Late night every Saturday, the Late Night Movie crew and I gather over in the SyFy Designs chat room and we watch an old movie.  Last night, we watched the 1966 killer turtle film, Gammera The Invincible.

Gammera The Invicible began life as Gamera, a Japanese monster film that was made in an attempt to rival the popularity of the Godzilla films.  Gamera is a giant, prehistoric turtle who, after being awakened by an atomic bomb, proceeds to attempt to destroy the world.  (And, when you think about the way the world works, who can really blame him?)  Unlike the small, passive turtles that live in the creek next to my house, Gamera can not only fly but breathe fire as well.  He’s one hell of a turtle.

Anyway, when Gamera was released in the States, it was retitled Gammera The Invincible*.  Director Sandy Howard shot some new scenes (featuring American actors like Albert Dekker) and that footage was crudely mixed with scenes from the original Japanese film.  The Japanese actors were badly dubbed and the end result was disjointed, to say the least.

But, disjointed or not, Gammera The Invincible is a lot of fun.  Why?  Well, first off, Gammera is a lot cuter than Godzilla.  How can you go wrong with a giant turtle?  Secondly, Gammera is that rare Japanese monster film that invites you to dance.  I dare you to listen to the Gammera theme song and not be happy!

For me, everything great about Gammera can be seen in the scene below.  As that nameless actor quite correctly puts it, who cares about monsters when you can dance?

If you have 89 minutes to kill, feel free to enjoy Gammera The Invincible!

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* Apparently, the extra M was added to keep people from mispronouncing the turtle’s name.