Monster of the Day #53

Updated on June 24, 2010 By Ken Begg 12 Comments

Haven’t seen this one since I was a wee kid, and I don’t remember much about it. For instance, until I saw some stills the other day, I forget the robot has Gort-like Destructo Beams. I do know that the film stars Ross Martin, who was Artemis Gordon on Wild Wild West, so it has that going for it.

It also serves as a reminder that not everything is out on DVD. Commercial firms, please see to that, would you?

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  • Not-So-Great Cthulhu

    Wow… I know I’ve never seen this one, but I’ve seen stills from it in various books. Colossus of New York, correct?

    While it may not have received an official DVD release, it looks as if you can find it on what I presume are home-made DVD-R (just do a search on “Colossus of New York dvd”).

  • As much as I’d love to buy hundreds or thousands of unavailable movies on DVDr, my budget, sadly, will not allow it. (Not that I don’t buy plenty of crap; I just can’t buy ALL of it.)

  • David Fullam

    Okay film, the Colossus is very impressive though. It does have a funny continuity/editing error. The Colossus stands atop a railing and zaps several people. In the shot before, one of the victims is already dead on the ground, then we get the shot of the victim getting zapped!

  • BeckoningChasm

    The only thing I remember is that Ross Martin becomes the Colossus because of his kid’s balsa-wood glider.

  • A lot of people really love this thing. I saw it at the age of 12 and just wasn’t able to get into it. The monster wasn’t awesome enough for me, and as a heartless pre-teen I didn’t care about the fatherly-love subplot.

  • Rock Baker

    That’s a great still you found! That Colossus of New York would still be so obscure strikes me as strange, since this film has a pretty strong following. It was always one of Pop’s favorites and at one point we even had the three-sheet for this film.

    My only question is, is this a ‘robot’ movie or a ‘living brain’ movie?

  • BeckoningChasm

    I’d say Robot. Living Brains are more stationary, generally, and usually use their enhanced psychic powers to influence others around them. Robots can go on a rampage and get some fresh air.

  • Cyborg, right?

  • Rock Baker

    It still seems to fit the mold of a living brain movie, since the central theme is one of how artifical life for a brain cut away from the body (and most prominently the heart and spirit) is an abomination to the ways of God. In a way, it is also a re-working of the Frankenstein story, as well as a cautionary tale of technological replacement of humanity.

  • mitch

    I love stories about brain transplants, life extension and mad scientists (I just reread Burrough’s Synthetic Men of Mars and really enjoyed it) and I think “Colossus of New York” is a pretty good example of the genre. I first saw it when I was in my 30s, and the fatherly-love subplot and gradual loss of sanity theme worked for me; I am sure it would have bored me as a Godzilla-loving child, though.

  • Rock Baker

    I dug out the copy I’d taped off of AMC (long ago, before AMC went to The Dark Side) and watched this again last night. Not bad. The idea that wars are caused by hunger rather than the other way around came off as just sappy, but things are nicely coming together by the half way point. (I did find myself wondering why they gave him a cape and death rays.) Dig the titles, which rise from the water in front of the UN building -complete with reflection on the surface. The piano theme did take a bit to get used to, as I’ve never been a big fan of solo piano.

  • BeckoningChasm

    For some reason (no doubt creeping dementia) I’ve started thinking this would be a great remake for Nicholas Cage to star in.