Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot (Ed Ragozzino, 1977)

I’m not entirely sure what genre Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot is, but I guess the original concept of “docudrama” could fit quite good. But still… it’s more a mix of a mockumentary and reconstructions of stuff the filmmakers actually claims happens for real. That’s a true mindfuck: faked reconstructions! Anyway, the reason why I watched this is Exists, the latest Bigfoot-film from the genius (yes) Eduardo Sánchez, and that made me go through my huge collections of movies to find all Bigfoot films I could find. Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot, I will call it Sasquatch from now on, is very much a child of its time. Imagine something similar to In Search Of… or any other of those cinema-released docs (like the awesome Mysterious Monsters) with famous voice overs trying to convince us UFOs, ancients astronauts and all the other cool things out there is true.

Sasquatch begins with a serious voice (someone wrote it’s Robert W. Morgan, the director of Blood Stalkers, but I might have confused that statement with some other docudrama) explaining the legend of Bigfoot and the expeditions planned by the film’s main characters. What follows is basically a nature film with a few encounters with wild animals like mountain lion or bear, lots and lots of padding, more pointless words from our narrator and in the end, fucking finally, a the encounter we’ve been waiting for - you know which one. This is of course, as stated above, a reconstruction, but satisfyingly entertaining.

I see. You good folks out there think I hate this film? I don’t. It was actually quite cozy to watch a Sunday morning, even if it more or less completely lacks tension and entertainment - except that finale. Instead I’m kinda pissed off they shoot and kill an escaping mountain lion and somehow think this is a brave thing to do! Except that there’s a lot and lot and lot of footage of the fantastic wilderness around them, which actually is something I like and I can watch movies only because of this.

But it’s just a damn pity they couldn’t take the Bigfoot-concept a bit further, make it more spectacular - instead of filling it with some really boring slapstick, a few bad flashbacks to other Bigfoot encounters and the always boring macho-bullshit how it’s cool to freeze, starve and be in the forest for months and months. It’s not fun. No one thinks so, except those who wants to feel a little bit better than everyone else. The acting - I’m not sure I can call it acting, more like “acting” - is also so crappy it turns unbelievable. Especially the dude playing the comic relief chef, who looks like he comes right from a really shitty circus.

But hey, I’m not the one to complain (well, actually…), Sasquatch is still a fine addition to your collection of Bigfoot entertainment. It’s what we call in Sweden “mystråkig”, and that’s not bad for a generic fake Bigfoot docudrama!

Comments

[Megatron]

"Anyway, the reason why I watched this is Exists, the latest Bigfoot-film from the genius (yes) Eduardo Sánchez, and that made me go through my huge collections of movies to find all Bigfoot films I could find."

I´m glad you found it.

"But it’s just a damn pity they couldn’t take the Bigfoot-concept a bit further,"

Maybe they just shot this over the weekend without a script...or something?

"Sasquatch is still a fine addition to your collection of Bigfoot entertainment. It’s what we call in Sweden “mystråkig”, and that’s not bad for a generic fake Bigfoot docudrama!"

Sometimes all you got on a sunday is generic fake Bigfoot docudrama to watch......good review and thanks, I haven´t seen this one yet.

It looks far more entertaining than Cloud Atlas (2012), Blue Valentine (2010) and Lincoln (2012).

[Fred Anderson]

I think you've brought up Cloud Atlas (2012), Blue Valentine (2010) and Lincoln (2012) ten times in a row now.

Thanks! I will try to review some more Bigfoot-movies...maybe.

[Megatron]

Yeah...I will continue to do so!

[Fred Anderson]

And I will continue to ignore it.