President Eisenhower
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
marcadam — 21 years ago(August 29, 2004 05:14 PM)
Folks, help me out here1 Considering this filmwas produced in 1958, and was a spoof/commentary n the times, don't you think the giant alien (for those who can remember), looked a whole lot like Dwight D. Eisenhower? If pressed, I'd go as far asto say that the makers of this film deliberately searched fo someone who looked uncannily like the then-Preseident. But that is just one man's opinion. anyone else have a take? '
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tankermo2 — 21 years ago(December 16, 2004 06:37 AM)
The movie isnt a spoof its a SciFi exploitation flick. The bald actor that plays the giant alien dude in a flash gordon outfit is with the addition of a black wig also tony the bartender.
I don't think the makers of this movie had the intention to do anything except gives us a look up a giant womans skirt and exploit the atomic mutant theme that was rampant in the era. -
flapdoodle64 — 13 years ago(March 21, 2013 12:45 PM)
The movie isnt a spoof its a SciFi exploitation flick.
Sorry, but anyone with a brain can tell that a lot of this movie is spoof. The deputy especially.
Some of these el cheapo flicks of this era operate on two levelsas a 'straight' film for people that aren't very bright, and as a spoof for sophisticated people.
With this film, you can tell the writer was probably peeing his pants with laughter. This film is full of jokes if you can see them. -
latnok — 19 years ago(August 14, 2006 06:57 PM)
As strange as it sounds, that honestly could be at least partly true! There's definitely a lot more to old low-budget movies than meets the eye. Nathan (Hertz) Juran was an otherwise accomplished director who was having a little fun with this movie, which in many ways is an intentionally humorous, if not exactly camp, send-up of
The Amazing Colossal Man
, a Bert I. Gordon film that took itself more seriously. Screenwriter Mark Hanna unquestionably included satirical elements in his screenplay for Roger Corman's
Not of This Earth
, which he co-wrote with Charles B. Griffith in 1956.
Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman
was shot at the end of 1957, when many Americans felt threatened by the Soviet satellite
Sputnik
. A mild recession was also taking shape about that time, shattering nearly a decade of prosperity. Perhaps the idea was that the President should appropriate assets (like the Star of India) from the idle (and amoral) rich (like the Archers) to fund the fledgling space race (which might have kept invaders out of the California desert). The alien's "satellite" is first sighted over the Barents Sea (north of Murmansk) and is then described as stampeding a herd of camels in Egypt, whose President Nasser had recently concluded a controversial arms deal with the Soviet Union.
That said, I believe the film is even more interesting as a study of attitudes toward women in the late 1950s. The sheriff in particular seemed to be saying, "How dare that
woman
rise above her station and punish her cheating husband and his mistress!" It didn't seem to make much difference that they would have murdered Nancy if they could have gotten away with it.