Enterprising journalist Audrey Ames (Peggie Castle) is determined to get the scoop on enormous grasshoppers that were accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm, and she en... Read allEnterprising journalist Audrey Ames (Peggie Castle) is determined to get the scoop on enormous grasshoppers that were accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm, and she endeavors to save Chicago despite a military cover-up.Enterprising journalist Audrey Ames (Peggie Castle) is determined to get the scoop on enormous grasshoppers that were accidentally created at the Illinois State experimental farm, and she endeavors to save Chicago despite a military cover-up.
- Col. Tom Sturgeon
- (as Thomas B. Henry)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe phone in Audrey's car is a precursor to modern cell phones. It worked off of the Mobile Telephone Service, a VHF service with very limited availability. The user would be connected to an operator, who would then route the call to a second operator that could then route the call to the intended recipient.
- GoofsThere are no mountains in central Illinois.
- Quotes
Col. Tom Sturgeon: Where do I get off asking the Regular Army for help with a bunch of oversize grasshoppers?
- Crazy creditsOn the copyright line of some prints of the film (including the one shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000) the production company name AB-PT is obscured by a black box.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Weird Al Show: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Hamster (1997)
- SoundtracksNatural, Natural Baby
Words and Music by Lou Bartel & Harriet Kane
Sung by Lou Bartel & Chorus
An ABC - Paramount Record
People begin to disappear in the surrounding communities outside Chicago. Photographer/journalist Audrey Aimes, portrayed by the lovely Peggy Castle, stops to visit Dr. Wainwright, the Dept. of Agriculture scientist who has used radiation on his plants to make them larger, only to discover that grasshoppers have feasted on them, thus making an army of giant sized locusts. This sounds pretty lame by today's standards but this was standard fare for 1950s science fiction, in the days when we were scared to death of having a nuclear weapon dropped on us and being taken over "from within."
After the discovery of what has happened and why, the rest of the story deals with what to do before the grasshoppers destroy Chicago. Fortunately for all, this did not happen. I won't give the ending away be will provide a hint: View 1963's Day of the Triffids.
Reviewers have not been kind to this film and perhaps rightfully so. However, within the context of the preposterous story and extremely limited budget, its not so bad. Beginning of the End starred Peter Graves, a sci-fi regular of that time in his pre-Mission: Impossible days and whose brother, James Arness, was riding high as Marshall Dillon in television's Gunsmoke. (You may recall that Arness starred in 1954's Them!, about huge ants terrorizing Los Angeles. This was the film that started the big bug craze). Peggy Castle was cool and calm as the female lead and was a forerunner of sorts to today's' strong woman in action films. And, this was yet another film of many whereas Morris Ankrum played a military general.
Special effects were not too good even for that era and are downright atrocious by the standards of today. We see grasshoppers walking upon photos of various places in Chicago and the super imposed shots are of very poor quality. The storyline stretches even the keenest imagination, as we are led to believe that Chicago can be 100% evacuated within 24 hours, and this with thousands of homeless refugees from the outlying communities camping out in the inner city!
Even so, Beginning of the End possesses the low budget charm that subsequent eras have not been able to duplicate. This is one of those films that is fun to watch and is the sole reason one should do so. Saturday night late is the best time. I like to view it alone and recall a far simpler time in my life and our world at large. At least, the times seemed simpler. Perhaps they were not and that may be what films such as these were all about.
- Tommy-5
- May 21, 2005
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Начало конца
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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