The Night of the Grizzly (1966)

the audience applauded

Really Surprised!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Surprisingly good family drama. From the title, I was expecting something on the order of cheezy horror. True, the real menace here is the grizzly, but his menace is pretty well done in non-cheezy fashion. Jim Cole (Walker) moves his family (Hyer, et al.) onto a run-down ranch on the frontier. Trouble is he has to hock all his belongings to buy the nuts and bolts a working ranch needs. That would be okay if skinflint Jed Curry (Wynn) and his boys weren't trying to get the same ranch. And, by golly, they're hoping the grizzly kills off enough of Cole's livestock that he'll go bankrupt, and they can move in. So it's Cole against the big bear (Satan) who seems impervious to 30-30's. Complicating things is bounty hunter Dowdy (Gordon) who's got a grudge against Cole, and has been hired by Curry to get the grizzly first. If he does, he'll get the reward before Cole does. If this sounds complicated, it is. But the strands weave together pretty well thanks to director Pevney and writer Douglas.Walker's convincing as the steadfast homesteader. No swagger or ego to his character. Hyer plays the doubting wife in pretty blonde fashion, while Elam gets a subdued role as lie-about turned loyal helper, Hank. The values are solidly conservative in God-fearing family fashion, for those who care. Fortunately the salute is not done in a sappy way. Gordon, one of the era's best tough-guys, makes a worthy rival to the towering Walker, even if his ravaged ankle makes a miraculous recovery in his lakeside fist-fight. My only gripe is with Kulp (Wilhelmina or is it 'Bill'). She goes way over the top with her "comedy relief". I guess she figured she'd otherwise be overlooked in a crowded screenplay. Nonetheless, the sum total's a generally rewarding 100- minutes, and a good showcase for the manly Walker.

Hollywood use to make movies with muscle guys like Clint Walker and Steve Reeves. To my surprised, Clint Walker used to work out because his arms are massive in this movie and his chest must be 52 inches wide at least. The Night of the Grizzly is an older film. I thought the grizzly bear did a great performance and he should have won some type of award for his acting skills because he was very convincing and scary, in this movie. I loved the little girl and Jack Elam's character. The brutal attacks from the grizzly bear is not for children then again, depends on your children. I think this movie should have been rated at least a PG 13. The bounty hunter played a good role and the lady at the general store added a little giggle or two to this blockbuster movie. I bought the Night of the Grizzly movie on DVD, from amazon, I thought it was that good.

We often look at movies from past decades through the prism of modern eyes. You can't do that, considering the amount of sophistication the movie going public has now compared to those times. What I remember about this movie was being a young boy and being in awe of Clint Walker, Leo Gordon and that massive bear. Remember, this was before Jaws and most modern special effects. Also, we could only get a few channels on our TV and the big three networks were IT!!. The networks each had a movie of the week back then, and that was what we looked forward to watching when we were kids. Ahhh, it was such a simple life then.

When I first saw this movie I was at the drive-in with my parents. I remember hiding behind the back of the seat scared out of my wits! My father is a gunsmith and I've always had a healthy respect both for guns and wildlife. And I know for a fact that there are things in the woods that are much bigger than I am. And the fact that what occurs in this movie could actually happen without aide of CG or any other technical assistance makes it even scarier. OK, the acting itself could have been better but you have to remember the age of the movie.I hate to think how it would be "gorified" if remade. It was gory enough as it was.