Line #6 Film/TheCyclops


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_cyclops_1957_poster.jpeg]]
2
3	->"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''."
4	-->-- '''Creator/JamesRolfe''', ''WebVideo/CinemassacresMonsterMadness''
5
6	''The Cyclops'' is a 1957 SciFiHorror film directed by Creator/BertIGordon.
7
8	Three years after test pilot Bruce Barton (Duncan Parkin) disappears while flying over the Tarahuamare Mountains in Mexico, his fiancée Susan Winter (Gloria Talbott) throws together an expedition to search for him, teaming up with wealthy stock speculator Marty Melville (Creator/LonChaneyJr), biologist Russ Bradford (James Craig), and pilot Lee Brand (Tom Drake).
9
10	Disobeying orders from the Mexican government that the Tarahuamare Mountains are off limits, the gang piles into Lee's plane and flies off. Halfway to their destination, rough winds force the plane to make an emergency landing in a narrow valley.
11
12	It becomes evident that Bruce 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" and which resembles a hair dryer the prop department tricked out) in the hopes of locating uranium deposits so he can file a claim with the Mexican government as part of some kind of swindle/get-rich-quick scheme.
13
14	Russ sees a giant lizard, but nobody believes him. Then, searching for Bruce, he and Susan stumble across a giant mouse, which is then caught and eaten by an equally giant hawk. Russ speculates that radiation from the uranium deposits Marty is so obsessed with have caused the local wildlife to grow to gigantic proportions.
15
16	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.
17
18	----
19	!!Tropes used in this film:
20
21	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Russ loves Susan, but knows that she won't return his affections because her heart still belongs to Bruce.
22	* AntagonistTitle: The title refers to the one-eyed giant that menaces the film's main characters.
23	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Russ explains that the reason everything in the valley is giant is because because radiation coming off uranium is overstimulating their pituitary glands, causing their cells to never stop growing. He even says if they remain in the valley too long, ''they'll'' eventually begin turning into giants, too.
24	* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: With that much radiation pouring off of the ground, all the animals ([[spoiler:and Bruce]]) should all be ''dead'', not mutated.
25	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: In addition to the cyclops, there's also giant birds, rodents, lizards and various insects and spiders. There's even a giant python.
26	* BigCreepyCrawlies[=/=]GiantSpider: At one point, the group is menaced by a giant tarantula.
27	* BronsonCanyonAndCaves: The cyclops' lair is none other than Bronson Canyon.
28	* ChekhovsGun: The big stick Lee carries around. [[spoiler:Russ fashions it into a makeshift spear and uses it to blind Cyclops!Bruce.]]
29	* CoolShades: Lee wears some pretty cool aviators.
30	* CoolPlane: A Stinson 108-3 Voyager.
31	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Marty wishes to make a fortune from the uranium and has zero regards for Susan's feelings for Bruce and desire to have closure.
32	* {{Cyclops}}: The titular monster is a giant with one eye, though unlike a conventional cyclops with the single eye in the middle of the forehead, he instead has one eye because the other is obscured by a wall of flesh as a result of the mutation.
33	* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Russ can be seen puffing away on a pipe in some scenes, to remind us he's the intellectual type.
34	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Russ blinds Cyclops!Bruce in self-defense, and then he, Susan and Lee escape in the plane, while Bruce apparently dies from the eye injury.]]
35	* DullSurprise: Russ' reaction to the giant animals.
36	* EagleLand: Unavoidable, given that it's about a bunch of Americans traipsing around Mexico and ignoring their no-trespassing laws. While most of the gang are Mixed Flavor, Marty is definitely America, the Boorish, a thoroughly unpleasant, rich jerk who solves problems with his fists.
37	* EyeScream: Russ throws a fiery spear into the cyclops' eye during the climax.
38	* DirtyCoward: Marty tries to run away the moment the cyclops appears.
39	* GunsAreWorthless: Averted. The giant animals ''can'' be felled by ordinary rifle fire.
40	** It's played straight with the cyclops himself, though. He's ImmuneToBullets and Marty unloads several rifle rounds into him and it just makes him mad.
41	* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Attempted by Susan when she realizes the cyclops is [[spoiler:Bruce]].
42	* ImpendingDoomPOV: At one point, we see Susan from the cyclops' perspective.
43	* ItsAllAboutMe: Marty seems to think the expedition is entirely about his quest for uranium: as soon as they arrive and he confirms the mineral's presence, he's all for flying back and forgetting about Bruce.
44	* JerkassHasAPoint: Marty's insistence 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.
45	* MadnessMantra: Susan does this after her first encounter with the cyclops. "The eye! ''The eye!''"
46	* [[MyCarHatesMe My Plane Hates Me]]: Whilst attempting to escape at the end, the plane's engine conks out.
47	* NightmareFace: [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyclops_3384.jpg The cyclops' face]] is quite horrific, similar to Glenn Manning in the later ''Film/WarOfTheColossalBeast'', also directed by Bert I. Gordon (it's even the same actor, Duncan "Dean" Parkin, as both monsters).
48	* NuclearMutant: Uranium-induced giants.
49	* OffTheShelfFX: Much has been made by critics about the "scintilator" Marty uses. It may or may not be some type of 50s-era radiation detector, but it looks more like a tricked-out futuristic hairdryer.
50	* 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.
51	* RodentsOfUnusualSize: One gets nommed by a giant hawk.
52	* ScreamingWoman: Susan screams a lot at the sight of the giant animals.
53	* {{Slurpasaur}}: A number of the gigantic critters in the valley are these.
54	* SpidersAreScary: A spider is one of the giant creatures the main characters encounter.
55	* TwoFaced: The titular cyclops has one side of his face deformed, with a lack of lips exposing the teeth on that side of his face and a blank wall of flesh covering one of his eyes.
56	* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler:The cyclops is actually a mutated Bruce.]]
57	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The tarantula just up and disappears after briefly menacing the heroes. It's there and gone between shots in the ''same scene''.

Context Film / TheCyclops