Beginning of the End

 

 

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The Illinois town of Ludlow (which mysteriously looks like Griffith Park, CA) is wiped off the map. International reporter Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) just happened to be passing by on a different assignment. She has a nose for news and when you run into a road block of several military vehicles and no explanation, you may suspect something is up.

While investigating that something that of course she intuitively knows is related to radioactivity, she is naturally stonewalled by the great Sci-Fi military actors of the time, Gen. John Hanson (Morris Ankrum) and Col. Tom Sturgeon (Thomas Browne Henry.)

Who can Audrey turn to for help? Who else dabbles in radiation? Yep it is entomologist Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) with his deaf-mute sidekick Frank (Than Wyenn.) She admires his big uh... strawberries. He explains even though Frank was o.k. last year that radiation is harmless.

So what wiped out a local warehouse and the town of Ludlow?

This is another great Bert I. Gordon film; you will recognize his signature and the great amount of money and time thrown at this epic. Effects do not have to be as sophisticated as Ray Harryhausen or any of that cartoonish CGI. All you need is a photo of Chicago and a few hundred imported Texas (male) grasshoppers.

Target Earth

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.

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.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Mr. B.I.G. Strikes again!
I love this stuff! I love it because I know what the movie is about
and what era it represents. Read more

Published on Oct 2 2003 by Brian C. Lawton

2.0 out of 5 stars So Bad its Good!
How could anyone recommend a film that stinks? Easy. Its a funny film! And the best part is - its not supposed to be funny. Read more

Published on Sep 5 2003 by Tom Phillips

5.0 out of 5 stars Swell DVD package for fun, underrated Big Bug favorite
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... Read more

Published on May 10 2003 by Surfink

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than average Man vs Man-made Monster SciFi film
To me this is one of the better of the early black and white SciFi films which centered its story around man trying to save himself from a menace of his own creation. Read more

Published on May 8 2003 by Karen

4.0 out of 5 stars The attack of the superimposed giant mutant grasshoppers
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... Read more

Published on April 17 2003 by Lawrance M. Bernabo

2.0 out of 5 stars A low-grade "big bug" thriller.
This mediocre sci-fi epic was an obvious attempt to imitate THEM! (the excellent giant ant movie of 1954), even to the extent of using similar camera angles in some scenes, and... Read more

Published on July 15 2001 by Marc Russell

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of Benjamin's Favorites
Up until we saw this movie, Benjamin (four years old) would crawl around, back to the floor, pretending to be a giant trantula. Now he is a grasshopper (bye bye tranatula)! Read more

Published on Feb 8 2001 by Mark Bondurant

3.0 out of 5 stars They're big, they're hungry and they're hopping mad!
If you love classic science fiction, keep looking. However, if you love the early superbug pics with just a touch of unintentional comedy, this one's for you. Read more

Published on Aug 3 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars LENARD MALTIN: PLEASE
REALIZE THE MOVIES WORTH FOR ITSELF. AFTER ALL THIS IS COLD WAR CLASSIC. THE UNKNOWN FEAR HAS FINALLY HAS A FACE AND WINGS. STARTED FROM RADIATION TO CONCER THE STATES. Read more

Published on Jun 9 1999

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