The Milpitas Monster

1976 monster movie

Rating: 5/20 (Buster: 4/20)

Plot: Something is stealing garbage cans in Milpitas, and when it's discovered that it's a giant winged monster, it's up to some high school students to find a way to stop him.

With a screech like Rodan and an origin similar to Godzilla's foe, the Smog Monster, this titular monster looks pretty silly. It alternates between a cheaply stop-animated and a guy in a suit. While there are certain shots and camera angles that attempt to make it look iconic, the monster's flimsy wings and overall goofy appearance don't help this film's chances.

Neither does the central conflict. The monster, instead of stomping around and destroying things or hurting people, is really just stealing trash cans. Sure, that's the kind of thing that can get tiresome, but it doesn't make this movie monster seem all that menacing.

This entire production was created by high school students. They wrote it, directed it, and starred in it. It could have ended up a whole lot worse, but these kids do set up some cool-looking shots and have the good sense not to take things too seriously here. Of course, the humor doesn't really work at all. Most of it is provided by either the antics of a jerky trio of high school pranksters or the town's drunkard who is called Old George Keister or Stew George. I think he's called "Stew George" anyway. I had to turn subtitles on for this after a while because I couldn't understand about half of what was being said. The subtitles, by the way, didn't help much. There was a lot of [inaudible] in there. Anyway, George is played by "Crazy George" Henderson. It is not a good performance.

Of course, none of the performances are since the cast is made up almost entirely of inhabits of Milpitas. Call it the Milpitas New Wave if you want. The big exception would be the involvement of Paul Frees as the narrator. How did they get him?

Also notable--Ben Burtt handled the sound effects for this. If you don't know Ben Burtt, you are likely familiar with some of the sounds this Oscar-winner has added to popular culture. R2-D2, lightsaber whirrs. He also might be the guy responsible for us hearing the Wilhelm Scream in everything.

There's probably some sort of environmental message here. Maybe the movie is just anti trash can though.

Buster watched this with me and seemed to be digging it. She left with about a half an hour to go though and told me she was rating it a 4/20.