MST3K Review

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309 - THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN
(was on RHINO)

Genre: Low Budget ’50s Monster (1957, B&W)

Synopsis: Army Colonel Glenn Manning rushes out unprotected during a plutonium bomb test to try to save a crashed pilot and, instead, gets severely radiated. Of course, this doesn’t kill him – instead it causes him to grow and grow until he’ll go mad and, one day, his one-celled (!) heart will explode. After the accident, the large and bitter Glenn sits around in big-boy diapers feeling sorry for himself, while his fiancée tries to comfort him, but she usually just makes him angry. Meanwhile, some scientists experiment on rabbits and elephants to find a way to stop and reverse Glenn’s growth. Eventually, the increasingly maddened Glenn escapes from the military compound he’s on, and starts to terrorize ’50s Las Vegas – including destructive criticism of some tacky casino signs – before moving on to the Boulder / Hoover Dam. The scientists do discover a two-part cure (a shot to stop the growth, then high-frequency treatments to reverse it), but they can only give the now 60-foot tall Glenn the initial shot before he gets angry and uses one of the men for dart practice. Finally, he makes it to Hoover Dam, where the military stops him. (But is it really the end? See ep #319 to find out!)

Host Segments:

Prologue: The Bots are playing in their cardboard fort and refuse to come out to do their chores
Segment One (Invention Exchange): Joel is still trying to get the Bots out of their fort; the Mads invent a plant that reviews music; J&tBs invent non-permanent tattoos
Segment Two: Joel uses the movie to try to teach the Bots how to act around the spouse of a disfigured nuclear accident victim (but, of course, it doesn’t work and soon devolves into being about Joel)
Segment Three: Joel pretends he is a colossal man in a tiny room as the Bots play doctors trying to analyze him (even using the colossal man’s fiancée to help, but that backfires when the doctor with the hots for her shows up)
Segment Four: J&tBs are talking about the amazing colossal man when the SOL bumps into him, giving them a chance to actually talk to the big guy
Segment Five (End): J&tBs critique the movie and talk about the fun things that the colossal man should’ve done instead of always being sullen; a letter; Dr. F has a giant shot for Frank

Stinger: The amazing colossal man laughs and then has some chest pains

Don’s Review: This is probably the most famous movie from director Bert I. Gordon, although it’s still really not much better than his usual output. And, like a lot of his other films, it features cheapo special effect, in this case of either Glenn on a set full of miniature furniture to make him look big or, even cheesier, Glenn blown up to look big and poorly super-imposed on the film (his body is even partially see-through in some scenes). The research to reverse Glenn’s condition is basically a bunch of pseudo-scientific babble that’s frequently hilarious (one-celled heart!??!?). And the Rod Serling-sounding doctor working on Glenn sure seems a lot more interested in Glenn’s fiancée than in the colossal man himself. Mixed in with all of this, are very dated scenes of a radio (TV?) announcer covering the story in a stupefyingly stodgy manner. As for the MSTing, I watched this experiment differently than most other experiments because I have the movie unMSTed on tape, so I watched the unMSTed version first before watching my MSTed copy. (Talk about deep hurting!) The riffing on this by J&tBs is excellent throughout. Although this episode has fewer total riffs than episodes in later seasons of the show, this one has a lot of the best setup-and-punchline sequences of the show that were more common during the Joel Era, so the great riffing in this experiment is definitely a case of quality over quantity. Also, the movie-related host segments were all great – I especially liked when Glenn (played by Mike) visits the SOL. Just a fair invention exchange is the only disappointing part of the host segments. This is a classic episode which I think is one of the best episodes of the entire series. It’s really sad that Rhino’s distribution rights expired, because this is one I’d really like to have on DVD one day.

Don’s Rating:

Forrest’s Review: This is a classic episode, but it’s not all that funny. Take the episode It Conquered The World. That too is a classic, but the riffing in it is not that great. What sticks out in these classic episodes is the host segments and the old 50’s horror movies. If you want extremely funny riffs in a 50’s horror movie episode, see Phantom Planet, but that episode still lacks the kind of charm found in The Amazing Colossal Man completely. I like the character Glen Manning, and his wonderfully cheesy piece of infamous MST3K dialogue: “What sin could a man commit in a single lifetime?” The movie is enjoyable on its own. Sure it’s bad, but I really enjoy any horror movie from the 50’s. The host segments are outstanding, typical for Joel Season Three. The highlight in this episode is when Glen Manning (aka the Amazing Colossal Man) visits the SOL. Glen is played by Mike Nelson and, boy, he made me laugh in this! (Mike’s cameo appearances in Joel episodes always make me laugh.) Mike is a very talented guy, and his spoof on Glen is absolutely hilarious! The riffing is good, not great, but there really wasn’t that many opportunity for great riffs, and the cheesiness of the movie comes out on its own. Though the laugh-o-meter is rather low, this dated movie is very enjoyable. So I am going to boost up the rating. But if you haven’t seen this episode yet, it’s worth it, but don’t expect to laugh crazily. I only recommend this to either true MiSTies, or people who appreciate 50’s cheesy horror. I liked this episode. But there are better ones out there.

Forrest’s Rating: