Eegah (1962)
A teenage girl spots a prehistoric giant wandering the California desert and reports it to her adventure-writer father, who promptly vanishes; her boyfriend's search for him turns into an uneasy standoff with the creature itself, played by a 22-year-old Richard Kiel in his first screen role.
Arch Hall Sr. wrote, produced, directed and co-starred, and cast his own son as the teen idol lead — a family operation so shameless it’s become one of the defining examples of the ultra-low-budget drive-in picture, MST3K reruns included.
Background
Eegah was one of a handful of films Arch Hall Sr. made through his own company, Fairway International, built as a star vehicle for his son Arch Hall Jr. Richard Kiel, playing the caveman, was near the start of his career and would later become known to wider audiences as Jaws in the James Bond films. The film was shot cheaply on California desert locations standing in for prehistoric wilderness.
What to watch for
Watch it for the gap between the film’s straight-faced tone and how silly the premise plays out: a caveman wandering a modern California landscape complete with dune buggies and a beach party. Arch Hall Jr. also performs a couple of songs in character as a pop singer, which sit oddly against the monster-movie plot. The film has become a fixture of bad-movie retrospectives, including a well-known television riffing show, and it is worth watching with that spirit rather than expecting a polished production.
