The Capture of Bigfoot

A great film like this is a result of the rare convergence of many talents: Rebane (Ito), Neumeyer (screenplay), Wally Flaherty et al. In fact it is Bill Rebane's innocent and somewhat naive approach that turns his earnest effort (like the turning of water into wine) into this true camp classic. No one could set out to purposely make a film like this; they would fail.

When Lartronic rented this movie from the "Le Bad" section of Blockbuster, what did he expect? Those who want a good laugh from a movie that can entertain as only a true camp classic can, then this is your movie! Also rent "The Alpha Incident", "Gift From the Red Planet", "Giant Spider Invasion" and Rebane's other classics. Mr. Rebane should be honored by the Academy for his lifetime contributions to the camp category of motion pictures. He is truly a genius in this respect.

Its a sin how these things are made, but then again we wouldn't get to see the best "Dummy scene" ever filmed. Ahhh the beauty of low budget Bigfoot flicks, you lean to see the beauty the more you watch them, thats if your brain doesn't melt first. As I said before, this has the best dummy scene ever! Words cant express it, you have to see it for yourself. Wonderful lines such as "Smells like decain flesh", "Thems human..."(You will know this one when you see it) The creature makes a Blah, Blah! sound and the scene where the baby gets shot will make you cry(with laughter) you will be rewinding it. Has a car chase, snowmobile chase, a Bigfoot folk song as well as a Disco song. It dosn't end there, while watching the credits a friend noticed "Wardrobe provided by K-Mart". You ask, how could you even get as far as the credits and then watch them? I could only explain this as a sort of shock to the brain, you are so mentally exhausted you cant move and also I guess you have to know who was behind the mess. All that being said, this is a must see especially if you want to punish yourself mentally. Its a keeper!

Watch this with a group of people, or find a screening where everyone yells about the movie. By far one of the funniest movies I've seen, but for all the wrong reasons. By no means is this is a good film, but I didn't make it, so I can't complain.

This is available on a double feature Eastwest DVD with Rebane's best film, ALPHA INCIDENT, and that's probably as far as anyone needs to go in collecting his work. Unless you want the Giant Spider Invasion for historical or sentimental reasons, for it was the drive-in success of that one that allowed him to do the other two. There's corny 70s sappiness, but no more than Harry & the Hendersons. He uses much of the same decent cast from ALPHA, and they make a good effort here as well. The Bigfoot creatures are almost well-done enough to pass, but still just not quite removed from the "man in the suit" effect. Very close though, and a nice effort on a dime budget. Story meanders around too much, but the cast keeps coming up with nice touches to allow forgiveness of the slack times. Nice to see a film shot in winter with plenty of snow, and people actually hustling around in it. For sure, that is not easy, even for a Hollywood production with all the amenities. Yes, the wardrobe was provided by K-mart, but that's what the budget was, and anyway that's what folks there would have worn. Those of you who laugh at Rebane, well, he went out and did things rather than sit back and watch. A sort of Ed Wood of the Midwest.

From Box office magazine 6/18/79: "The Capture of Bigfoot", the Bill Rebane production from Studio Film Corp., will be delayed for an unknown amount of time, due to the recent disappearance of 400 feet of film negative. According to Rebane, the disappearance of the footage, out of which 200 feet was to be used in the actual movie, will delay the mid-July openings previously scheduled for Arkansas and Memphis . . .How long that delay will be depends on the results of laboratory tests currently taking place in Denver. Insurance adjustors have made a duplicate negative from the work print, and the results of the lab tests will determine whether it is commercially feasible to use it in place of the missing footage...