Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century (1977)

Memorable, crazy movie

A Disappointing Continuation

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

After a young boy, Herbie Hunnicut (Jim Sullivan), discovers a giant yeti frozen in a block of ice, scientists thaw out the creature (using flamethrowers!) and bring it back to life. The boy's grandfather, businessman Morgan (Edoardo Faieta), sees an opportunity to use the creature to promote his companies, but controlling the yeti proves tricky, even after Herbie and his older sister Jane (Antonella Interlenghi) befriend the beast.A really lame Italian monster movie designed to ride the coat-tails of the '76 King Kong remake, Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century is cheap and trashy nonsense, providing zero in the way of genuine thrills, but quite a few unintentional laughs. The yeti itself, played by Mimmo Crao, looks like a massive Dave Lee Travis, roars like Godzilla when angered, and changes size significantly from scene to scene. Herbie is extremely irritating despite not being able to talk. His intelligent friend Indio is also annoying despite being a dog. I will cut Jane some slack for being very easy on the eye (although her propensity for rubbing yeti nipple is more than a little disturbing).The crappy plot sees the ape-man go on a minor rampage after being frightened by photographers' flashes, escaping from the police despite being huge and hard to hide, and opening a can of yeti whoop-ass when some nasty men kill the kindly scientist who has been caring for the creature.Clearly aimed at the whole family (although the sight of Indio being stabbed by the baddies might disturb some kiddies), the film foregoes a King Kong-style tragic ending for a much happier one: the yeti gets to disappear into the wilderness, and Indio appears, running into Herbie's arms having miraculously recovered from his seemingly fatal wound.

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.

I was around 7 when I saw this movie first. It wasn't so special then,but a few years later I saw it again and that time it made fun,a lot:)I think the best parts of the film are: Yeti's body language and the 'special effects ' also.If you wanna watch this movie ,don't wait for a Hollywood made blockbuster,even this film was made from approx. 1000 dollars :) I've a copy of it.Movie and video version as well(But I don't think it had been ever shown in cinemas)Watch it,enjoy it!!!Yeti for ever!!!

I saw this movie while I was in the Navy. For free. In an outdoor theater, which was lucky, because otherwise I would have had to batter down a wall to get away from this dog. This is the only movie I have *ever* walked out on, it was so bad. Several years later I saw it on TV and managed to get thru the whole thing. I still have nightmares. This waste of film stands out in my personal experience as the single worst movie I have ever seen.