, the yeti smashes windows with his feet while climbing a towering office building, and the furry fellow even breaks a man's neck with his toes (!!). Overall, this singularly screwball and shamefully unheralded should-be camp classic stands tall as a remarkable monolith of infectiously asinine celluloid lunacy that's eminently worthy of a substantial hardcore underground cult following.
Wizard-8 I can understand Italian producers wanting to cash in on the publicity Dino De Laurentiis' remake of KING KONG generated, but seeing the end results here I am utterly perplexed as to why these particular Italian producers thought they could make a passable clone with such little money and lack of technical know-how! How bad are the effects? Well, in many cases when you see the giant yeti (the size of which keeps changing throughout the movie!), you can *see through him*, because of the cheap way the effects artists combined two separate shots! The shoddy effects also add to such already bizarrely hilarious moments like the fish skeleton and the shot of the yeti's nipple (you read that last one right!)As you can probably guess, this is a remarkably goofy film, especially since it seems aimed at a family audience because of two child characters central to the action, as well as the scientist character acting somewhat clownish. What's surprising is how violent the movie is, with several graphic deaths (not all caused by the yeti!) At least these scenes help wake you up, because despite all the incompetence, it all becomes pretty tiresome quickly. Some Canadians may be interested in how it was extensively shot in the Toronto area, and even taking place there instead of being disguised as an American location. Though upon watching it, they'll soon see why they haven't heard of it before! If you want to see a more successful Italian movie shot in Canada (and also taking place there!), check out "Strange Shadows In An Empty Room", which was shot around the same time.
MovieCriticMarvelfan People forget that there have been several King Kong ripoffs- Congo, King Kong Vs. Godzilla, King Kong (1976), they all ripoff one another, but YETI stands on its own. It only borrows one element from King Kong and that is the animal's attraction with one female.The YETI myth is based on Bigfoot (not like King Kong)and archeologists have been fascinated it, at one time they did exist,but there is no scientific data to prove it.This movie is hard to find ,but its worth watching it. The first time I watched it was on "Elvira's Mistress of the Dark Shows" in the early 1980's. It sent chills down my spine as a kid, especially when the YETI got mad. I saw it again, around 1:00am on ABC about 2 to 3yrs ago. Seeing it again made me appreciate it more, it has some overall good effects (for its time) and the story involves a mute boy and his dog, and an evil businessman person who wants to kill the YETI for his own purposes. Also the music is pretty cool,its very YETI like. :-)Gianfranco Parolini and the Yetians creates a great monster like atmosphere.Vote 7 and half out of 10.