Bigfoot!

 

 (imdb)

BIGFOOT-1970-In the Pacific Northwest (?), Jasper (John Carradine) & Elmer (John Mitchum; Robert's brother), two itinerants, need water for their jalopy. Meanwhile Joi Landis (Joi Lansing in her last movie) heads out in a plane and has engine trouble. While getting the water Elmer sees strange footprints and hears weird noises. Joi parachutes out and on the ground encounters something. Roll credits.

 Jasper & Elmer stop at a general store run by Mr. Bennett (Ken Maynard in his last movie) where a motorcycle gang has just left. The gang's leader Rick (Christopher Mitchum; Robert's son), and his girlfriend Bobbie (Jennifer Bishop from several Al Adamson movies) find a mysterious graveyard (“Dig the size of these graves”). They are attacked by a hairy creature that knocks out Rick and steals his girl. Rick calls the hick sheriff Cyrus (James Craig; Bert I. Gordon's THE CYCLOPS) but he won't come by so he calls his gang. Before they arrive Jasper and Elmer drive Rick to the place where he had his encounter. Jasper wants to capture the creature alive. Meanwhile in the Bigfoot camp, Bobbie and Joi are prisoners. While tied to trees they discuss the missing link and call their captors “sub-human”. Apparently there's a whole family including a "hybrid" baby. The Bigfoots attack Jasper, Elmer and Rick. Meantime, Rick's gang now lead by Wheels (Lindsey Crosby; Bing's son) go looking for their friends. They hook up with locals Slim (Nick Raymond) and Hardrock (former boxer Kid Chisum) who lost an arm to a Bigfoot. Joi is taken to be sacrificed to a much larger Bigfoot but she escapes when a grizzly bear attacks. The gang rescues the captives. Doodles Weaver has one scene as a ranger. Haji (from FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL KILL!) is one of the girl bikers. 

This is a pretty inept movie is almost saved by the interesting casting. Director Robert F. Slatzer (who once claimed to be married to Marilyn Monroe for three days!) filmed this partially in Northern California where many Bigfoot sightings took place. He later wrote the Bing Crosby biography “The Hollow Man”. Ken Maynard started out as a stuntman in silent films and became a huge western star beginning in the late 1920's but by the late '30's his career was nearly over. One of his scenes in BIGFOOT shows him talking on the phone, a poster from one of his movies on the wall. Lindsey Crosby was one of father Bing's four sons (with singer Dixie Lee). He battled depression and alcoholism most of his adult life and committed suicide at age 51 in 1989. Doodles Weaver was a radio comedian who later played with Spike Jones and was the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver. In the early '60's a he hosted a children's show “Day With Doodles”. His career was hampered by alcoholism and he committed suicide in 1983.

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