Customer Reviews

Beginning of the End

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bert I. Gordon's Beginning of the End always seems to get dumped on in science fiction movie books and magazines, but it's my second-favorite "big bug" movie (right after Tarantula) and, while clearly a low-budget effort, packs as much entertainment value as many higher-rated SF "classics." The film opens with a favorite 1950s SF cliche, necking teens getting munched by unseen monster (nearly identical to the pre-title sequence of Giant Gila Monster). Pretty soon cops are finding entire small towns deserted and demolished. Peggie Castle plays Audrey Ames, spunky gal reporter and former war correspondent investigating the mysterious devastation. Low-budget SF icons Thomas B. Henry (one of the great big noses of all time) and Morris Ankrum are both on hand as military officers, B.I.G. regular Hank (Green Acres' Fred Ziffel) Patterson puts in a cameo, and veteran voice artist Paul Frees (Mr. Limpet's Crusty the Crab, etc.) is heard a number of times (coming out of loudspeakers, helicopter radios, etc.) The script, co-written by Fred Freibeger (Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), is generic B-monster pulp, and they occasionally resort to the low-budget moviemakers' crutch of describing events that would have been too costly to film. Peter Graves (Killers from Space, It Conquered the World, Mission: Impossible) and his deaf-mute assistant (who you just know is eventually going to be grasshopper lunch) have been working on developing giant crops (love those gigantic tomato and strawberry props) at the USDA Illinois experimental station. The crops have been consumed by locusts, causing them to grow to titanic proportions. The bulk of the movie is standard giant monster stuff: the army attacks; the `hoppers attack; Peter Graves goes to Washington and shows a 16mm film about locusts to Pentagon brass; the Illinois National Guard are overrun; chlordane is found ineffective (off-screen); Peoria, Pontiac, and Joliet, Illinois, are demolished (off-screen); and refugees pour into Chicago (off-screen again). A bathing woman in a towel is menaced by a giant locust (a standard B.I.G. device), a TV announcer advances the plot (another standard B.I.G. device), and a newspaper headline screams "Chicago Next!" Finally the U.S. military moves in and is again overrun by the `hoppers, who invade Chicago's South Side. When the military gives up and decides to drop an A-bomb on Chicago at dawn, Graves gets the brilliant idea to lure the `hoppers into Lake Michigan with a recording of their mating call, precipitating the wonderfully ludicrous finish that fans of this movie will remember fondly. Apparently this was shot just after Amazing Colossal Man so the effects actually look quite a bit better than that movie and The Cyclops (forget King Dinosaur), and are accomplished through the typical rear-projection and travelling matte techniques, using live oversized Texas grasshoppers. True, the opticals are not as clean as in the bigger-budgeted Tarantula (matte lines and mismatched contrast are often evident), but if you want giant bugs and lots of `em, Beginning of the End delivers. The much-maligned shots of grasshoppers crawling on still photos of buildings are rescued somewhat here by the restored widescreen matting, preventing the insects from crawling off the edges of the photos, as seen in open-matte TV prints. Personally, I think Beginning's FX show a lot of ingenuity, especially considering the budget (the notorious "photo crawling" shots are often actually matted composites, not the rock-bottom cheese reviewers sometimes describe). Detractors should sit through Monster from Green Hell or Cosmic Monsters sometime. As pure an example of 1950s B-movie SF as exists, and a must-have for fans.
Although Rhino's MST3K DVD includes the uncut version of Beginning of the End, this Image edition is hands-down the one to buy if you just want the movie in fantastic shape and don't need the MST3K stuff. The print quality here (supposedly from the original camera negative) is excellent to pristine, with only some light speckling evident, handily demolishing Rhino's acceptable but inferior transfer. Jack Marta's cinematography looks great and it's finally matted to 1.66:1 as intended and anamorphically enhanced. There is a spare, generic but nicely done lobby card gallery, and audio commentary by Flora M. Gordon (Bert's ex-wife and frequent collaborator) and Susan (Bert's daughter) Gordon. Why the still-living Mr. B.I.G. chose not to participate is a mystery (is he perhaps sensitive about being picked on all these years?) The chat is moderated by actor/director Bruce Kimmel (First Nudie Musical, Creature Wasn't Nice). I'm not sure why since he seems generally unprepared and ill-informed (he refers to Bronson Canyon as Beechwood Canyon several times) and takes a few unnecessary swipes at MST3K. Flora and Susan provide some interesting background, although there are times where Flora can't remember incidents or wasn't involved, and at one point she claims that Universal's Incredible Shrinking Man was based on Bert's Attack of the Puppet People!!! All in all, a far higher caliber DVD set than guilty-pleasure fans of this flick could have dreamed would ever appear. Recommended.

There is a level on which you have to admire the sheer audacity, not to mention the budgetary value, of putting grasshoppers on postcards of Chicago landmarks and filming them as images of giant mutant grasshoppers attacking the Windy City. Certainly there is no more enduring image in the cinematic career of Bert I. "B.I.G." Gordon, the shlockmeister who directed "The Amazing Colossal Man," "The Food of the Gods," "Empire of the Ants," and even lesser efforts. If you can name another B-movie as noteworthy for superimposed monsters, then you go right ahead and knock yourself out.

The plot is standard B-movie fare. A couple of wacky teenagers are out in the lovers' lane of a small town in central Illinois when the chirping of the insects gets a tad louder and then there is screaming and stuff. The state police discover not only the wrecked and bloody car, but the fact that the nearby town of Ludlow has been completely destroyed and there are no bodies. The next thing we know intrepid girl reporter Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle) is hot on the story about giant mutant grasshoppers courtesy of an Illinois State experimental farm. This is where Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) has been experimenting with the use of radiation to grow giant tomatoes the size of basketballs and thereby feeding the world. The good doctor tells the reporter that things have going pretty well except for the fact that his partner Dr. Frank Johnson (Than Wyenn) is now deaf and mute because of accidental exposure to the radiation and that grasshoppers have been eating the tomatoes.

Well, gosh, darn it, Ed feels just terrible about everything when the giant grasshoppers eat his partner and defeat the U.S. army troops sent out to try and keep things under control. Fortunately, General Hanson (Morris Ankrum) lets Ed tag along as his scientific adviser (think of it as the mob of townspeople asking Dr. Frankenstein for advice). When the grasshoppers decide that the agricultural expanses of America's breadbasket are not as appealing as the skyscrapers of Chicago, General Hanson fears the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end, and orders up an A-bomb to save the day. However, Ed, who knows a little something about the deleterious side effects of exposure to radiation, things nuking Chicago is a bad thing and has to come up with a better plan pretty darn quick.

Ed's solution is too good to give away and despite it being so laughable it is indicative that the group of screenwriters responsible for this film were trying to connect all the dots with something scientific. Once again, the science might be suspect, but you have to admit that the solution is a lot easier and cheaper to film than an exploding atomic bomb. "Beginning of the End" is another example of the fact that size is always important in one of B.I.G.'s movies, as well as extending the giant mutant monster trend from ants ("Them!") to spiders ("Tarantula") to grasshoppers (I know, they are really locust, but grasshoppers sounds funnier). The idea of having a giant swarm of mutant monsters overwhelming a small town, the U.S. army, and whatever is put in their way is compelling. But carrying it off requires the CGE technology that produced "Starship Troopers" and instead we have a movie that Steven Spielberg could have made in 1957 (i.e., when he was only 11 years old and making movies in his backyard with his friends).

Once again, my rating for "Beginning of the End" is based more on the entertainment value of the film rather than its aesthetic quality. How can you not enjoy superimposed grasshoppers or Peter Graves suggesting doubts about the nuclear destruction of a major American city? I would not say this is the best of Gordon's films; indeed, I am loath to actually pick one under those conditions. But I would contend that this is the one of his films that I would give "must see" status to for those who enjoy 1950s black & white science fiction monster movies.

I had the chance to watch another classic B-movie on DVD. This one stars Peter "Mission: Impossible" Graves and is called THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

The movie opens with a beautiful shot of the mountains of Illinois (I know, but shhh). A young couple parks, there is a shadow, some screams and then a change of scene. Police spot the car all torn up. When they go in to town to check on a lead provided by a wallet found on the scene it turns out that the town has been destroyed.

As a cause is searched for some giant locusts are spotted. It seems that they got into some experimental crops where radioactive isotopes were used to generate a fertilizer that allowed fruit to grow to enormous proportions. These giants begin moving North where they wipe out a number of other towns including Joliet. Soon Chicago is in danger.

Peter Graves, the scientist who is sort of responsible for the creation of the monsters, sets up a lab in the Wrigley building. It is hope to lure all of the locusts into one spot and then lure them into Lake Michigan where they will drown. If he is unable to succeed within a certain time period, Chicago will be bombed in hopes of wiping out the menace.

Like the movie THEM, BEGINNING OF THE END is a superior giant bug movie. The movie gives the impression that someone actually did a little research before writing the screenplay. So if you want to see some great shots of a Chicago that no longer exists this is a good movie. If you also like giant bugs then this is a great movie. Check it out.

I love this stuff! I love it because I know what the movie is about
and what era it represents. America was bombared with horrors of a
world gone mad in the Atomic age and Hollywood simply met the cause
by putting out b-movies by the truck loads to keep up with not only
teenage drive in crowd but that new invention call the television.
Bert I. Gordon was a special effects man turned producer / Director
tried his hand at the Atomic giant monster genre. We're not exactly
talking "Them" here, but what you having is a well round form of B-
movie quality entertainment. Of course the special effects are off
key and the acting is low brow at best but Bert.I took time to hire Music writer Albert Glasser to conduct the brass march theme
in which he has been crowned famous for in his films. A fun disc
in which Image took the time to find a great master print but I
was disappointed to find no original trailer attached but a nice
cover art kind of makes up it. Oh I almost forgot that while it
was nice to see the film minus most of the army footage, why was
the "grasshopper chasing the army truck" scene sliced out?

That says it all!! It just doesn't get any better or cheesier!! Yes, another must if you're a fan of this stuff!!

This is how the world ends - not with a bang, but with a grasshopper. Yes, the finest military force in the world finds itself completely helpless in the face of gigantic locusts. Even Peter Graves seems at a loss as to what to do - which is unfortunate in that the whole thing is his (well, his characters') fault. He's the one who was growing all the radioactive super-sized vegetables - which were inedible by humans, by the way. Apparently, they were quite appetizing to locusts, though - and now there's a bazillion of the little buggers grown to immense size and destroying everything in their path. Emerging out of the, ahem, world-famous Illinois mountains, they make a, ahem, bee-line for Chicago - apparently, the locusts are Cubs fans who just can't take bear the thought of another season without a pennant. It isn't looking good, folks. Perhaps the very fate of humanity rests in Peter Graves' hands, and his ultimate solution involves giving a locust a lie-detector test. Run for your lives!

Of course, things don't start out with a lot of excitement. This is a Bert I. Gordon movie, after all. The very first shot after the opening credits shows us a road with a vehicle approaching in the distance - way back in the distance, so far back you sit there and sit there wondering if anything is actually going to happen before you even spot the car. Then, Gordon throws us right into a big mystery; it seems the town of Ludlow, Illinois, has been destroyed, its population of 150 vanished into thin air. The National Guard's there, but they aren't talking, not even to famous journalist Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle). As the story begins to emerge, though, she joins up with Dr. Wainwright (Graves), a local entomologist, and quickly discovers two things: one, the mysterious force that destroyed Ludlow was a horde of gigantic locusts and two, it's all Wainwright's fault. Surprisingly, the military folks don't immediately embrace this story of a plague of gigantic locusts, but they soon learn just what they are up against - and fail miserably when they try to take the critters out. The big showdown takes place in Chicago, and it is here that Bert I. Gordon goes a little crazy showing grasshoppers crawling all over postcards (I mean, buildings).

This low-budget big bug movie probably went over pretty well in the late 1950s, but today it just looks silly. Actually, watching grown, well-armed men run away from grasshoppers would look funny no matter how technically proficient the special effects are. No one is going to make the mistake of thinking these locusts are really gigantic, especially since they vary widely in size depending on the perspective of each scene. A couple of times, the locusts look as if they are really there with the characters, but those good shots are rarities indeed. Yes, the 50s was all about superimposing harmless little backyard critters onto low-budget films and passing them off as unstoppable monsters threatening the very survival of humanity, and no one did it quite like Bert I. Gordon. With a musical score by Albert Glasser, The Beginning of the End is a double whammy of "radioactive super-sized creatures are attacking" fun.

Ah......, how could you not miss the fifties with all those sci-fi/horror films about mutant bugs - animals - or - people genetically altered into something monstrous by over exposure or ingestion of radioactive material.

Such is the plot in the '57 low budget bugfest 'Beginning of the End.' An immense swarm of grasshoppers get into an experimental site using radioactive feed to enhance plant growth in order to increase the size of fruits and vegetables. An altrustic scientific project to provide alternative food supplies in the event of any future food shortages. However good intentions don't always produce positive results, as in this case.

You guessed it, the grasshoppers chow down on the plant food and before long begin to grow to the size of a school bus. Fortunately their wings don't develop in keeping with their new body size so they can't fly, but unfortunately with their ever increasing need for food they decide to focus on the nearest human for their next meal.

Imagine tens of thousands of gigantic grasshoppers covering the landscape as the march towards the next population center in search of fast food to go. Pretty scary don't you think? Who can ever forget that impressive battle scene when the U.S. Army take on the thundering herd and get wiped out. I can still hear the field commander on the walkie-talkie discribing the onslaught to General Hanson (Morris Ankrum), "Still they come from way back! We're being cut-off!" Chilling last words which seem to indicate that the 'Beginning of the End' really was upon us.

Great stuff, so push the start button on your DVD player and let the invasion begin! Starring; Peter Graves and Peggy Castle. Also a special thanks to Eilene Janssen, the cute teenager necking in the convertible at the beginning of the film and the unknown actress in the high rise apartment building wrapped in a shower towel. Two of the tastier morsels digested by the evil swarm.

The Beginning Of The End shows us the terrifying scenario of what could happen if Illinois were to come under attack by an army of giant grasshoppers(it's a fear I've struggled with for years).
In the film, entomologist Peter "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" Graves and his deaf/mute botanist partner have succeeded in using radiation to grow large fruits and vegetables. The idea is to end world hunger, but who wants to eat radioactive fruit? Grasshoppers eat the food, grow enormous and destroy half of Illinois(which I suppose isn't too terrible as long as they destroy all the damn toll booths while they're at it). I can't help but wonder why it's only grasshoppers. I mean, other insects eat tomatoes and strawberries too, ya know? Anyhow, Graves has to race against the clock to find a way to destroy the grasshoppers before they drop The Bomb on Chicago.
Yup, it's Bert I Gordon in the house again! Yup, it's rear projection grasshoppers! And yup, there is a scene on a high rise apartment where a half naked woman is grooming herself in a mirror and a grasshopper appears at the window and smashes his way in! It's 50s big bug horror, and it's one of the better ones. I know that the Mystery Science Theater guys took a stab at this one, and it's easy to see why, the subject is too irresistible. Personally I find that show more irritating than funny, I like it more when I can heckle with my own group of buddies. Sorry about that, but I guess I had to put in my two cents about MST3K sometime.
There's an interesting commentary with Gordon's ex-wife and daughter, but strangely not Gordon himself. Is he ashamed of his filmography? I would have loved to have heard what he had to say.

There is a level on which you have to admire the sheer audacity, not to mention the budgetary value, of putting grasshoppers on postcards of Chicago landmarks and filming them as images of giant mutant grasshoppers attacking the Windy City. Certainly there is no more enduring image in the cinematic career of Bert I. "B.I.G." Gordon, the shlockmeister who directed "The Amazing Colossal Man," "Food of the Gods," "Empire of the Ants," and even lesser efforts. If you can name another B-movie as noteworthy for superimposed monsters, then you go right ahead and knock yourself out.

The plot is standard B-movie fare. A couple of wacky teenagers are out in the lovers' lane of a small town in central Illinois when the chirping of the insects gets a tad louder and then there is screaming and stuff. The state police discover not only the wrecked and bloody car, but the fact that the nearby town of Ludlow has been completely destroyed and there are no bodies. The next thing we know intrepid girl reporter Audrey Ames (Peggy Castle) is hot on the story about giant mutant grasshoppers courtesy of an Illinois State experimental farm. This is where Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) has been experimenting with the use of radiation to grow giant tomatoes the size of basketballs and thereby feeding the world. The good doctor tells the reporter that things have going pretty well except for the fact that his partner Dr. Frank Johnson (Than Wyenn) is now deaf and mute because of accidental exposure to the radiation and that grasshoppers have been eating the tomatoes.

Well, gosh, darn it, Ed feels just terrible about everything when the giant grasshoppers eat his partner and defeat the U.S. army troops sent out to try and keep things under control. Fortunately, General Hanson (Morris Ankrum) lets Ed tag along as his scientific adviser (think of it as the mob of townspeople asking Dr. Frankenstein for advice). When the grasshoppers decide that the agricultural expanses of America's breadbasket are not as appealing as the skyscrapers of Chicago, General Hanson fears the end of the world, or at least the beginning of the end, and orders up an A-bomb to save the day. However, Ed, who knows a little something about the deleterious side effects of exposure to radiation, things nuking Chicago is a bad thing and has to come up with a better plan pretty darn quick.

Ed's solution is too good to give away and despite it being so laughable it is indicative that the group of screenwriters responsible for this film were trying to connect all the dots with something scientific. Once again, the science might be suspect, but you have to admit that the solution is a lot easier and cheaper to film than an exploding atomic bomb. "Beginning of the End" is another example of the fact that size is always important in one of B.I.G.'s movies, as well as extending the giant mutant monster trend from ants ("Them!") to spiders ("Tarantula") to grasshoppers (I know, they are really locust, but grasshoppers sounds funnier). The idea of having a giant swarm of mutant monsters overwhelming a small town, the U.S. army, and whatever is put in their way is compelling. But carrying it off requires the CGE technology that produced "Starship Troopers" and instead we have a movie that Steven Spielberg could have made in 1957 (i.e., when he was only 11 years old and making movies in his backyard with his friends).

Once again, my rating for "Beginning of the End" is based more on the entertainment value of the film rather than its aesthetic quality. How can you not enjoy superimposed grasshoppers or Peter Graves suggesting doubts about the nuclear destruction of a major American city? I would not say this is the best of Gordon's films; indeed, I am loath to actually pick one under those conditions. But I would contend that this is the one of his films that I would give "must see" status to for those who enjoy 1950s black & white science fiction monster movies.

This is classic black and white sci-fi. Very entertaining. And to think Peter Graves has gone on to doing such meaningful commercials with lines such as putting on tangerine lip gloss, answering the door and feeling like one lucky woman! Must see!