“The War of the Gargantuas” (1966) / Z-View

The War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Director:  Ishirô Honda

Writer: Ishirō Honda, Takeshi Kimura, Reuben Bercovitch (story)

Stars: Russ Tamblyn

Tagline:  Can a Country Survive When Two Gargantuas Battle to Death?

The Plot…

Two giant gargantuas have appeared.  The green one is evil, attacking, killing and eating people.  The brown gargantua is gentle.  Both are believed to be causing the havok.  When the military is called out to kill both, the battle is on… man vs gargantuas and gargantua vs gargantua.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Russ Tamblyn reportedly didn’t get along with Ishirô Honda and often ignored his directions.  Tamblyn also improvised many of his lines.  This created a problem with Tamblyn’s audio track had to be re-recorded and he didn’t remember exactly what he said in each scene.  Plus Tamblyn took a real laidback attitude in each scene.  All of this adds up to Russ Tamblyn being the weakest part of the movie.

The movie is at it’s best when the gargantuas are battling with each other, the military or attacking people (whether on land or at sea).  Seeing the monsters crashing through buildings, throwing ships or using full grown trees as clubs will bring out the kid in you.

There are a couple of truly creepy scenes: one is when the sailor is looking down into the ocean water and a gargantua is looking up at him, the other is when the gargantua is up to his shoulders walking in the ocean preparing for his next attack.

The War of the Gargantuas (1966) earns 2 of 5 stars.