Bert I Gordon (aka Mr. BIG) worked the giant monster genre like few others. Although some of his films have their good qualities, the fact is that many of them are poorly written and with substandard special effects. That said, and this must always be acknowledged, making films, especially back in the day and sans the resources of a studio behind you, was really, really hard. Mr. Gordon made dozens of films over the course of decades–often working with his wife and eventually his kids–and while the films themselves are fair game, I can understand his frustration and anger at being turned into a subject of mockery for a generation of MST3K-watching smart asses who lived in a world of safety and luxury built by his generation.
All that said, his first film, King Dinosaur, is pretty awful. In a good way, but still. If you ever have the chance to talk to Sandy Petersen about it, he will relate how watching this film as a kid made him realize for the first time that there could be a bad monster movie.
