402 - THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959; NR; 74m)

a.k.a. GILA, IL MONSTRUO GIGANTE (Argentina)

released with 407-THE KILLER SHREWS

Ad: "Only Hell Could Breed Such An Enormous Beast...Only God Could Destroy It!"

Plot: An auto-towing, knee-raising, slow-singin' teen and his friends encounter trouble with a huge lizard.

Exec: Gordon McLendon
(407; Houston media and real estate tycoon)
Exec: B.R. McLendon
Prod: Ken Curtis (*407; TV's Gunsmoke)
Dir/Sto: Ray Kellogg*
Scr: Jay Simms (407; Panic in Year Zero)
Cin: Wilfred Cline
(407; Oscar nom/Aloma of the South Seas)
Ed: Aaron Stell (407; 517-Beginning of the End)
SFX: Ralph Hammeras (Oscar noms/Deep Water, etc.)
SFX: Wee Risser
M/U: Corrine Daniel (407; hair/Beyond the Time Barrier)
PMgr: Ben Chapman (407; stuntman/803-The Mole People)
ADir: Louis Caldwell (407)
Set: Louise Caldwell (407; 623-The Amazing Transparent Man)
Sound: Earl Snyder (407/623; 106-The Crawling Hand; Cat Ballou)
Sound FX: Milton Citron (407)
Sound FX: James Richard (Little Big Man)
Score: Jack Marshall (Kona Coast)
M/L: Don Sullivan
Songs: I Ain't Made That Way; The Mushroom Song; My Baby She Rocks a.k.a. I Sing Whenever I Sing (Sullivan); The Giant Monster Crawl

Chase Winstead / Don Sullivan (419-Rebel Set; Teenage Zombies)
Sheriff / Fred Graham (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea)
Lisa / Lisa Simone (Missile to the Moon)
Harris / George "Shug" Fisher (Mister Roberts)
Mr. Wheeler / Bob Thompson (My Dog Buddy)
Missy Winstead / Janice Stone
Steamroller Smith / Ken Knox (Beyond the Time Barrier)
Gordy / Don Flournoy (Beyond the Time Barrier)
Agatha Humphries / Stormy Meadows
Bob / Jerry Cortwright
Chuck / Clarke Browne
Compton / Cecil Hunt
Eb Humphries / Howard Ware (Under Age)
Gay / Beverly Thurman
hitchhiker / Desmond Dhooge (Paper Moon; My Dog Buddy)
Liz Humphries / Yolanda Salas
Pat Wheeler / Grady Vaughn
Rick / Pat Reeves
Sherry / Pat Simmons
Whila / Ann Sonka
narrator / Gordon McLendon (also prod)
with Gay McLendon
Jan McLendon

Trivia: RAY KELLOGG, celebrated for his "leg-up position" directorial style, did both 402-THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and 407-THE KILLER SHREWS...and it shows. A couple other films he helmed were My Dog Buddy; and The Green Berets (a pro-Vietman war flick starring John Wayne). Kellogg mainly did special effects, especially for 20th Century Fox in the 1950's (including several films starring Marilyn Monroe): Titanic; River of No Return; Niagara; Demetrius and the Gladiators; and Prince Valiant. You can see him act in The Music Man; and Roustabout (with Elvis), plus on TV in The Dick Van Dyke Show (Eps #34 & 37) and I Love Lucy (Eps #104, 153 & 155).

Last Updated: 6/23/1999