EEGAH (1962)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological*


I've termed EEGAH a comedy because, despite its KING KONG-like conclusion, the bulk of the film concerns the titular caveman's frustrated attempts to get busy with the lead female.

Actually, EEGAH probably wouldn't be that funny to older viewers, except when accompanied by MST3K dialogue or similar mockery. When I re-watched it recently, the funniest thing about it were the credits, written out in bold letters on various surfaces. I've only seen this credits-technique in grindhouse films of the 1960s, and I've always assumed that the raconteurs involved resorted to this technique in order to save bucks. The film's writer/producer/director was Arch Hall Senior, father to the film's male lead Arch Hall Jr, and though he wasn't active in grindhouse films, he did produce one nudie-cutie, THE MAGIC SPECTACLES, the year before he did EEGAH.

I'll give Hall some points for unveiling his lonely caveman (Richard Kiel) early in the film; lead female Roxy (Marilyn Manning) nearly runs him down with her car. He runs away, and she conveys her experience to her father Mister Miller. Miller, a writer of adventure novels, decides that he'll forge into the desert all by himself, to investigate the apparent survivor of prehistoric times. When Miller doesn't come back at the expected time, Roxy and her boyfriend Tom (Hall Jr.) follow him. Tom gets separated from Roxy, who is in turn abducted by Eegah (so named because this is the most frequent sound he makes-- "Eegah" equaling "ego," I guess). When Roxy is deposited in Eegah's cave, she finds that Eegah has also captured Miller as well. Miller has been attempting to establish a dialogue with the illiterate caveman, and he points out that the cave was apparently one Eegah formerly shared with his family, for the preserved skeletons of other cavepeople are still gathered against a nearby wall. Miller theorizes that the sulfur content of the cave somehow kept Eegah and his relatives alive over the centuries, but has no explanation as to how they avoided discovery for so long a time. Apparently the last of Eegah's relatives perishes within the past fifty years, which may have precipitated Eegah's venture into civilization.

At this point, while the virtuous Tom is searching for his girlfriend, Eegah tries to beat his time with Roxy. This section of the film is the only one that commands any viewer-attention, for during this sequence Roxy and Miller have to adopt various strategies to distract Roxy's powerful suitor from making mating overtures. These scenes also have a nodding likeness to some of the tamer grindhouse films, wherein characters are imperiled by the possibility of being violated, even though nothing actually happens. I can't exactly call any of the performances here good, but they are diverting, particularly in the scene where Eegah lets Roxy shave off his hairy beard.

Finally, however, the two moderns escape Eegah and rejoin Tom. The lovelorn caveman follows Roxy, breaks up a swimming-pool party, and gets shot dead by police.

Though EEGAH isn't well filmed or written, I don't think it quite deserves its reputation as one of the worst films of all time. It's at least interesting that Miller is a traditional protective father who's righteously shocked by rock-and-roll-- especially the rather innocent ditties warbled by Tom-- and perhaps one could view Eegah as a symbol of every father's fears about What Those Boys Really Want. Roxy isn't a total innocent, either: in an early scene she titillates Tom by showing him a very small package and telling him that it contains her new swimsuit. Some critics have opined that Roxy and her father sound a little too intimate in their cave-scenes, leading to the conclusion that there's an incestuous undercurrent in the film. I don't think any such undercurrent was intentional, but it might be seen as a logical outgrowth of Miller's protectiveness toward his daughter.