The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot

Starring Sam Elliott, Aidan Turner, Larry Miller, Caitlin FitzGerald

Directed by Robert D. Krzykowski

The Story:
As a young man in World War II, Calvin Barr (Aidan Turner) was tasked with doing the impossible  - killing Hitler.  He managed to accomplish his goal, but what he did haunted him ever since.  Now, decades later, Calvin (Sam Elliott) is living alone and doesn't talk to anyone except his brother Ed (Larry Miller), as he reminisces about his lost love Maxine (Caitlin FitzGerald).

One night he's visited by American and Canadian officials who need Calvin's help.  The elusive Bigfoot has been contained, but he carries a deadly virus with him that could spread and kill the general populous if it's not killed.  Calvin's blood has an immunity to the virus, so they ask him to go in and kill the Bigfoot before it escapes.  Reluctant at first, Calvin does what he's always done and enters the woods to once again kill another monster.

The Synopsis:
A few years ago I was browsing the Wal-Mart $5 bin and saw a title of a movie I never heard before - "Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned."  I thought it was the most unique name I've ever heard for a movie, so I bought it on that premise - and it was horrible.  Poor production values, terrible acting, lame effects, and a dull story was all the movie had, and it was terrible that such a fascinating title could be so terrible in its execution.

Then, a few months ago, I heard another title that piqued my interest - "The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot."  The title itself was outlandish and humorous when I heard it, and I figured it would be another bargain-bin production about some sci-fi drama revisionist history where a man goes to kill Hitler and the Bigfoot at the same time - thankfully, my thoughts couldn't have been farther from reality, and what the film turned into was a heavily dramatic film about the personal effects of war and isolation on a man, and how monsters spread disease in more than one way.

Sam Elliott - who just came off his first Oscar nomination for his work in "A Star is Born" - plays Calvin Barr later in his life, a man who's self-isolated after coming back from World War II and killing the biggest monster in world history - Adolf Hitler.  You'd expect someone who was able to accomplish this would be grandiose in his return, and demand all the attention be drawn to him, but that's not Calvin's MO.  Instead, he's haunted by his action (in his words, he didn't kill Hitler, he just "killed a man"), and reminisces about his lost love that he left behind when he went to war.  Now an aged, gruff man, he lives alone with his dog and doesn't really interact with anyone except his younger brother Ed (and even that's rare), as he keeps having flashbacks of his younger days.

He plans on living the rest of his life in seclusion until he's visited by government officials who want his help in killing another monster - the Bigfoot, who is carrying a lethal virus that could kill the world's populous if he manages to escape.  Although he swore off killing, Calvin agrees in order to save humanity, and embarks on another hunt to kill another monster.

Elliott delivers a gut-wrenching performance as Calvin, a man who clearly wears the scars of war in his eyes, a man who lives with loads of regrets and misgivings, who doesn't consider himself a hero at all for taking out Hitler - after all, he said that even though he killed him, the ideals Hitler held continued to permeate and infect long after his death.  First time director Robert Krzykowski beautifully depicts the monsters in the film in differing ways - Hitler spread a disease of ideology while the Bigfoot could spread a disease of bodily decimation - but both outcomes are the same: they must be stopped.  Calvin is seen by others as a superhero of sorts, but he doesn't see himself that way at all - much the opposite, he pretty much considers himself to be the monster: the one who lost his love, who killed a man, and who now feels unworthy of human contact.

The dramatic tone of the film emirates throughout, so when it comes time to kill the Bigfoot, the film turns to a sci-fi tone reminiscent of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the classic Roger Corman creature-features (the film also had frequent Corman collaborator John Sayles as an executive producer), it actually makes sense.  The tone changes some, but we're already so invested in Calvin due to Elliott's tour-de-force performance we can suspend our disbelief as he treks the elusive Bigfoot through the wilderness.  He's looking for a monster, as he's been searching for his whole life, and it may be closer than he thinks.

The Summary:
With a terrific performance by Sam Elliott and a thoughtful script, "The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot" becomes more than just a film with the best title ever, but a serious, somber study on the effects of war and the eventual spread of evil.

The Score: A