Grizzly ** (1976, Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel) – Classic Movie Review 8304

Here we go with another urban dweller’s holiday nightmare as this time a monster bear attacks the vacationers at a US national park. As the park ranger and his posse try to stop the bear’s rampage, dozens of drunken hunters arrive on the scene.

Based on a novel by Will Collin, the idea is somewhere between Jaws and Friday the 13th, though the achievement is more on the level of the latter.

Alas, director William Girdler’s 1976 monster horror movie Grizzly not really at all that impressive, except for the grizzly which is big – it is 18 feet tall – and the movie is mainly only good for a laugh, though on that level it is sneakily entertaining.

It helps that there is a good old-style B-movie cast: Christopher George stars as park ranger Michael Kelly, with Andrew Prine as Don Stober, and Richard Jaeckel as naturalist Arthur Scott and Dorsey as the national park supervisor, Charley Kittridge.

Also in the cast are Joan McCall, Joe Dorsey, Charles Kissinger, Kermit Echols, Tom Arcuragi, Vicki Johnson, Catherine Rixman, Mary Ann Hearn, Harvey Flaxman, Mike Clifford, David Newton, Mike Gerschefski and Susan Orpin.

Grizzly is written by Harvey Flaxman and David Sheldon. It is shot at Clayton, Georgia.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8304

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com