The Giant Claw

1957

1h 16m

Sci-Fi

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Reviews

32%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) spots a UFO while directing a study at the North Pole. But when the Air Force arrives, they cannot find anything visually or on radar, throwing Mitch's reputation into doubt. Soon, though, many airplanes are reporting attacks by a UFO, which turns out to be a giant speeding bird from outer space. Along with mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), Mitch tries to determine a way to stop the bird, which has a force field that renders all weapons useless.

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Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

The truth, though, is that it's entirely due to this plucked buzzard-from-hell puppet that anyone remembers the movie today.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 23, 2011

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Entertaining bad film.

Rated: C+

Sep 28, 2008

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Slow-moving, talky, and ultimately dull...

Rated: 1/4

Nov 5, 2007

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Joshua R

This is a wonderful cheesy movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/21/23

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Red T

I feel so sorry for the actors involved in this because it's soooo clear they had no idea how bad the bird would look. The film without the bird actually isn't that bad oddly enough. However the moment the bird shows up and more and more scenes are shown with it, it truly dilutes the quality of everything. The editing is terrible because the bird scenes horribly do not fit. There are a couple lines that don't even match what the bird even looks like. The first 20 minutes actually is good but by the end it is so embarrassing how bad the special effects which were done after look. They truly are some of the worst practical effects I've seen. The music is generic, the non-bird cinematography is ok enough, and it's a very quick run time but the bird just takes a sledgehammer to all competency. It is laughably bad in a sense but I just felt so embarrassed for everyone involved. If your a fan of laughably bad films I guess go ahead and watch it but otherwise skip this like I'm sure everyone involved did and just bury it in the past.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/12/23

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Peter W

Overall, with a title like "The Giant Claw", movie lovers should know what to expect. This is a cheesy yet pleasing cinema experience from the year 1957. It's a film that's not to be taken too seriously, but I found myself enjoying its level of creativity and even the attempts at stunning visuals when it comes to a large bird destroying the Earth and the people who live on it. While the film doesn't serve well with repeat viewing, primarily due to its pacing and overconfident characters who enjoy technology babbling, it's still a viewing I don't regret experiencing.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/29/23

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Monsol E

So...the giant buzzard is an alien...and is protected by a biologic-super-forcefield that obliterates anything it touches? ...Awesome!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

A nice so bad it's good movie. I would love to see a remake.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/05/22

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Audience Member

Directed by Fred J. Sears (Don't Knock the Rock, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Teen-Age Crime Wave), The Giant Claw is somehow inspired by matter and anti-matter, as well as la Carcagne, the mythical bird-like banshee from French-Canadian folklore. Yes, some heady material, but then this movie has one of the goofiest — and most awesome — monsters ever. Producer Sam Katzman originally planned to utilize stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. This movie didn't have the money for that, so he hired a Mexico City effects studio who sent him a marionette that, well, looks like a monstrous turkey. Seeing as how he spent fifty dollars on the monster, I think he got so much more than what he paid for. No one in the movie knew what that creature looked like until they saw the movie. This really embarrassed lead actor Jeff Morrow, who was there to see the movie live in his hometown and every time the monster showed up, people laughed louder, until the actor ran home and started drinking. I mean, Morrow must have felt the same way when he was in Octaman. Obviously, the poster artists never saw the special effects either. That said, the film is also quite aware of the UFO sightings of the day, which is what they think the monster is until scientists discover that it's an evil bird from an antimatter universe. This is a pretty nihilistic film for the time, as the evil bird kills people without a thought when it isn't destroying every building it can.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Fred F. Sears

Director

Jeff Morrow

Mitch MacAfee

Mara Corday

Sally Caldwell

Morris Ankrum

Lt. Gen. Edward Considine

Louis Merrill

Pierre Broussard

Edgar Barrier

Dr. Karol Noymann

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25 Movies So Bad They’re Unmissable

The Giant Claw: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Engineer Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow) spots a UFO while directing a study at the North Pole. But when the Air Force arrives, they cannot find anything visually or on radar, throwing Mitch's reputation into doubt. Soon, though, many airplanes are reporting attacks by a UFO, which turns out to be a giant speeding bird from outer space. Along with mathematician Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), Mitch tries to determine a way to stop the bird, which has a force field that renders all weapons useless.

Director: Fred F. Sears
Production Co: Clover Productions
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 26, 2020
Runtime: 1h 16m

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