History Film / TheCyclops

* CaliforniaDoubling: California stands in for Mexico. In fact the opening shot of Guayjorm is the exact same one used in ''WarOfTheColossalBeast''.

-->-- '''[[Creator/JamesRolfe James Rolfe]]'''

* AllLoveIsUnrequited
* AntagonistTitle

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Marty.
* {{Cyclops}}

* DirtyCoward: Marty.

* ImpendingDoomPOV

* JerkassHasAPoint: Marty's insistance that they give up the search and leave the valley is at first dismissed as pure cowardice on his part, but after discovering that it's the uranium that makes living things grow gigantic, Russ decides, yeah, Marty kinda has a point, and agrees with him.
* MadnessMantra: "The eye! ''The eye!''"

* ScreamingWoman: Susan.

* SpidersAreScary
* TwoFaced

''The Cyclops'' is a delightful bit of 1958 hokum directed [[Creator/BertIGordon Bert I. Gordon]]. Pilot Bruce Barton disappears while flying over Tarahuamare Mountains in Mexico. Three years later, his fiance Susan Winter throws together an expedition to search for him, consisting of wealthy stock speculator Marty Melville, biologist Russ Bradford and pilot Lee Brand.

* CaliforniaDoubling: California stands in for Mexico. In fact the opening shot of the town is the exact same one used in ''WarOfTheColossalBeast''.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Marty's insistance that they give up the search and leave the valley after discovering the giants is actually pretty solid: chances are Bruce is long since dead and if they stay they run the risk of dying themselves, but of course he's portrayed as cowardly and stupid for saying so, and is the only character to die.
* LostWorld: Of a sort.

* CaliforniaDoubling: California stands in for Mexico.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: At one point, the group is menaced by a giant tarantula.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The tarantula just up and disappears after briefly menacing the heroes. It's there and gone between shots in the ''same scene''.

''The Cyclops'' is a delightful bit of 1958 hokum directed [[Creator/BertIGordon Bert I. Gordon]]. Pilot Bruce Barton disappears while flying over Tarahuamare Mountains in Mexico. Three years later, his fiance Susan Winter throws together an expedition to search for him, consisting of wealthy stock speculator Marty Melville, biologist Russ Bradford and pilot Lee Brand. Disobeying orders from the Mexican government that the Tarahuamare Mountains are off limits, the gang piles into Lee's plane and flies off.

During the trip, it becomes evident that Bruce Barton isn’t the sole object of Marty’s search. He’s brought a radiation-detecting device with him (which he refers to as a “scintilator”) in the hopes of locating uranium deposits so he can lay a claim, then sell the land back to the Mexicans for a huge profit. Halfway to their destination, rough winds force the plane to make an emergency landing in a narrow valley.

Susan and Russ stumble across a giant mouse, which is then caught and eaten by an equally giant hawk. Russ speculates that radiation from the uranium deposits have caused the local wildlife to grow to gigantic proportions. Monsters or no monsters, Susan is determined to find Bruce, and the gang presses on. But the giant animals aren’t the only dangers of the valley. The biggest mutant of all is an enormous man some fifty feet tall, with one side of his face partially melted, obliterating his eye, while his remaining eye is bulbous and glaring. Seemingly unintelligent, the “cyclops” bellows, roars and grunts, and becomes hellbent on capturing the interloping humans… especially Susan, who begins suspecting a connection between the cyclops and Bruce, especially after finding the wreckage of Bruce’s plane.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Russ blinds Cyclops!Bruce in self-defense, and then he, Susan and Lee escape in the plane, leaving the now blinded Bruce behind in the valley.]]

* ShoutOut: A few to ''Film/KingKong'', particularly the cyclops' fight with the python. Also, the fiery spear in the cyclops' eye recalls ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad''.

** It's played straight with the cyclops himself, though. Marty unloads several rifle rounds into him and it just makes him mad.

* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler:The cyclops is actually a mutated Bruce.]]

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The governor at the beginning who refuses to allow the expedition to search for Bruce. In a subversion, he has his reasons. Specifically, he doesn't trust Marty Melville any further than he can throw him.

* ImmuneToBullets: Averted. The giant animals ''can'' be felled by ordinary rifle fire.

!!Tropes used in this novel:

* BBCQuarry: The cyclops' lair is none other than Bronson Cave.

->"''The Cyclops'' is one that starts kinda slow, but once it gets going, it gives us all the cheesy thrills that make us oh so happy."