During
the 1970s, small distribution companies such as Sunn Classic Pictures, began to
carve out a niche in the film industry by concentrating on low budget family-oriented
movies.With the MPAA rating system
firmly in place, moms and dads needed to search for G-rated titles they knew
would be suitable for younger audiences.Aside from Disney features, it was often difficult to find such films.
Documentaries
with educationally sound titles such as Cougar Country, In Search of Noah’s Ark
and The Outer Space Connection played matinees at theaters across the
country.Usually shot in 16mm and
sometimes a tad boring, these movies were a safe destination for parents
looking to drop the kids off for a couple of hours.
If
any of these children happened to be unloaded at a local cinema playing The
Legend of Boggy Creek, they were in for quite a surprise.Initially, it may have looked safe with a G
rating and a storyline concerning a Bigfoot type of creature.Little did these kids realize they were in
for a scary trip through the Arkansas wetlands where there had been stories of
a large, two-legged monster over the past two decades.Farmers and ranchers had reported mutilated
or missing livestock along with sightings of the creature.
Charles
B. Pierce of Louisiana, a local television personality and creator of
commercials, made his directorial debut with 1972’s The Legend of Boggy Creek,
a quasi-documentary.The film chronicled
the search for a seven-foot tall Bigfoot like creature that dwelled in the
swamps near the town of Fouke, AR.Pierce allowed local residents to relate their experiences with what
became known as the Fouke Monster.Dramatic recreations of sightings and confrontations with the creature
were also filmed with local actors playing the roles of real life witnesses.
Adhering
to the idea of “less is more,†Pierce never showed a close-up or an otherwise
clear shot of the monster and there is no graphic violence or gore.He felt that what you didn’t see was more frightening
than a man in a hairy suit.This style
of storytelling would serve Steven Spielberg well in 1975 with his epic
thriller Jaws.
While
the production budget was about $160,000, which Pierce borrowed from a local
trucking company, the director achieved an incredibly effective film by
shooting in 35mm Techniscope.The
photography in the creeks and marshes near Fouke is gorgeous and there are many
shots of indigenous creatures and birds.The soundtrack of forest sounds lends a creepy atmosphere to the movie
especially in the night scenes outside of local cabins.
The
script by Earl E. Smith opens with several eyewitness accounts and some very
distant shots of the monster that only define it as a large shape.Then there are depictions of actual contact
with the beast where the residents in cabins attempt to kill it with shotguns
and rifles.It is in these scenes that
we hear the ferocious roar of the animal as it slips back into the darkness.Special mention needs to be made of the
excellent narration by Vern Stierman.His news-anchor like professionalism adds an air of authenticity to the
docu-drama style of the film.
A
serviceable music score is provided by Jamie Mendoza-Nava, which includes a
folksong type ballad sung by the filmmaker Charles Pierce.The director also served as his own photographer,
using an older camera to which he made several modifications for this
film.Pierce is very adept at setting up
several jump scares where the creature is suddenly in the frame, often shown
from the back.The 2.35 widescreen ratio
is vital to these shots and they are quite effective.Another startling scene involves the creature
being spotted as it suddenly crosses the road.This is filmed through a car windshield as the occupants are fleeing the
scene.
I
found the most impressive parts of the
film are the two extended scenes where residents in a cabin and a mobile home
are threatened by the monster.The whole
“something is out there†scenario is well-played as the actors react to the
danger in a realistic fashion.No randy
teenagers doing drugs in the woods, just parents protecting their families by
any means necessary.
Without
giving away too much information about the conclusion, I’ll just say that the
story has a possible open ending. Multiple sightings of the Fouke Monster were
reported by more than 250 individuals over a period of 20 years until the
making of this film.I wouldn’t be
surprised to learn that people in the area continue to see the monster.There were two sequels, one authorized and
one not.Charles Pierce made Boggy Creek
II:And the Legend Continues in 1984,
but by his own admission it was not a very successful effort.
In
1976 director Pierce worked with Samuel Z. Arkoff and American International
Pictures in creating his best-known work, The Town That Dreaded Sundown.This film pre-dated the slasher film craze of
the 1980s with the true story of a masked killer terrorizing the town of
Texarkana, TX.The cast included Ben Johnson,
Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells and, once again, narrator Vern Stierman.
I recently communicated by e-mail with Pamula
Pierce Barecelou, daughter of Charles Pierce, and asked about the re-mastering
of the film.She replied that one of the
challenges was locating a quality print.“After gaining permission from Mr. Ledwell (the film’s financier) to
pursue the restoration in 2014, I had to find a good print to work from and
that hunt took four years.One was
finally found at the British Film Institute of all places!â€
Ms.
Pierce went on to describe the actual process.“I was able to connect with the venerable George Eastman Museum and
Audio Mechanics to have to the work performed.I trusted their expertise.â€
The
restored film looks beautiful on Blu-ray with the widescreen aspect ratio,
bright Technicolor images and the re-mastered sound.The larger the screen it is viewed on, the
more effective the scenes with the monster will appear.Ms. Pierce commented on the new edition of
The Legend of Boggy Creek.“My biggest
problem is fans that believe they already own the movie on DVD or VHS.They own a bootleg pan and scan and there is
no comparison between the two.
It
is amazing to learn that it has taken until 2020 for a legal home video of this
tidy thriller to be available to fans.The film was first released to theaters in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1972.The following year, a national distribution
release was set up through Howco International Pictures, who also released two
more films by Charles Pierce, Bootleggers and Winterhawk.
An
interesting bit of trivia I learned from Ms. Pierce is that Charles Pierce and
his family at one point lived in Carmel, CA.While there he became acquainted with the future mayor, Clint
Eastwood.Soon after, he and his writing
partner, Earl E. Smith, submitted a screenplay to Eastwood and eventually received
story credit for the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact.Ms. Pierce reports that it was her father who
came up with the “Make my day†line.
The
poster art for the original release is quite striking as it was rendered by
conceptual designer and future Star Wars artist, Ralph McQuarrie.
I
first saw The Legend of Boggy Creek as part of a double feature at the 53
Drive-In in my hometown of Palatine, IL.I was one of the skeptical viewers who thought it was going to be a
“dumb G-rated movie†I had to sit through before the main feature.Well, it didn’t take long for my friends and
I to become fully immersed in this scary tale, and I’m not ashamed to admit it
gave me nightmares.
The
new Blu-ray/DVD edition of The Legend of Boggy Creek is of excellent quality, is region-free and includes closed-captioning
and a new trailer.For more information
or to purchase the video and other Boggy Creek merchandise, please visit www.legendofboggycreek.com