The Giant Behemoth (1959)

hyped garbage

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

. . . whereas "GIANT BEHEMOTH" often serves to flesh out the meaning of "redundancy." Calling an ant a "tiny behemoth" would qualify as an oxymoron as well: "shrimp" is a synonym for "tiny," while "behemoth" can be found with "giant" in a thesaurus. If the title for this movie had been THE GREAT BIG HULKING HUGE BEHEMOTH, it may well have done better at the box office. But would the longer title have increased ticket sales enough to cover the overtime necessary for the marquee man to put up such an excessive amount of letters (plus the expense for purchasing several extra "H's" that doubtless would need to be special-ordered)? Behemoths--giant or not--seldom have appeared more threatening than the 200-footer with the radioactive death ray eyes featured during THE GIANT BEHEMOTH. In his head-long rush to pose for fatal selfies with the G.B., "Prof. Sampson" overlooks the obvious solution to London's moth infestation: let one of those "All creatures great and small" English veterinarians cure Big Boy of his radiation overdose. A homeopathic remedy such as brimstone would be bound to perk up Nestor in a day or two, and you know what they say: Healthy behemoths are the happiest (and safest) kind to have around!

This movie is hilarious even though it's not a comedy.It's supposed to take place in England and sometimes it looks like they might be there. The actors try to fake British accents and fail miserably.Sometimes they don't even try. The Behemoth is a radioactive monster that spends the first hour melting people by just looking at them(and we never see the behemoth). When he finally appears on screen,he flips a boat over and chases some very calm civilians. He totally forgets he can melt them. Then he decides to melt 4 or 5 people,then 4 army guys. US Army guys because it's England........ Apparently the US Army is England's army too. One time the phone rings and the army guy picks it up and says "I want to talk to....". They called him! WTF?!?!??!?!Two guys go out in a mini-submarine and the behemoth attacks it.It doesn't damage the outside but breaks some pipes inside. Guess what's in the pipes????? WATER!!! Yes,a mini-sub needs 3 or 4 large pipes carrying water.Makes perfect sense. It's a dumb movie but it's better than the first 5 Godzilla movies. If you like monsters and don't hate black & white,check it out.

An American biologist (Gene Evans) warns stuffy Brits about the dangers of dumping radioactive waste in the ocean. At first, they don't take him seriously. But soon radioactive fish, people suffering radiation burns, and sightings of a giant sea monster have them singing a different tune.Despite some changes (such as the country it's set in), this is essentially a rehash of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Both films were directed by Eugene Lourie, who also co-wrote the screenplay for this. While the earlier movie is certainly better, this is an enjoyable atomic monster movie from the heyday of classic sci-fi. The cast is solid, made up of mostly fine British actors including the great Andre Morell. As was often the case with science fiction movies from the period that were filmed in the UK, an American actor is shoehorned into things. That would be Gene Evans here, a character actor best suited for playing tough guy roles in war movies and westerns. Despite being miscast as a scientist, he acquits himself well. This is one of the final films stop-motion special effects wizard Willis O'Brien worked on. It's not his best work but still charming in its way. This is far from one of my favorites but I do like it. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic sci-fi movies, particularly those movies about giant radioactive dinosaurs.

Strange things are happening in England - thousands of dead fish are littering the shores, a strange substance has likewise appeared, people are suffering radiation burns. Two scientists working for the Atomic Energy Commission, Steve Karnes (Gene Evans), and James Bickford (Andre Morell), come to believe that an enormous marine animal, which is radioactive to boot, has been created. The culprit is a mammoth paleosaur, which wreaks havoc on London, until Karnes and Bickford and others can devise a weapon capable of destroying the beast in a safe manner."The Giant Behemoth" isn't bad, but it's basically a rehash of a plot that had already been done - and done better - by production designer / director Eugene Lourie on "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". The script, by Lourie himself, gets bogged down in supposed "science fact" and talks itself to death for its first half. (That being said, there are still some good and atmospheric moments.) It isn't until the final 35 minutes or so that things really get interesting. The scenes of panic and action are as well directed as one could hope for.The performances by the well chosen cast are very sincere and effective. Morell, as always, has an authoritative presence, but so does American actor Evans. Jack MacGowran makes the most of a rather small role as a paleontologist excited by these findings, and more than anything yearns to view the beast.The special effects are handled by a handful of people, chief among them Willis O'Brien of "King Kong" fame who creates a pretty good stop motion animated monster. Once we get to see the monster in all of its glory and the chases begin, things get fun. It's just a matter of whether the audience will be able to sit through all of the set-up.Good, but not great, for this type of thing.Six out of 10.