Eegah (1962)

"You're funny, Mr. Miller. Really funny.", 5 June 2007

On her way to a rendezvous with her boyfriend, Roxy Miller (played by 30-something teenager Marilyn Manning) quite literally runs into a 7 foot tall caveman. Luckily for Roxy, the giant makes a hasty retreat as another car approaches. Roxy shares her story with her boyfriend and her father. They find it tough to swallow, but agree to help Roxy look around in the desert for her mysterious giant. Was she just seeing things or was there really a giant in the desert? Roxy's father is soon convinced when he's taken prisoner by the giant he nicknames Eegah. But Eegah's a lonely guy and he's got his sights set on Roxy. It seems that since his run-in with her, Eegah's smitten. Can a centuries old caveman and a modern day girl find happiness?

There are any number of reviews of Eegah that can be found on the internet and almost every one of them makes the movie sound like the second coming of Manos. Maybe there's something weird about me, but in a surreal way I found Eegah a compelling and (as strange as this may be) a moving look at a lonely soul. As bizarre as it may sound, I actually felt something for the big, misunderstood brute. And in a completely odd way, the ending of the film is as sad a sight as I've seen in a movie in a while (that probably has more to do with the movie's I've been watching recently than this movies ability to elicit any real emotion). As strange as this may sound, much of Eegah actually worked for me. But that's not to say Eegah is a good movie or anything, because it's not. Much of the acting is bad, the dialogue is silly, Arch Hall's singing is nauseating, and the production values are dirt cheap. Besides, any movie that features a cameo from Ray Dennis Steckler can't be that good.

As expected, Eegah makes for a very good MST3K episode. Among the highlights are the riffs directed at Arch Hall, Jr. Hall makes a perfect target and the guys take every opportunity to lay it on. Good job! On my MST3K rating scale, I give this episode a 4/5 – An episode worth seeking out.

4/10