Gorgo

Nice DVD version of an oldy but goody British produced Godzilla knock-off.

Dvd arrived on time and in great condition

Product was good; just didn't know about the minutes of repeated footage during the attack. Not a deal breaker but just didn't know...

Treasure salvagers are diving in the area of a sunken ship. Something is off the coast of Ireland. It’s a volcano rising up from the ocean floor. The salvage ship is damaged so they pull into the Port of Nara Island to make repairs. Carcasses of dead creatures are floating on the water. The harbor master is not very friendly. He is a part time archeologist who has divers in the water. He has them diving for gold. One of them comes up dead and one doesn’t come up at all.That night a monster comes out of the water and rampages through the village. It is supposedly 65 feet tall. The villagers manage to chase it back into the water with fire. Now the harbor master has a problem. The salvagers, Joe Ryan (Bill Travers) and Sam Slade (William Sylvester), offer to get rid of the beast for a price. The harbor master agrees.Joe and Sam capture the beast and chain it to their ship. They bring it back to England. On the way it manages to kill one of the sailors. Scientists want to study it but the salvagers have a better offer from a circus. They parade it through the streets of London and install it in Battersea Park. The circus people name it Gorgo after the Gorgon creature from mythology. The creature temporarily gets loose and kills another person. They catch it and chain it up for tourists to stare at.The scientists that examine Gorgo determine that it is a baby. Estimates of Mom’s height would bring it to at least 200 feet tall. Mom rises up out of the water and attacks the island looking for her baby. She destroys the island. Now she is on her way to England.Normally giant lizard type monsters rampaging are Japanese creatures. Specifically TOHO. This time the Irish get involved. “Gorgo” is a British-American film from 1961.Directed by Eugene Lourie who also directed “Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” and “Giant Behemoth”. This time the monster is a guy in a rubber suit. I’m OK with that.The chase scenes in London are wonderful. I’ve always said that the extras for British films are great at running rampant. Just as if there is a real monster chasing them. It’s a fun movie. Put it in your monster movie collection. You’ll be glad you did.

As I realize that there are more days behind me than in front of me I am watching more childhood movie favorites. Now I'm in my giant creature stage. Godzilla (check), King Kong (check), King Kong vs Godizilla (check) and now let me remind you all about Gorgo. Here is the synopsis..it's too good to stay on the DVD case and reads as follows.. "A volcanic eruption in the North Atlantic brings to the surface a 65-foot prehistoric monster. Two treasure divers capture the creature and take him to London making him the star attraction at the acclaimed Dorkins Circus. A scientist is thoughtful enough to point out that that the sailor's bonanza is only an infant and and that a full grown specimen would be over 200 feet in height. Sure enough, Gorgo's gargantuan moma comes thundering ashore, reclaiming her offspring and heading back to sea- but not before,she trashes a generous portion of London". I cried with joy at the end.

Liked This SiFi

I saw this for the first time at the old Paramount Theater in downtown Denver when I was in third Grade. JFK was president, the space race was on, and Godzilla was terrorizing Japan! Gorgo was fantastic! I had to recreate the whole movie for my third grade class show and tell (Old Mrs Growbowski had an easy day teaching that day). Of course it takes a lot more than mechanical monsters in rubberized suits to do the job today. Technology has come a long way since Gorgo destroyed London back in the early 60's! It was great for the time, and it was great to be able to see it once more. I still enjoy popcorn with my movies!

... as a kid, i could never see 'gorgo' too many times. it's really just a godzilla movie with a guy in a suit trashing London monuments but it's wildly colorful and the miniature work is great. Big Ben toppling over while it's enormous chimes clang is a high point. little vincent winter, who had been in a highly praised English film called 'the little kidnappers' (for which he'd won a 'tiny-tot' oscar) is marvelous. bill travers and william sylvester play testosterone-driven tough-guy salvage company operators, are a 'couple' who adopt vincent; they generate a curious homoerotic sensuality that is DEEPLY convincin . this was the last of the eugene lourie's 'lizard monster on the rampage' trilogy and it's clearly the best. also it has one of the most poignant, tear-welling finales in sci-fi history... aided by a heartrending score from angelo lavagnino. a great presentation by VCI that tops their earlier special edition 'Gorgo.'