Gorgo (1961)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Surfacing about 7 years after "Godzilla", Gorgo was the U.K. counterpart about a beast who rises off the coast of Ireland to menace little Nara Island. Our human leads who just happened to be at Nara for ship repairs, decide it would be a great idea to capture the beast and sell it as a circus attraction in London. Great idea! But wait!.... Once the monster is safely delivered to its London enclosure and ready for viewing and dollars to be made, a shocking revelation changes everything. This animal is just a BABY! UH OH!!! We soon discover there is a much larger and extremely ticked off parent who trashes Nara Island and sets off for England to rescue her child. Bad news for London! As the destruction commences, we are in for a visual treat as the effects are not bad at all for its time. Plenty of destruction of major landmarks as the angry Gorgo Mom makes her way to her captured baby. We are treated to crashing buildings, bridges, and general mayhem throughout the English capital. All efforts to slow the animal obviously fail. Even a million volts of electricity will not bring it down! At last, parent and child are reunited and together they start back to the sea, leaving London in shambles. I'm always glad when the monster isn't killed. This was an underrated film as it lives in the shadow of the original "Godzilla" film from a few years prior and that was a tough act to follow. Check out Gorgo!

Ocean volcanic eruption brings many deep sea fishes to the surface. Divers researching the ocean finds not only the fishes, but a reptilian monster from the deep. They succeed in capturing the monster, and brings it back to London, but a closer study shows that it's only an infant, and a lot bigger adult is expected to exist somewhere. The adult shows up, to search for its missing offspring, and London is under attack by a 200 ft tall monster.This might be a British version of Godzilla, but it's the first time a monster is portrayed as a family. The production is very good for a movie of this sorts, and has aged well. It was even more sensational back in the '60s when the movie was made.It's a classic monster movie that has its place in movie history, and still a good entertainment to watch.

I do so remember seeing Gorgo in the theater when I was only 13. That's the place it should be seen on a full theater screen. Then you get the full impact of the terror he's spreading around London.A tramp freighter captained by Bill Travers puts in to a small port on the island of Nara off the Irish coast. As that name sounds Japanese it should have given someone a hint. Volcanic activity at the bottom of the Atlantic has torn the ocean bottom open and this prehistoric monster emerges. The Irish government claims it for research, but after Travers captures it he sells it to Martin Benson's circus in London at Battersea Park.British scientists say that this guy is just a baby and that must mean some adults are around. Sure enough a 200 foot high version of Godzilla's Atlantic cousin starts looking for her youngster and there ain't nothing stopping her from getting her child. This was as good as I remember it and Gorgo has a nice moral to it about letting sleeping dogs and monsters lie and that man isn't all powerful. I was impressed by the performance of Vincent Winter who plays a young Irish orphan kid who attachs himself to Travers. Winters comes across as a real kid and his performance was quite touching.I'll bet even with the advances in mankind's weaponry we'd still have big problems with Mama Gorgo today if she was on that same mission, looking for her child.

Gorgo was the first and probably the best known British giant monster movie. With the success of early giant monster movies in the 1950s such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Godzilla, many other companies were trying to put out giant monsters of their own. One of the first and better known of these was 1961's Gorgo.Gorgo is the story involving the discovery of a prehistoric mythical creature Gorgo, another name for Gorgon. The 60 foot giant occasionally attacks boats at sea but is flushed onto the mainland by some villagers. Eventually he is subdued and brought to England for study, only to be placed at a circus as a cash cow (not to self: do not exploit monsters you can barely control, if King Kong and Gorgo are any indication). It is revealed thereafter that Gorgo is a baby, practically in its infancy. The nearly 200 foot tall mother raids England in search of her offspring, gathers it, and the two depart for the sea once again.This monster movie has a lighter, more pleasing ending for the audience than most monster movies. Generally the misunderstood beast has to be killed, but not here. That was done on purpose as the director's daughter was upset by the ending of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Gorgo is a pretty short movie, only running 76 minutes long. As a result, the film is fast paced and never has dull moments. Monster movie fans will also be pleased to see plenty of monster action in the movie, as Gorgo appears often and within the first 10 or 15 minutes.Speaking of Gorgo, he looks pretty good. His glowing eyes and a few other touches give away the fact that it's fake, but for its time the suit looks great. Also great is his iconic roar. It's rather ironic that Gorgo is an obvious imitation of Toho's Godzilla, yet Toho produced a monster rather similar to Gorgo almost 15 years later. Titanosaurus starred in the last Godzilla film of the Showa series and has the fins at the back of the head like Gorgo and is a general bipedal aquatic dinosaur. While Toho maybe didn't directly rip off Gorgo, it's still interesting to see the similarities from Godzill to Gorgo to Titanosaurus come full circle.Outside of Gorgo, the special effects were above par for the time. The acting is acceptable too. We have no outstanding performances, but no one annoys you or gives a bad performance here. The plot itself works well too. It's nothing that original, but the story of a misunderstood creature on the basis of its size is effective here. The boy who is nearly enchanted by the monster and its mother is a nice touch, showing how children sometimes have a better concept of what we should be doing instead of what we adults sometimes are thinking of (money!).All in all, Gorgo is a pleasing movie to watch and its quick pace/short time makes it a movie you can watch often if you want. A lack of graphic scenes or strong language also make this a movie that is something of a family please. It's not campy and childish so as to put dad off, yet his son can appreciate the movie as well. Gorgo has stood the test of time, having come out some 50 years ago and still having a pretty loyal following. He received his own magazines and toys, etc. Pretty impressive for a monster that starred in only one movie. I rate this movie a 6/10. That may not seem very high, but it's a solid movie worth seeing if you're a giant monster movie fan. If you aren't, then this movie won't appeal to you in the way a movie like Cloverfield or Monsters will. Fine by a monster movie fan like me, it's just that it doesn't have as widespread appeal. But again, if you like monster movies, this is a classic!