Just perfect...

I'll tell you why so serious

As Good As It Gets

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Susan Strasberg plays a 28-year-old (!) with a big problem: she has a tumor on the back of her neck that has tripled in size in three days; even worse, she feels something moving around in it, as if it were a fetus (she's very relaxed about the whole thing...of course, the specialists at the hospital won't dare tell her they've never seen anything like it). Turns out the spirit of a 400-year-old Indian medicine man is using Strasberg as his conduit for a splashy reemergence--to seek vengeance for the slaughter of his people at the hands of the white man--leading phony psychic boyfriend Tony Curtis to enlist the aid of Native American shaman Michael Ansara to "fight fire with fire." Director William Girdler also co-wrote the script with Jon Cedar and Thomas Pope, an adaptation of Graham Masterton's novel (the type of book nobody would dare admit to reading); he approaches the ridiculous material with commendable seriousness--at least until the finale, which is pure camp. Good supporting performances from Stella Stevens as a medium and Burgess Meredith as a specialist in such matters, but Curtis and Ansara have to work hard to hide their embarrassment. *1/2 from ****

I saw this for the first time in 2015 on TCM of all places, but I remember when it came out. What makes this so laughable are the effects which look like an old SCTV skit. The movie loses me totally with the guy in the alligator suit. This feels more like a TV movie than a theatrical movie. It's a 1970s "B" movie but with a considerable cast of Tony Curtis, Michael Ansara and Susan Strasberg of all people. It's probably typical for its time. I also would like to make a suggestion to Amazon that they change the minimum of a review from 10 lines to 5 lines. The reviews can still be good without having to make so many points about the movie.

If you are a horror or sci-fi fan, if you love B grade cheese, then you MUST MUST MUST see this film! Saw this last night for the 1st time, couldn't sleep last night b/c I kept waking up laughing. Woke up early and created an IMDb profile just to write this review. I've probably seen 1,000+ horror films, specializing in B grade camp,and this takes the B grade cake of all cakes. About 20 minutes in I heard myself say, "Wow, this is going to be supremely entertaining on so many unintentional levels." Be warned! If you start watching, the compulsion/revulsion will get you, and you won't be able to stop. I can't stop thinking about it. The last 40 minutes are jaw dropping. Michael Ansara rocks!Plot flaws anyone? (Spoilers ahead) How about the oversized cannon Death Star laser in the operating room? Sorry , but if it can blast through solid concrete I don't think I want it cutting out my neck tumor. Or the doctors who repeatedly say "The Manitou can't be explained by any science. Bring in the shaman." Then 5 minutes later they can't buy into this "Injun magic bs", then they're back on w/ the Shaman's plan, then they're back out, for no reason. Which one is it pal? Do you or don't you believe in Manitou? How about, "I got an idea! Let's leave the terrifying Manitou, who can destroy our world w/ a thought, alone in the hospital room w/ the sleeping intern?" Uh, I'm sorry, but 1st off who could fall asleep w/ that thing in the room? And secondly, what kind of person would leave someone sleeping alone in the room with it? Or how about, "He's escaped the room!" "Who escaped?" WHO DO YOU THINK ESCAPED YOU MORON? PRINCE ALBERT? THE MANITOU!Throw in some midgets, ill timed 1 liners by Tony Curtis, and shaman exorcisms. Then, it's time to cash in on the new Star Wars craze by tossing in some lasers, asteroids, and supercomputers, and you got yourself the makings of a true classic. I wish they still made 'em like this. The best is that frenzied Angel-Dust-induced- grin on Strasbergs face when she starts firing off those power beams. I think it's the same shot looped over and over and over?I was crying w/ laughter the last 10 minutes. The film is avail in full on youtube and Netflix DVD. WATCH IT NOW! LONG LIVE THE MANITOU!!!!!

I read The Manitou in the 1970s when it was first published, and I enjoyed the book, many of the scenes in the book were quite memorable since they stuck in my head all these years. Harry Erskine is a well-defined character, and the plot is engaging and moves pretty quickly. I actually never knew they made a movie until I saw it on Turner Underground on TV last night.First of all, the film is quite faithful to the book, much of the dialogue and the scenes are lifted right from the pages. And you can't go wrong with San Francisco, point the camera in any direction and you have your backdrop. I think Tony Curtis makes a decent Harry Erskine, but the clothes they have him wearing are a little ridiculous, oh well, it was the 70s. Michael Ansara makes a perfect Singing Rock, and unfortunately just about any 70s actress could have played Karen Tandy, since she is largely a host for all the mayhem that follows. Even Burgess Meredith shows up as an anthropologist, lending the film some much-needed plausibility.So what's wrong with the film? Even though the book was entertaining, some things just don't translate to film; the idea of the white man's manitou for example, which is carefully explained in the book, is impossible to portray visually without appearing laughable. And the makeup for the native American witch doctor is awful; we're supposed to be terrified of him, but the director stages the scene with incongruous and implausible behavior by the actors: for example, the witch doctor is standing there, within the circle which he cannot break, and a bored orderly is assigned to "guard" him, while the bloodied body of another orderly lies in the corner covered with a sheet. The doctor threatens to call the police on the witch doctor. The witch doctor sends a superimposed human being in a lizard suit after the hospital doctor. Despite traveling hundreds of miles to see Karen, and fully aware of the witch doctor's imminent "birth", Singing Rock isn't watching over Karen, he's fast asleep while the witch doctor emerges from her back. None of it works.With better acting, directing, screen writing, and effects, this could have been a standout movie; as it is, it's the film equivalent of disco music: fun and flashy but ultimately empty. I think this film is ripe for a remake, if they're not considering it already.