Monster of the Day #1001

Eegah has a lot to answer* but, I think it is still the most fun caveman out of time film.

*ok he is a caveman, a man who lives in a cave but, in Southern California. Humans in North America at the earliest 20,000 years ago; however, Eegah doesn’t exactly look Asian or native-American. I think Arch senior had it all wrong and Eegah and family were regular 19th century California immigrants who just ended up living in a cave and lost all social skills.

IBAC, The International Brotherhood of Anachronistic Cavemen a.k.a. “The Club” as symbolized by Eeegah above.

THE CRAZED LOVE OF A PREHISTORIC GIANT FOR A RAVISHING TEEN-AGE GIRL!

EEGAH! THE NAME WRITTEN IN BLOOD!

Cheap, chintzy little picture to be sure, but quite lovable all the same. Although filmed for such a tiny amount (even for a color film of the era), the film was quite a hit at the boxoffice and played for years. Not quite sure the film’s boast of being the first to show a dune-buggy is correct, but there’s certainly enough gray area on the matter to give it to Hall. I also thought Marilyn Manning was super-cute.

Arch Hall Sr, by the way, had been the subject of a movie himself, THE LAST TIME I SAW ARCHIE, in which he was played by Robert Mitchum!

Jr really had no interest in being an actor, but I still think a biopic could be interesting. Maybe a docudrama about Fairway International? Think of all the characters that would cover! Hall, Steckler, etc.

I wasn’t aware Webb was the one Hall sued! I understood his beef was with the film’s writer, who had adapted the screenplay from his own book.

Either way, I do know Hall had been dabbling in the movies before the release of THE LAST TIME I SAW ARCHIE (in fact, the film ends with Archie taking control of a picture studio).

I also believe Webb may have directed a documentary about the red menace in 1965 (although a documentary might’ve slipped outside the bounds of traditional directing).

Robert Conrad is Chuck Norris’ tougher older brother. :-)