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      Beginning of the End

      Released Jun 28, 1957 1h 16m Sci-Fi List
      Reviews 21% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings Crops thrive on irradiated soil, thanks to the U.S. government, but so do grasshoppers. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

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      Sean Axmaker Seanax.com Bert I Gordon, the kitsch master of nature gone giant cinema, created this bargain basement spectacle of supersized locusts eating their way through Illinois to Chicago ... Apr 26, 2010 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Sep 24, 2005 Full Review Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) Giant grasshoppers, Peter Graves, and Bert I. Gordon. What more can you want? Rated: 3/5 Dec 29, 2002 Full Review Scott Weinberg eFilmCritic.com Bad Movie Lesson #1: Bert I. Gordon. Avoid. Rated: 1/5 Jul 25, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (47) audience reviews
      nick s Few redeeming features in this shlock movie. The actors might be capable but the woeful script they were handed kneecapped their performance. The giant out-of-focus locusts topped it off... not even a bit of eye candy to help us pass the time. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/10/24 Full Review Audience Member I've seen this movie since I was a kid. It's pretty much a "poor-man's" 'Them' which was produced by Warner Brothers. Instead of large animatronic-puppet monster Ants you get photo imposed giant grasshoppers/locust. Instead of real LA city drainage tunnels where soldiers battle giant charging ants you get ordinary grasshoppers climbing over 2-D photo-board sky-scrapers. The acting & direction keeps things moving fast, smooth & competent enough to keep you realizing how bargain-basement the whole thing is. A nice relic to pass the time & watch. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review martin a Peter Graves is again fantastic as a scientist who grows super large plants and food, the problem is some bad old Locusts eat the said plants and then mutate and start eating humans! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I usually don't expect much from Director Bert I. Gordon, but Beginning of the End was a rather entertaining movie. The effects look good, the acting's fine, and has many good scenes. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Beginning of the End: 7 out of 10: Giant Grasshoppers threaten Chicago as a lady photographer and a scientist who specializes in giant radioactive vegetables try to convince the army of the threat. The Good: Good lord this movie is great. Is it as good as Them? Well no of course not. That is a legitimately scary movie. Beginning of the End would have a hard time scaring anyone who has figured out object permanence. Okay, so this isn't scary. The action scenes consist mostly of stock footage and grasshoppers crawling over postcards (No I am not exaggerating nor making that up). The key to this film is two words. Peter Graves. This simply would fall apart without Mr. Graves at the helm. The other acting is actually quite solid but Peter brings it to a new level. He and the script are so serious while giant grasshoppers wander down Wacker street and climb the buildings it is incredible. This movie is all about seriousness and science. It plays such a ridiculous story so straight that it simply becomes entertaining in its own right. Also bonus points for the lady photographer having an honest to goodness car phone in the middle of a black and white fifties film. The Bad: Did I mention the grasshoppers crawling over actual postcards? The Ugly: The filmmakers started out with over two hundred grasshoppers. Due to rampant cannibalism amoung the insect actors, they were left with only eight for the big finale. Despite looking every inch of a man that was about to lead the Wehrmacht into Leningrad Peter Graves really carries this movie. A guilty pleasure and a delight of that super serious science-based sci-fi that the fifties did so well. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review kevin w Back in 1957 the preferred acting called for sort of a documentary style staccato monotone delivery and the cast delivers just that in this Nature Gone Wrong crapfest as grasshoppers eat nuclear treated veggies and become giant sized themselves, deciding to invade Chicago! Its all in fun, but fun played straight as 1957 could get it. Watching this I wondered that perhaps swarms of cannibal locusts would've made a better movie, but that's just me dreaming out loud. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Photos

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      Beginning of the End

      Beginning of the End (1957) Beginning of the End (1957) Beginning of the End (1957) Beginning of the End (1957) Beginning of the End (1957) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Crops thrive on irradiated soil, thanks to the U.S. government, but so do grasshoppers.
      Director
      Bert I. Gordon
      Screenwriter
      Fred Freiberger, Lester Gorn
      Distributor
      Republic Pictures
      Production Co
      AB-PT Pictures Corp.
      Genre
      Sci-Fi
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jun 28, 1957, Original
      Release Date (DVD)
      Jul 10, 2007
      Runtime
      1h 16m