I had not seen "Reptilicus!" in a long time and I had never seen it in color -- until today. The "Reptilicus in 10 Minutes!" edited version found on YouTubedoes not include the infamous flying sequences (although those may also be found on YouTube), it does include the very sad FARMER GETTING EATEN ALIVE BY REPTILUCUS! scene. Well, it WOULD be sad if it didn't look so hilarious.
10 Minutes -- Long Enough.
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What? Reptilicus with a cartoon farmer fumbling in his mouth? A cartoon bazooka shell fired into that very same mouth at the end without resort to actually showing them firing it? Cartoon slime that stops in mid-air when it hits a crowd of screaming Danes? A monster that apparently must be moved by pulling it around on wheels attached to a long string as no other visible means of propulsion is seen or suggested? All those Lego building sets knocked over in one piece? The fabulous Danish singing international heartthrob Birthe Wilke belting out "Tivoli Nights" during a much-needed respite/snoozathon from all the dubbed excitement? The scenes of destruction after Rept is wrapped which are all really shots of the same burned-down building from different angles? The "Or is it???" The End when the unrecovered foot -- or shall I say, the giant claw? -- is seen laying on the seabed after they've knocked off the reconstituted Reptilicus, flexing its reviving toes as the movie reluctantly fades out after 82 breathless minutes? The hilarious hi-jinks of the laugh-a-minute Petersen the janitor, the comic genius who kept them rolling in the aisles from Esbjerg to Silkeborg? The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts-inspired performance of the renowned Carl Ottosen, in his career-making role as General Mark Grayson of the US Army of Occupation and Monster Control in Denmark? The miracle drug that kills the goggling beast that's so secret no one can even mention what it is, except that it's so easy to whip up even a couple of girls -- and blonds at that -- can mix it in an ordinary household lab beaker? The heroic Captain Brandt, who gets Reptilicus to turn back toward the bazooka by the simple expedient of driving a plastic jeep up to him and waving his arms as the monster's puppet strings go slack and it falls on the toy, crushing it, Brandt, and the last shreds of reality in the film?
And you say that a lousy 10 minutes is "long enough"?! I'd hate to think what you'd do to Hamlet, you disparager of Danish cultural icons!!
hobnob, it took me about a minute to read your entry and I got more laughs from it and pure entertainment that the whole of "Reptilicus in 10 Minutes".
That's a keeper!
"Reptilicus!" now has a reason for being!
And don't forget, we can stuff him into a giant Veg-O-Matic and make lots of little pieces that'll each grow into our very own Replicant Reptilici. Or what about using a Cuisinart?
By the way, every time he roars there's the unmistakable sound of bells mixed in with the roar. What, did he swallow a Lutheran church somewhere along the way?
Holy cow...Veg-O-Matic. Who was that? Ronco?
Now the last shot in this title is, as my excursion into horror for a full 10 minutes reminded me, was the pretty good shot of Ridiculous -- I mean, Reptilicus's foot hitting rock bottom (no jokes please), scarlet billows a-flowing in its wake. I have to think that Steven Spielberg was inspired to use the same gag in the very wonderful "Jaws", in the scene where the the bottom section of the Tidy Bowl Mans's leg sinks to Davey Jones' Locker after getting chomped on by Bruce the Shark. Very effective scene.
And getting back to your earlier post, hobnob -- Eee-ha! Those shots of the cartoon farmer getting SWALLOWED ALIVE by Reptilicus. Nice try.
Someone else on this message board said that it is a pretty good story, if not movie, and I have to agree. It is not a bad idea. There are some scenes that are pretty good. The discovery by the drillers. Not a bad scene. And the above mentioned bloody remnant scene. Well, Okay!
Some of the shots of the locals running around are pretty good, ruined only by the inability of some members to keep a straight face.
Even Reptilicus was an interesting design, but those teeth were useless. Poor guy couldn't even close his mouth.
I must say I felt sorry for the old boy, sleeping it off on the ocean floor after getting fried by the flamethrowers and here come those lucky shots had by the navy (How did they find him?!). His dead eyes staring ahead as depth charges knock the poor guy around like a bug in a jar.
I must be getting old. Rootin' for Reptilicus.
Nah, we're not gettin' old. Just much more observant.
If I recall, in those underwater shots of Rept being depth-charged (which look to have been filmed in a fish tank), there's a little model sunken boat lying at the bottom of the Skagerrak or wherever. I actually thought that was a pretty cool detail, and even the Reptilicus puppet's usual lifelessness seems in keeping with that scene, the notion of him recuperating from the flamethrower assault after he'd slithered back into the bathtub that stands in for the Baltic.
You're right, that shot of the sinking foot does remind me of the Tidy Bowl Man's (very funny!) leg drifting down from above. I always wondered where that washed up, or did it attract other sharks?
Speaking of the depth charges and sound effects, the Danish Navy's bombing sounded like one of those kid's hand-held flutes, the kind where they move the overpiece back and forth while blowing in it to create a high, and highly annoying, whistling sound. Very fake.
I neglected to note that bridge scene, which does have another of the few neat shots in the movie, all those bicyclists riding off the edge, along with a few joggers, after that idiot raises the drawbridge in a panic. I never figured out what he thought he was accomplishing. Meanwhile, there are the spliced-in shots of Reptilicus behind the toy bridge, with no toy people in sight, then suddenly in the water, without benefit of showing us how they immersed the puppet in the first place.
Actually, you're right, it really isn't a bad story or premise at all. All they needed was talent and the film would have been good.
As long as they didn't cut out my favorite part. "Tivoli nights/Oh what a sight/All Copenhagen is dan-cing!" Move over, Connie Francis. Now what would have been cool is if the flying Reptilicus had zoomed down and plucked Birthe Wilke up in his jaws, bitten her in half and either dropped the carcass on Mark Grayson's head or else swallowed her whole, kind of an aperitif following his earlier meal of raw farmer. That blue-checked shirt must have stuck in Repty's throat. (Say, weren't his kids wearing the same style shirt, or the boy anyway? That just came back to me. I must be hallucinating.)
Yes, Ronco. With that and Tidy Bowl, and maybe LL Bean plaid farm wear, early, albeit subliminal, product placement.
"...after that idiot raises the drawbridge in a panic..."
I forgot about that, I don't think it was in "Reptilicus! -- Redux" (aka the 10 Minute Version). That sounds a little harsh. As I recall the drawbridge operator was an old coot. Probably just needed some attention. We can't be so hard on him and feel so bad for Reptilicus, can we? He apparently only had two major functions: Open the bridge and close it. Since it was closed he chose to open it. Apparently it was all that was on his Job Description.
Now, nobody likes to see the "R" word on any of these pages, but if ever a title ever needed a remake (so sue me) this is the one.
No, the drawbridge guy was in his 40s. He was just an idiot, cutting off access for all these people fleeing the monster, then standing there, frozen into inaction, burying his face in his hands, when he sees what he's done -- trapping people in mortal danger, killing some by raising the bridge at the last moment, without warning, with all those crowds on it. Maybe he thought he was preventing Reptilicus from crossing over to the other side, or something equally brilliant. In any case, for a bridge worker of limited responsibilities, his actions certainly took a toll.
Oh yeah, I guess taking tolls was in his job description also.
No, I can see the need for a remake, though it would certainly lack the artistic integrity of the original.
Or, perhaps better, how about an "unmake"?
You make a good argument respecting the Drawbridge Operator character. In that case -- What an actor! He pulled off the role! I can believe it!
Every once in a while I fall for the "A Sci-Fi Original" tag and will tune in on one of those productions. Of course, I'm left feeling like Charlie Brown after Lucy pulls the football away when its over. More often than not it takes just a few minutes to get that "I've been duped again!" feeling.
"Mansquito" -- title tells all.
I can't remember any of those other "Originals" I might have peeked at or avoided, but maybe they could do something with "Reptilicus!" since Charles Band seems to be out of business. I'm not talking about a "major" job, nothing like "Smooth and Sassy Godzilla" starring Matthew Broderick or Frank Darabont's turn on "The Blob", just something a little better than the original that may boost the re-make up to a pretty good level. Maybe the Sci-Fi Channel could actually pull it off.
Maybe "Reptilicus!" is better off the way it is, maybe the world doesn't deserve any better. Maybe, in ... Wow! I AM old!
No, any remake must be a real movie -- none of this made-for-TV stuff. Those things always look chintzier than the weakest 50s sci-fi low-budgeters, and aren't nearly as much fun.
Another thread around here says that a clip from R was shown on an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. I also remember that clips turned up on a few episodes of another 60s landmark series, The Monkees. That Reptilicus sure was versatile. Think of the residuals.
In another place* I read that Syd Pink never gave up the rights to this picture. Of course, I do not know what that means now, whether he is living or dead, or if he finally sold the rights (although "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Monkees" were on the tube not long after Reptilicus! assualted the big screen)or the heirs did but it sure seems to pop up in the strangest places.
Well, I agree with you about TV movies, but I don't know. Maybe Reptilicus! ought to just Rest In Peace. Still, it would be intersting to see a re-make, square off the edges and make the monster look like something. I'm not crazy about CGI stuff. However, I DID like the so-called Tadpole Monster from "The Host". That was very well done.
A re-make of "Reptilicus!" is a mighty tall order.
The End....or is it?
* bmoviegraveyard.com has quite a page on this title. It's like "Everything You Wanted To Know About Reptilicus And Then Some". It is pretty humorous and even echos some of the things we had said about it. And it is also very funny. I did not read it all but I'll certainly check it out again someday.
I doubt Sid Pink ever gave up the rights to anything! Seriously, he sold the film to AIP for US distribution, so I imagine they (and their corporate successors) retained the rights. The VHS and DVD were issued through MGM/UA, which now controls much of the AIP library, so I suspect Sid had no control of it anymore, though he may have had a portion of any profits.
Sad to say, old Sid kicked the bucket in 2002 at 86. I think they found him in a pool of green slime, clad only in a chewed-up blue plaid shirt of vaguely Scandinavian origin, next to a squashed bicycle. The case is still open on the police blotters.
But I agree with you wholeheartedly that, like Sid, Reptilicus should be left to rest in peace, or pieces, as the case may be. A more serious take would forfeit all the fondly remembered fun, and an attempt at camp would be disastrous. I agree, just leave it where it fell. Naturally, that doesn't stop someone from using the basic ideas about the monster and making a different but similar pic of it. But Reptilicus would remain as is...such as it is.
I'll differ with you slightly, esc -- a remake would be a mighty "tail" order.
Or would it???
As Herman Munster would say "hobnob, you're a gasser!"
As I said before, most people avoid discussing the "R'" word and there have been many disappointments. Even Peter Jackson's fine "King Kong" re-make left me a bit cold. I had mentioned "The Blob" in a previous post and while it had its moments, it would seem it is hardly termed a classic.
"Reptilicus!" is mostly remembered because it is a hoot. Mr. Pink thought he had a smash, an Oscar-worthy film on his hands at last. It seems to be that he was like the classmate who beams proudly over his homemade fort made out of sugar cubes. Those sort of things used to get picked at by fellow students, seeing the grand effort only as a chance at getting a little sweet snack during class time.
It would seem that a lot of people like "Reptilicus!" as it is. Those pathetic images of the "monster" flopping around in poorly framed shots of a cheaply made minature set.
The charm of the great cartoons of James Thurber had a lot to do with the fact that he was going blind and his sense of perspective was fading so his figures would be a bit lop-sided. In more capable hands they probably would not be remembered today, the whimsy lost. "Touche'!"
Live on, Reptilicus! Live on!
Reptilicus as Sidney Pink's Gone With the Wind? Now that's an interesting/alarming thought!
But agreed, no remake could do it justice, nor should it be attempted. Hell, they barely even "attempted" to do the original! Besides, I think the Danish film industry regards itself as too far above the level of a poor old monster movie today. They're so much more sophisticated. Ikea and all that. (Okay, it's close enough.)
Although, the notion of Carl Theodore Dreyer directing Reptilicus is kind of mind-boggling. I'd like to think he saw it, and that it killed him.
I didn't like the '05 Kong at all. I know most people went, well, bananas over it, but I thought it was overlong, pretentious, mostly unconvincing in its CGI effects, and completely (and obnoxiously) miscast. Peter Jackson obviously thinks very highly of himself, but he should have learned something from the even worse 1976 remake. The original cannot be topped, or (apparently) done well. Leave it. (The Blob, on the other hand, I thought was that extremely rare exception where the remake actually outdid the original; but that's mainly because the 1958 film, while fondly remembered as an innocent romp, isn't really all that good -- and not bad enough to be considered "good" -- while the 1988 version was in itself pretty scary and well-made, not overdone or deliberately campy or any of the other pitfalls that remakes often fall prey to. But this is such a unique case that I can't think of any other remake, in any genre, that is superior to the original.)
In closing, therefore, I echo your sentiments: "Long live Reptilicus! And long may his tail continue to grow!"
Have a good weekend, my friend.