Capture of Bigfoot, The (1979)
- Produced and directed by Bill Rebane
- Written by Ingrid Newmayer and Bill Rebane
- Starring
- Stafford Morgan
- Katherine Hopkins
- Richard Kennedy
- Otis Young
- George “Buck” Flowers
- Executive produced by Peter Fink and M. Dan Stroick
I can understand, if not forgive, the common error of portraying the Abominable Snowman or Yeti with white fur. The word “snowman” does connote something white, and anyway the Yeti resides in the Himalayas, and can Americans be expected to bother themselves with accuracy with stuff so far away?
Bigfoot, though, is our homegrown hominid. It takes a deliberate and willful level of ignorance to mis-portray our backyard cryptid, which has consistently been described with brown or rust-colored fur. The fact that Bill Rebane’s The Capture of Bigfoot gives us a shaggy white hominid in the title role is perhaps the best single-sentence encapsulation of the whole movie. (The supplemental facts that Rebane’s best-known movie was 1975’s The Giant Spider Invasion, or that the only film of Rebane’s previously featured on this site is Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975), should complete the sketch for you.) And don’t try to justify it by pointing out that this Wisconsin-lensed feature takes place entirely in the deep winter, unless you’re proposing that Bigfoot is actually a species of giant, bipedal ermine.
If we observe the Sasquatch in its natural habitat, we… Whoops, my mistake.
The movie opens with two modern-day trappers driving their dogsled back from the deep woods, with something on the sled in a crate of canvas and bars. The two men stop for the night to camp, all the while talking about how something was going to make them rich, when a mysterious figure — a mysterious shaggy white figure — attacks each man.
The dogled makes it back to town with one injured man on it, and the barely-surviving hunter is trundled to the hospital by the two men that found him: Olsen (Richard Kennedy), a local businessman who’s announced to be evil not just by the fact that local businessmen are always evil but by the most nefarious pair of eyebrows before which I have ever cowered; and Jake (George “Buck” Flower) another trapper, and necessarily an old smelly-looking coot because that’s the only part that character actor Flower ever plays. (By virtue of his being marginally recognizable to cinema-goers, Fower qualifies as the star power of this movie.)
“My word! A hobbit came through here!”
Determining that the unconscious hunter was roughed up by some sort of animal, Sheriff Cooper (Wally Flaherty) calls on Dave Garrett (Stafford Morgan), the local game warden, to investigate. Dave enlists Jake, who has immediately begun spreading stories about the “Arak,” the man-of-the-woods that the local Indian tribe had once worshiped. The only other person who believes those same “superstitions” is Olsen, who immediately hires two more trappers to snowmobile out, find whatever broke up those previous two hunters, and bring it back dead or alive. (Which pretty much means dead.)
We first see the Bigfoot full-on about twenty minutes into the movie, as Dave’s ladyfriend’s little brother Jimmy (John Eimerman) traipses through the woods to set rabbit traps. What we see first is later tabbed as a juvenile, though we can’t really see the difference in size between him and a full-grown Bigfoot until the end of the movie when they’re standing side by side; it’s hard to tell scale against denuded trees and snow. Since they show the creature so early, you’re justified in asking: how does the creature suit look? Not too terrible, I suppose; at least there are no obvious wrinkles in the furry outer garment, and the Planet of the Apes face is not grotesquely bad. On the other hand, these Bigfoots are a lot more rotund than what you see in the Patterson footage; it looks like the costume designer allowed for the performers to wear their down parkas beneath the fur. And, of course, they’re white. Grr.
“That’s right! You run, or I’ll bite you just like I did Captain Kirk!”
To keep the human drama going as all parties try to find the mysterious critter(s) in the woods, Olsen goes from hard-nosed businessman (and we never do find out what his business is, although it might involve logging and lumber) to scenery-chewing monomaniac in surprisingly short order. One would assume a certain measure of foresight in a man who has become a local captain of industry, but Olsen proves himself rapidly to be a man who will leave men trussed up in the woods to freeze, run a man down in his truck, and deck the sheriff in front of a dozen witnesses in order to capture his Bigfoot, as if with that capture all his previous sins will become invisible and he won’t get his butt thrown in jail for decades. None of the characters are well-rounded, but Olsen’s actions would make the heavy from a silent melodrama stop twirling his mustache and say, “Really?”
Abominable Browman.
I suppose that Rebane shows some improvement here as a filmmaker in the four years since Rana. His point-and-shoot filming style is still pointy and shooty, but at least he chooses better angles from which to point and shoot. The acting is largely community theater level, but that’s better than grade school theater level. The monster costumes are unimpressive, but not laughable.
The script, though, has glaring problems. Dave’s ladyfriend has considerable facetime, but contributes nothing to the story. Sheriff Cooper keeps breaking into old showbiz impressions so bad I couldn’t identify half of them, and at odd moments too. A major subplot through the middle of the film is Dave’s attempt to contact, through Jake, Old Daniels (Nelson C. Sheppo), the last member of the Indian tribe that worshiped Arak. Dave finally comes face to face with Daniels, they greet each other… and on to the next scene. Their conversation isn’t recorded, nor does Daniels appear to have passed anything of worth along to Dave.
Our hero, Dave. (Even with the goggles, Dave, it isn’t in 3-D.)
All this movie needs is a pointless, tedious, and gag-inducing disco scene with the twentysomethings at the local ski lodge — Oh wait, it has that. Your viewing experience is complete, then.
Some Notable Totables:
- body count: 4
- breasts: 0
- explosions: 12
- ominous thunderstorms: 0
- actors who’ve appeared on Star Trek: 0
Hmm, giant ermines. Worked for “Night of the Lupus.” Maybe white Bigfoots who control an army of giant ermines? I’d rent it! But then I rented Winterbeast, so maybe I’m not a good person to ask.
You are missing the obvious here. They’re Wampas.
No mouth horns.
I can just see Dr. Fu Manchu reducing Olsen to a whimpering sycophancy with one cold, green blast of his immovable gaze…now there’s a idea: garden variety Evil Capitalist meets Republic Serial Villain. Hilarity ensues. Somebody, get me 20th Century Fox.
Bryan said: “Hmm, giant ermines. Worked for ‘Night of the Lupus.’”
It’s not Lupus!
… sorry.
You mean “Lepus”. “Lupus” relates to wolves.
Olsen proves himself rapidly to be a man who will leave men trussed up in the foods to freeze…
Foods?
Which leads to an interesting hypothesis of how Night of the Lepus came to be…
I had to tell you I nearly exclaimed out loud (at work) when I read the ST reference – I thought the VERY SAME THING.
And then I, for some reason, thought that the eyebrow guy was a red-shirt, science officer (and ergo wearing blue) before I was able to tear my mind away from TOS – wth!? I don’t know.
Devon: Yes, “foods.” “F” as in “fat-fingered.” (Also as in “fixed.”)
Rob: Everything comes back to Trek.
What is it the two trappers have in the canvas and bars cage in the first scene ? Do we ever find out ? My guess would be Baby Bigfoot, which would be likely to annoy Mama cosiderably.
Yes, it was, though I don’t know how it held a feral hominid the size of grown human.
fish eye- Dang you for pointing out my species confusion! But really- bunnies… wolves… not much of a difference. The difference is that the bunnies are sneaky and make you -think- they’re harmless. But oh no! I’ve seen haberdasheries run by hares, and they are cruel masters.
I wonder if they spray painted the Giant Ermines (like seals up in the Arctic), if that would reduce the asking price?
While the Bigfeet changing fur color for winter is a bit of a stretch, them being a bit on the chubby side makes sense. Who says Bigfeet can’t store up fat for the winter? Either way, this movie is mostly hit or miss with me. I saw it when I was a kid and all I remembered was the “thrilling” snowmobile chase.
I would expect anything as fat as these Bigfoots to be hibernating.
Twelve explosions?? What were they hunting him with, grenades?
Olsen’s men used explosives to herd Bigfoot under the giant net. And then there was the finale, in which Olsen fell into the common error of keeping his captured Bigfoot in a bunker with oil drums and boxed labeled “explosive.”
‘I would expect anything as fat as these Bigfoots to be hibernating.’
Perhaps they were until the trappers nabbed Baby Bigfoot at the start.
See, we are now putting more thought into the story than the filmmakers.
Bill Rebane became my personal bete noir when I reviewed “Monster a Go Go” for Jabootu’s website. Man that was a terrible experience. And it wasn’t even pure Rebane – “Monster a Go Go” is a Frankenstein movie combining Herschell Gordon Lewis with Rebane. And you know when you have a movie that H.G.Lewis thinks is a second-stringer, you’ve got a powerful stinker indeed. I can only dimly imagine the rotten-ness of the pure Rebane experience.
The Capture of Bigfoot isn’t nearly as bad as Monster a Go Go sounds. For one thing, there’s a plot.
“The two men stop for the night to camp, all the while talking about how something was going to make them right [...]”
Prove them right, or make them rich?
I haven’t seen this movie, but based on your review, it sounds like a good movie for people who enjoyed Creature from Black Lake.
“Rich,” sorry. Fixed.
And yes, if you could find people who enjoyed Creature From Black Lake, they would probably enjoy this one.
The Patterson-Gimlin film of Bigfoot that was made in 1967 is real. The NASI said that the creature had both human and gorilla features. Bigfoot is a human-primate hybrid. Half man and half gorilla. A man made creature that was created several thousand years ago by men who were slaves that ran off and ended up in Africa. They used ropes to catch female gorillas and had sex with them. For all the skeptics out there, they were real men that had real sex with real female gorillas. And nobody was wearing a costume at the time.
My favorite part is this:
Well, golly — if that doesn’t convince the skeptics, I don’t know what will!
Here is the real truth about Bigfoot.
Several thousand years ago there were thousands of slaves that ran off around the world and started their own countries. When these slaves ran off there was a large group of men and boys that took off and ended up in Africa. Some of them were giants as tall as 9 ft. or even taller. The giant named Goliath that David killed with his slingshot was 9 ft. tall.
Some of these men and boys went exploring to Borneo and caught female orangutans and took them to South America and had sex with them and eventually created the Indians. The men and boys that stayed in Africa caught female gorillas and had sex with them and eventually created the Africans. When scientists found the bones in Africa they thought we evolved naturally from a female chimpanzee.
But it wasn’t a natural evolution it was a man made evolution. That’s where Bigfoot and the Orangutan creatures come from. They are half man and half gorilla and half man and half orangutan. They use to call the Indians the red man. The orangutan has reddish hair. When those men bred out the hair the Indian’s skin remained red.
The gorilla has black hair and skin. When those men bred out the hair the African’s skin remained black. Some of the Indians and Africans are tall. And some of the Bigfoot and Orangutan creatures are tall. They are tall because some of the men that created them were tall. Bigfoot migrated up through Africa and came into the United States at the top of Africa when they were connected by land.
The Orangutan creatures migrated up through Central America and came into the United States like the Indians did later on. The first Europeans that saw the Africans said that some of the African women had genitals that resembled that of a gorilla. If you look at the nose of an African you will notice that it is wide like the gorilla’s nose.
The creature that Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin filmed on October 20 1967 was half man and half gorilla. It was a female Bigfoot that they named Patty. Patty was not a man in a costume, she is not our missing link and she is not a figment of our imagination. Patty was a creature that was created by men that had sex with female gorillas and orangutans a long time ago.
Oh, dear lord.
And how, pray tell, did you come by this genetically-impossible
racist claptrap“real truth?” (Note: Fever dreams don’t count.)Hey, c’mon, Nathan. I wanna hear more. :)
Hello, humans. Me Patty, only Bigfoot movie star. That much true. Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin great film directors, make Patty famous. Patty treasure memories of shooting film with cinematic geniuses.
Other things lies. Him not Jesus Christ, him Patty’s grandson, Batty. That how him know about Patty’s film career.
Batty want follow in grandma’s big footsteps. Him want to be star, but him only get work in B-movies, making fun of proud species. Him bring shame on family. Him disgrace to Sasquatch community, told “never darken cave again”.
All too much for poor Batty. Him go crazy, think him part man. Very sad. Him all ape, like other Bigfoot.
[clap clap clap]