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It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

When an atom bomb goes off and blow off all your clothes, don't panic. You're not at Minsky's witnessing Gypsy Rose Lee's newest striptease act, you're Glenn Langan, an army Lt. Colonel in the wrong place at the wrong time. He manages to survive the blast, but strange things begin to happen to him, much to the concern of his fiancée (Cathy Downs) to whom he was supposed to be wed that night. The doctors are stunned to discover that his burns have totally disappeared and new skin has formed. "Something out there is beyond the limits of our knowledge", the scientist who created the plutonium bomb realizes. Ah, duh? And how does the scientist explain the fact that Langan grows to enormous heights and becomes a human monster created by that fabulous organization known as the United States Army.Another lesson of the world getting into trouble because of organizations like this fooling around where they shouldn't, this is dramatically better than most movies of its kind and convincingly acted with outstanding special effects. Of course, the most famous scene is the shot of Langan destroying Vegas (the billboards of various famous headliners included), and it is worth the build-up to these exciting scenes. Downs tries to intercede as the voice of reason, but when mankind interferes where certain clues tell them not to, it is all of humanity who must suffer.Langan gets through this in a virtually silent performance, and wins sympathy for the innocent predicament that turned him into this colossal creature. William Hudson, who would later play the cheating husband in the film's follow-up ("The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman"), and Downs' shock upon discovering what has become of her fiancée is emotionally disturbing and powerful. Like the creature from Venus who grew to monstrous heights in "20 Million Miles to Earth", Langan gets the sympathy while the military gets the shaken finger. His reaction to realizing what's happened to him remains a very powerful moment in film. So as our world increases in knowledge, films like this remain behind to remind us of the lessons which we have not learned no matter what warnings there are for us way out there in the unknown.And remember...."Keep your dark glasses on, and stay where you are!"

Glen Manning performs an act of courage and what does he get. Exposure to Plutonium makes him a freak of nature, a man fifty feet tall, but the radiation affects his brain. Of course, this brings in the scientists who want to do things to him, as well as those who wish to destroy him as he goes on a rampage. These may be the worst special effects ever. At times we can see through the giant to the mountains and trees behind. This is also a love story and a story of hopelessness. He is made a freak, like the guy in "The Incredible Shrinking Man." The love of his life is willing to do what she can out of compassion and recognition of his cruel fate. The final scene is pretty good. There are some very touching scenes as well.

The Amazing Colossal Man looms high on my list of favorite movies. The era it was made in and the results of exposure to radiation on humans was a subject of conjecture in 1957.Today we can look at this movie and judge it by what we know today, but in 1957 no one had a clue. Another movie from this time period was Attack of the Giant Gila Monster only this time a desert lizard is transformed into a threat.Both movies show how we react to the unknown.It is dated today but Bert I. Gordon got the mood of the times correct.I gave this movie 8 stars because the truth it holds is timeless.Col. Manning had my sympathy and kept it to the end.He was a character that was new for the times;he questioned the authorities that tried to imprison him and keep him out of view without him having anything to say about it.

"The Amazing Colossal Man" gets my vote for Bert I. Gordon's best movie, meaning that it's not nearly as bad as his others.Gordon's sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s had the same basic plot: 1. Monster is created. 2. Monster attacks. 3. Monster is destroyed, accompanied by inept special effects. In this film, luckless serviceman Glenn Manning (Langan) is exposed to intense radiation from a plutonium bomb, and is burned over his entire body. The attending physician (Hudson) gives him zero chance for survival, but the next morning his skin has miraculously healed. Afterwards, Manning disappears, and his wife (Downs) finds him at a remote army base--50 feet tall! The healing process apparently had some unintended side-effects, and now Manning is kept in a circus tent. Hudson tells Downs that Manning is in pretty bad shape, and that "his mind will go first", a sure clue to the rest of the film. Sure enough, Manning goes crazy and escapes into the Nevada desert. Meanwhile an Army scientist (Larry Thor) has succeeded in his miniaturization experiments, and thinks if he can just give Manning an injection, everything will be fine. Of course, the usual no-nonsense 1950s Army guy (James Seay) shows up and says that if Manning causes any trouble, "we'll stop him cold!" Manning attacks Las Vegas, tearing up a few casino signs and causing a ruckus. Off go Hudson, Downs, and Thor in a helicopter, toting a 6-foot hypodermic needle. In the film's best (and funniest) sequence, Thor and Hudson give Manning an injection in his big toe, whereupon Manning picks up the giant needle and impales Thor with it. Sure looks painful.Apparently by now Gordon was out of ideas, because Manning shows up next on Boulder Dam, carries Downs around for a few minutes, then as soon as he puts her down, Seay yells, "FIRE!" His Army guys blast Manning with a variety of weapons, and in a very bad show of special effects, Manning ends up in the Colorado River. The End.What sets "The Amazing Colossal Man" apart from the rest of Gordon's 1950s films are the story and acting. The story is actually pretty intelligent (compared with, say, "The Beginning of the End"). The acting is not bad, and the little-known Langan gives something of a minor tour-de-force as Manning. Hudson, Downs, and Thor are also quite adequate in their roles.I recommend this film as a pretty good time-filler. Try watching without paying too much attention to the special effects. Gordon actually filmed a sequel, "War of the Colossal Beast", but it's pretty rock-bottom.