Gammera the Invincible

Gammera is almost as fun as the famous Godzilla - it's not quite as good as Godzilla but it is a blast to watch. Silly looking special effects that will get you to smile, over-the-top story, the dialogue is sometimes hilarious but that is what makes a film like this one so much fun. And the theme song is so laughable... "Gammera! Gammera!"The film is watchable if you are into the "big monster" type of flicks. If you liked Gammera the Invincible or Godzilla then you might like to make this movie a double feature with another fun Japanese film called Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967)... it's on the same wave-length as the other two films. 5/10

Flame in, flame out. That seems to be Gammera in a nutshell, a prehistoric creature who can take it and dish it out with equal abandon. I'm not a fan of Japanese monster films, but wound up committed to viewing all the flicks on the fifty film DVD sci-fi collection put out by Mill Creek/Treeline Films. It's a great value at about twenty five bucks, so at fifty cents per movie, it really boils down to an investment in time to watch some of the goofy offerings. Gammera is riled from a centuries long slumber by a nuclear blast, and he's not happy. Like Godzilla, he takes it out on Tokyo, setting the United Nations into motion to try and come up with a plan to save the planet. They arrive at 'Plan Z', the hope of the world, and wouldn't you know it, there's a scene where a huge shed is shown that's called the 'Z Plan' building; that was a nice touch. By the mid 1960's, this country still wasn't quite politically correct. One of the American military scenes at the Alaskan Air Defense Sector has General Arnold asking a female sergeant to make coffee. I guess there weren't any privates around. Good old Gammera was quite the sight though, walking around on two legs and going for the flame throwing routine when challenged. That's why it surprised me how Plan Z managed to capture turtle man in the nose cone of a hidden space ship, whisking him off to Mars to save the world. High fives all around for the American and Russian team that made the save, now let's get back to the Cold War. Like Godzilla, Gammera spawned at least a good dozen films, but having seen this one pretty much satisfies my interest in flying, flaming turtles. Especially since that DVD pack I mentioned earlier has "Attack of the Monsters" with a featured guest appearance by the Big G. It took all I had to make it through to the end of both films; it was such a relief to get to the final frame in this one that said 'Gammera, Sayonara!"

An atomic explosion awakens Gammera--a giant, fire-breathing turtle monster--from his millions of years of hibernation. Enraged at being roused from such a sound sleep, he takes it out on Tokyo. This is so believably done that you'll be on the edge of your sleep. The igloos are extraordinary. So life like. The fighter jets too are so real you'll think you're there. Even the over dubbing is superb. And when the turtle gets down to business, you will be besides yourself. A wild and crazy ride in Black and White.

"After the atomic bombs carried by a shot-down Soviet bomber explode in the Arctic, the creature 'Gammera' is released from his hibernation. The giant prehistoric turtle proceeds on a path to Tokyo and destroys anything in his path. The military and the scientific community rush to find a means to stop this monster before Tokyo is laid to waste," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. The re-produced for American audiences version of this, the first film in the "Gamera" series, adds English language material that is even funnier than the regularly dubbed Japanese fare. Clearly, the monster is following in the footsteps of "Godzilla". Taking his cue from ABC's faddish "Batman!" TV series, musician Wes Farrell's ludicrous theme song heightens the US version's camp appeal. *** Gammera the Invincible (12/15/66) Sandy Howard, Noriaki Yuasa ~ Dick O'Neill, Brian Donlevy, Albert Dekker, John Baragrey

It is very easy to sum up this movie, Godzilla turns into a turtle.The end.I was slightly familiar with Gammera but was a little surprised his origin is almost a shot for shot re-make of the first Godzilla movie.There is basically no plot.Some kid doesn't want Gammera to get hurt.Is that the plot?Weak.There are a couple good things about this movie.The best is that they totally rip-offed the Batman TV show theme song and just changed the one word to "Gammera".It's lame that they stole it but you will be singing it before you get to the end.The other good thing is that there is a Japanese Colonel Sanders(I think he was in a few Godzilla movies but I've seen so many bad movies that they all just run together).I almost forgot, Dick O'Neill is in this movie.Who is he?Go to his IMDb page and you will know who he is.He's that guy that was in everything and you never knew his name.Not bad for a monster movie, give it a shot.

Gamera the Invincible (1966) ** (out of 4) The stupid American government drops an atomic bomb at the North Pole and soon the gigantic turtle named Gamera is set free. He flies across the world before landing in Tokyo to destroy the city. I'm not a huge fan of these Japanese monster films but this one works….a little. Some of the special effects are nice including one scene where Gamera destroys a chemical plant but there's some laughable moments as well. I watched the English dubbed version, which gets a few more laughs due to the silly track.

This "clever" film was originally a Japanese film. And while I assume that original film was pretty bad, it was made a good bit worse when American-International Films hacked the film to pieces and inserted American-made segments to fool the audience. Now unless your audience is made of total idiots, it becomes painfully obvious that this was done--and done with little finesse or care about the final product. The bottom line is that you have a lot of clearly Japanese scenes and then clearly American scenes where the film looks quite different. Plus, the American scenes really are meaningless and consist of two different groups of people at meetings just talking about Gamera--the evil flying turtle! And although this is a fire-breathing, flying and destructive monster, there is practically no energy because I assume the actors were just embarrassed by being in this wretched film--in particular, film veterans Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker. They both just looked tired and ill-at-ease for being there. Now as for the monster, it's not quite the standard Godzilla-like creature. Seeing a giant fanged turtle retract his head and limbs and begin spinning through the air like a missile is hilarious. On the other hand, the crappy model planes, destructible balsa buildings and power plant are, as usual, in this film and come as no surprise. Plus an odd Japanese monster movie cliché is included that will frankly annoy most non-Japanese audience members, and that is the "adorable and precocious little boy who loves the monster and believes in him". Yeah, right. Well, just like in GODZILLA VERSUS THE SMOG MONSTER and several other films, you've got this annoying creep cheering on the monster, though unlike later incarnations of Godzilla, Gamera is NOT a good guy and it turns out in the end the kid is just an idiot! Silly, exceptional poor special effects that could be done better by the average seven year-old, bad acting, meaningless American clips and occasionally horrid voice dubbing make this a wretched film. Oddly, while most will surely hate this film (and that stupid kid), there is a small and very vocal minority that love these films and compare them to Bergman and Kurosawa. Don't believe them--this IS a terrible film! FYI--Apparently due to his terrific stage presence, Gamera was featured in several more films in the 60s as well as some recent incarnations. None of these change the central fact that he is a fire-breathing flying turtle or that the movies are really, really lame.

I am not a sci fi fan. I watched this movie for one reason - it features one of the last performances of Brian Donleavy. Fans of Mr. Donleavy will find this movie very sad - he appears to have some sort of health problem and is barely able to deliver his limited number of lines. Much to my surprise, I found the rest of the movie much better than I had expected. It has hokey "1960s Special Effects" which are so bad they are funny. Other reviewers have compared this movie to the original Godzilla movie. While there are certain parallels, I think this is a much better film. It is worth watching.

Gammera (or Gamera) is a giant turtle. He walks upright. He flies. He breathes fire. He wrecks ships, lighthouses, and assorted utility companies. He's got a real bad attitude toward technology. Anything manufactured seems to irk him to the point where he feels it necessary to incinerate the offending object and anyone in close proximity. He's a technophobe, and no mistake. It all started when he was rudely woken from slumber beneath the cold, quiet Arctic by a pesky atomic bomb alarm clock with a broken snooze button. Believing an icebreaker ship is the very clock that roused him, he tanks the craft in an obviously futile attempt to hit that snooze bar and get an extra eight minutes of sleep, but in his half-awake state he decides to just fry the clock and go back to bed. Yet the bed is too cold, so he decides to find a warmer place to curl up in...like volcanic Japan! Hmm...nice and toasty there, what with geothermal vents and cities to burn. But first, gotta put out that tacky light of the neighbors that's always flashing into his bedroom. Then it's time to slip beneath the sea for forty winks. Gammera's day just gets worse from there. He just can't catch a break. People keep screaming at him and making all sorts of unpleasant noises to keep him up. And machines are the worst of the lot, so he tries to silence as many as possible. But there's still too much commotion for a tired monster to bear, so he investigates claims of a sensory deprivation tank at a remote facility which prove mostly true. He slips into the tank and enjoys a brief moment of quiet before the thing roars up into the sky to deposit him on Mars where he can continue his nap uninterrupted. Plan Zzzzzzzzz is a success... "Gammera the Invincible Sleep Deprived Giant Turtle"