First released in 1962, Eegah! has a reputation for being one of the worst films ever made.

Usually, whenever I come across a film with that type of reputation, my natural instinct is to be a contrarian and to argue that the film is not so much bad as its just misunderstood.  I can’t really do that with Eegah!  Eegah! is a legitimately bad movie, though I don’t know if I’d call it one of the worst.  It’s a low budget vanity project and, quite frankly, I think snarkiness is better directed at big budget vanity projects.  Eegah! is bad but it’s also bad enough to be entertaining in a train wreck sort of way and there’s something to be said for that.

While driving at night, 30 year-old teenager Roxy Miller (Marilyn Miller) runs over Eegah (Richard Kiel), a giant caveman who has somehow gone unnoticed up until that moment.  Eegah runs off into the desert.  Roxy tells her boyfriend, Tom (Arch Hall, Jr.) and Tom’s father, Robert (Arch Hall, Sr., who also directed) about her encounter.  While Tom plays his guitar and sings a sappy ballad, Robert goes into the desert in search of Eegah.  When Robert doesn’t return, Tom and Roxy grab a dune buddy and head into the desert.

Roxy finds Eegah and Robert first.  Eegah grabs Roxy and takes her to a nearby cave, where Robert is waiting for them.  Eegah can’t speak and does most of his communication by swinging around a club and being a bit too handsy.  (There’s one painting on the wall of his cave but it’s not very good.)  Eegah, despite his fearsome appearance, seems to actually be pretty amiable.  But then he falls in love with Roxy and becomes rather possessive.  When Roxy gives Robert a shave, the bearded Eegah demands a shave as well.  He’s fairly handsome without the beard but still, it’s hard not to get grossed out by the way he tries to lick up the thick shaving cream that’s covering his face.

Eventually, Tom rescues Roxy and Robert and not a minute too soon!  There’s a party in town and Tom and his band are scheduled to play!  Eegah, upset that Roxy has left him, picks up his club, puts on his best animal skin, and heads into town on a rampage!

Eegah (and, yes, I’m dropping the exclamation point) was produced and directed by Arch Hall, Sr.  (He receives a story credit as well.)  It was actually one of many movies that Hall Sr. made, all in an effort to make his son into a film star.  In Eegah, Arch Hall, Jr. performs two songs and dances with Roxy.  The film positions him as a teen idol but Hall, Jr. doesn’t seem to be particularly comfortable with the role.  Of course, it doesn’t help that he’s working with an absolutely terrible script.

I do, however, appreciate the performance of Richard Kiel as Eegah.  Kiel does the best that anyone could with the role, playing him as being  giant who simply doesn’t understand that you can’t walk around with the a club in public without someone calling the police.  Poor Eegah!  He doesn’t even know what the police are.

Eegah! (yeah, I’ll return it’s exclamation point for the next-to-last paragraph) is a film that is so ineptly done and poorly written that it becomes rather fascinating to watch.  It’s boring only if you’re the type who can’t appreciate terrible dialogue, terrible camera placement, and the type of acting that can only be found in a film that was directed, produced, and essentially written by one guy trying to make his reluctant son into a star.

Arch Hall, Jr. was far less interested in being a star and instead became a pilot and pursued his love of flying.  As for Richard Kiel, he went on to play Jaws, one the greatest of the James Bond henchmen.