{"id":5739,"date":"2018-07-31T07:55:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T14:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5739"},"modified":"2018-07-31T07:55:42","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T14:55:42","slug":"review-the-man-who-killed-hitler-and-then-the-bigfoot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=5739","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT"},"content":{"rendered":"

The film with the year\u2019s best title proves to be a zany combination of drama and throwback science fiction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Before I get to the meat and potatoes of my review, I have to have a Sam Elliott moment. The guy\u2019s got great hair. It\u2019s a clever shock of silver, thickly protruding from his wise, aged skull, falling hiply onto his princely forehead. It\u2019s hair that looks better, I imagine, with a day, maybe two days of fibrous, unwashed body-building. You can\u2019t mess it up, because that makes it even cooler. And that mustache is positively legendary.<\/p>\n

Then Elliott speaks, and we instantly recognize his iconic vocals, like that of an experienced, weathered grandfather, but not your grandfather. He\u2019s the grandfather that you never had, but always wished for. You lean in, as words fall slowly out of his mouth. Something important is about to be said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThe Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot\u201d makes maximum use of Elliott\u2019s persona. The movie is an uneven, often unintentionally funny, retro monster movie, encased in a hopelessly sweet post-World War II drama. Writer\/director Robert D. Krzykowski doesn\u2019t hide his b-movie influences, and goes for it with his heart fully exposed. This is a movie that loves Elliott and the idea of making a movie built around his mystique. Time is carefully taken to follow the actor as he walks down a street, eats breakfast, drives his car, talks to his dog, and as he shaves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the last moment, shaving, that forms the basis of an interesting flashback, but more on that later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Man Who Killed Hitler\u201d takes place in a 1970s present and a World War II past. Elliott plays Calvin Barr, a former US soldier, who carried out secret missions during the War. Indeed, he\u2019s the man who killed Hitler, but did he? We meet Barr\u2019s younger self during the War years, where he\u2019s played by actor Aidan Turner.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sold on the casting, Turner and Elliott hardly resemble one another identifiably. Turner makes little effort to mimic Elliott\u2019s voice, and his hair is understandably not silver. But as the film progresses, Turner appears to adopt some of Elliott\u2019s body-language and his casual mosey\u2014a scooting, rambling, strolling walk that brands him as eternally never in a hurry. And it helps that Turner is decent in the role, even with the soapy, way too wordy dialogue, and especially when the pacing gets stodgy.<\/p>\n

The older Barr lives in a small town in the same house he grew up in. We see Turner\u2019s younger Barr, when he meets the love of his life. He will, of course, be called off to war and lose her, but the older Barr still holds onto his memories of his one true love. His courtship, prior to pushing off for Europe, is a series of dates, a dinner, and lots of walking around. His girl is Maxine (Caitlin FitzGerald), a teacher, who tells him that she loves him, but moves away, when he mysteriously disappears into secret missions. We never see her in the 1970s present, and I definitely missed some key element, because the older Barr is hiding something very personal in a small wooden box under his bed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, onto that shaving scene. The aspect of a shave forms a critical, almost comical moment in the film. The young Barr is shown during the War meeting up with a Russian Officer (Nikolai Tsankov). In a full beard, young Barr has traveled dangerously behind enemy lines and is now face-to-face with the man who can help him complete his mission. Their conversation is telling. Apparently, Barr is extremely unique, can magically speak any language, and has the ability to unassumingly insinuate himself into any situation. The Russian Officer knows all this already. And before he helps Barr suit up as a Nazi officer, he asks Barr if he can give him a shave.<\/p>\n

The utter absurdity of this request is written on the young Barr\u2019s face. But the shave proceeds, and the Russian explains that his mother was a gypsy. He further explains that if Barr is cut during the shave, he will complete his mission and survive. This is an awkward, but darned interesting, superhero origin moment. And Tsankov sells the truly ridiculous nature of the scene extremely well. It sets the stage for later moments in which the older Barr is approached by his government for one last mission.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When I say that \u201cThe Man Who Killed Hitler\u201d is uneven, that\u2019s no understatement. Much of the film takes place in a small town, with Elliott dealing with the effects of old age. But then a switch is flipped, and we get a few big effects (from none other than Douglas Trumbull and others). These were hinted at during the World War II flashbacks, some of which, like a train scene, look cheap. But there\u2019s one effect in front a huge fire that will make you take notice. In any other film, I\u2019d say that these scenes are completely out of place, but this movie\u2019s title alone clues you in. It\u2019s a kind of Cormanesque throwback, but \u201cGalaxy of Terror\u201d this isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

When the older Barr finally gets to the Bigfoot, you\u2019re ready for it. And here\u2019s where Krzykowski and his knowing team GET their target viewer. No attempt is made to make the creature that Barr hunts the least bit real, in fact, I\u2019d say it isn\u2019t even scary. I laughed as Barr and the creature trade blows, but dog-gone-it, the scenes really work. They\u2019re funny and still effective. And Elliott is up to the physical demands of the role. There\u2019s even a funny, but strangely poignant conclusion to their battle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Forget that the entire reason for the older Barr being on the hunt is utter foolishness, and think about the theme that is playing out. The idea is that talents should not be wasted. Here\u2019s an old superhero called back into action, and I can\u2019t think of any better actor than Sam Elliott to play that hero. And he leads with his hair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Elliott kills both Hitler and Bigfoot in a movie that sneaks up on you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[587,588,589,590,50,591,592,593,594,595],"class_list":["post-5739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-and-then-the-bigfoot","tag-bigfoot","tag-douglas-trumbull","tag-hitler","tag-movie-review","tag-nazi","tag-robert-d-krzykowski","tag-roger-corman","tag-sam-elliott","tag-the-man-who-killed-hitler","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}