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I can't believe you went through the whole review
with out mentioning that this movie features a
young Clint Eastwood in one of his earliest film
appearences(Return Of The Creature being his first  
film apperance eve

Oh man...what a great cheesy 50's movie....I love this and the Deadly Mantis....oh and not to mention the Giant Gila Monster...all those great giant bug/monster movies from the 50's ruled!!!

I know a Tarantula walking over a blue-screen when I see one!

Here's the review I have posted on my cheesy movies site.

Tarantula

Dir: Jack Arnold

Yet another nifty fifties big bug extravaganza in glorious black and white!!! Loretta must admit a fondness for insects of almost
infinite kind--she often finds herself cheering for the bug, as in Deadly Mantis, that deadly dull b&w fifties delight reviewed not
too long ago. She thinks tarantulas most elegant and a little more deadly than the stunningly beautiful mantis. She kept hoping
her graphics sidekick would find a fiendishly delightful tarantula graphic, but . . . . She still worried about the fact that the
scriptwriters thought ONE big bug was enough in yet another fifties discussion of the insidious effect of the A-bomb unleashed.

In Tarantula, Leo G. Carroll poses as the mad-ish scientist running amok with one simple isotope. Loretta couldn't get enough
of the lab rats and guinea pigs as they filled their cages! Actually, the special effects are a class act here, almost rivaling those in
Them! . . . but Them! writers have the good sense to threaten the WORLD with an army of ants instead of one giant bug.

Loretta hooted any number of times as the one female star, Mara Corday--a statuesque Mamie Van Doren type, was given the
role of a scientist only to serve as handmaiden to our tall, dark, handsome country doctor of a hero, played by the
inesteemable John Agar. But . . . the special effects were stellar, given 1950's technology, and the action kept the narrative
moving.

Loretta thought it overkill that the entire ordnance of a squadron of bombers had to be dumped before our tarantula bit the
dust. She wonders if Clint Eastwood felt he had taken a giant step in bit parts from his earlier outing in Francis in the Navy!!

Loretta sez . . . "Give 'em the vote & see what ya git, a lady scientist!? Oh my!!!

Dave sez. . . . .Did I distinictly hear that tarantula roaring like a lion!?!?

This was based on an episode of an old '50s TV show called "Tales of Tomorrow."

I love movie about giant bugs. Who does not? This is one of the all time greats. Giant spider invades small town suburbia, terrizes everyone, heroes try their darndest to kill the thing, to no avail. The doctor due to radiation sickness becomes deformed, as a result. Finally, a simple solution is employed, and the beast dies. Dont you just love it. Get this gem, along with The Deadly Mantis. That is a great double bill for a late night moviethon.

Special effects are the highlight(better than watching a boring STAR WARS flick) of this impressive 50's sci-fi film from Jack Arnold. This would be the insperation for EARTH VS. THE SPIDER(1958) and THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION(1975). Watch for Clint Eastwood as a jet piolt. Acting, cinematography, settings, and script are A+ standards, but the special effects cannot be beat.

This is absolutely my favorite big bug movie of all time. I grew up with this film back in the 60's, first owning it as a 5 minute quickie in the old 8mm home movie format, then taping the movie to listen to on a reel-to-reel tape recorder from The Late Late Show, and then finally buying it in VHS format a couple years back. What a classic flick. Who can forget the impressive special effects they accomplished on a meager budget. And the fantastic musical score still knocks me out. The scene where the horses sense something wrong just beyond the hill is truly creepy. Still gives me chills every time. I also dig The Deadly Mantis. Saw it at a Drive-In around 1961 when I was 6. I loved it, but didn't know what a mantis was then, so I thought it was a giant grasshopper!

Amazingly enough, it took the 'Hollywood Magic Makers" 45 years to come up with a spider-like contraption to marvel the macro-photography of _Tarantula_.

I'm speaking of the mechanical spider in the absolutely horrible 1999 Will Smith vehicle _Wild Wild West_.

Between _Tarantula_ and _Wild Wild West_...I don't think I remember any more impressive spider-type machines in movies. (And if anyone mentions any iteration of _Robot Jocks_...You will meet with certain doom! I said "impressive," people!)

As far as my six year old son is concerned, the pesky star of this monster mash sucked out all the color (thus making the movie black and white).  Although more than a bit dated in its lingo and look that only makes it more endearing to me, a fun monster movie.  Jack Arnold knew how to make them good.

I love this movie! My 4 year old son loves watching them too. One of my favorite parts is the tasting of the venom! I also liked how the filled the syringe with the growth serum in an isolation chamber and then open the lid to take out the syringe. Then the doctor squirts the air bubbles out of the syringe as he walks across the room. It is a classic!

I like this film a lot.  The coolest thing is that it was based in part on an actual scientific experiment where they fed chickens growth hormones and the chickens got, naturally, meatier.  This was known as the Superchicken Experiment, but the creators of this film thought a Tarantula would be scarier than a giant chicken no doubt.

I like the 50's b/w ..I admit it up front. this movie is a good quality film for the time ..special effects were as good as that time allowed..and the acting was at least reasonable. I would argue plot and character development in these films were better then the 70's and 80's when the special effects became the main thrust of the movies..the best comment I can make is that I would love to see this film on the big screen.  

Look for a young Clint Eastwood in his movie debut as the (uncredited) leader of the jet squadron that attacks the tarantula in the film's climax.

For a film set in southern Arizona, it looks alot like a film shot in southern California.
Leo G. Carroll. Everybody's favorite mad scientist. Probably best known for playing Mr. Waverly in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E."
He was as good of a statistician, as he was a scientist. When he said the population of the world was going to be 3,625,000,000, in 2000, he was only off by 2,375,000,000, give or take a few million.
Acromegaly. There is at least one man who made a career out of that rare disease. Rondo "The Creeper" Hatton. Voted the handsomest boy in his high school. Apparently, contracting the disease, when he was gassed in WWI, he went to Hollywood and made many films there, usually as the villain, before he died there of a heart attack.
Someone once said the small spider was scarier then the larger spider, because you could see the larger spider coming for miles and run like heck in the opposite direction. While, you would be checking behind every rock for the smaller spider, waiting for it to jump out at you.
There may be some truth to this. I found the spiders in "Arachnophobia" alot scarier then the spider in "Tarantula." Though, that may be a product of age. I remember being scared by the spider in "Have Rocket Will Travel," when I was a child. Enjoy!

Another Fifties B Monster classic. Like the BLOB and the origianl THING, this is really a tight little B film. Decent effects for its day, a rambling little plot line, and reasonably good characters. The spider roaming the desert looks quite good, even by todays standards. Far better than the giant ants in THEM. THEM was a far better film in my opinion, but the special effects weren't nearly as good. Radiation could do wonderfull things back in the nifty-fifties...giant ants, giant Army Captains, giant crabs...but it takes a good old fashioned mad scientist to turn out a top notch giant spider like this one. A young Clint Eastwood dropping napalm on the sucker is just icing on the cake. There were at least a half dozen giant spider movies made over the years...as far as I know this was the first one with the spider in the starring role, and I still think it was the best. Did any of you guys know that there was a giant spider scene in the original cut of KING KONG? It was on screen for less than a minute. But after the movie the sample audiance was still talking about the spider and seemed to have forgotten all about the giant ape...so the scene was cut before general release. I've seen a still photo from the scene, but the film snippit is considered "lost"...what a bummer. If you're looking for B monsters from the golden age of B monsters, Tarantula is a hands down winner. Watch it with a Coke on election day then go out and vote for IKE as a write-in canadate. Kill a Commie and don't forget to kiss Mom on the check when she serves you a piece of that warm apple pie during the baseball game on TV, then grab your best girl and drive off into the sunset in your Chevy...God Bless America...remember you have the future ahead of you. Of course, this includes Vietnam, LSD, Kent State, Disco, and Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu...but all that is another story...

Even as an avowed arachniphobe, I watched this with no real troubles because the thing was so g-ddamned big !! High marks for the special fx for such and early movie.

Is this the same Jack Arnold who produced and directed the giant-spider episode of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND?  If so, was the movie parody intentional?

>>For a film set in southern Arizona, it looks alot like a film shot in southern California.
Leo G. Carroll. Everybody's favorite mad scientist. Probably best known for playing Mr. Waverly in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.">>

Carrol was best known for his playing the title role in the mid-fifties TV show, "TOPPER"...

...I saw this film when it came out and I was six years old. It scared the bejesus outta me, and to this day I still remember it. I was doing a search for a pic from the movie when I stumbled on this Tarantula review page. IT'S GREAT!!! I havn't seen the movie in almost fifty years and to see the video clip is SO COOL, thanks! I remember the final scene vividly where the spider gets napalmed and burns like the Hindenburg. I sure hope I get to see this film in it's entirity again before I check out of this earthly realm.

In  my opinon this is the best sci fi film of the 50'.Iam trying very hard to get it on DVD but with little luck.

A TARANTULA wow its a big sucker JUMPIN JUPITER and if you get a look at the pilot flying the jet and listen to him you will find out he is CLINT EASTWOOD during his RAWHIDE  days

I have this movie on video cassette and wow its real great and this is before they had compuerised special effects and much better then 8 LEGGED FREAKS becuase the big spider looks more scary and menacing and about the part where it invades the ranch and gose for a horse and the rancher and the other sceine where the two men are driving their pick-up and you can hear sheep or goats bleeting but you see none in the back of the truck and a giant spider can send a pick-up truck sailing through the air

Another Universal Classic. *****
This one is LONG over due to be remastered in widescreen on DVD. (Clint Eastwoods first movie appearence).

How about the mutant in the PJs wandering through the desert before he dies its a wonder those hovering vultures did get their tail feathers scared off them and the akermagalia i realy think it was made up though the movie is great and the giant spider ITS A TARANTULA peeking through the window (peeping tom sex fiend)and when the monkey returns to the profesor it looked like somebody threw the monkey at him

    "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smelled like...tarantula!" (see also: 'The Crawling Eye') Makes Eastwood's day!
                      ***  
    "I am not an animal. I am a mad scientist!" With apologies to Rondo Hatten and Joseph "John" Merrick, this one of the early big screen uses of acromegaly as a plot element of which I am aware. Holy Cosmo Topper!
                      ***
    Whatever you do, stay the hell away from Vasquez Rocks! Not only is it favored by oversized arachnids, but interplanetary insects ("The Zanti Misfits") and reptiles (the "Gorn") find it prime real estate as well! To tell the truth: the latter weren't exactly glad to be there either.
                      ***
    As regarding the size of the spider. While there is something to be said about "smaller being scarier" and the constant threat of being surprized (I don't I'd be actively checking behind any rock or outcrop) - that's all I'd be: surprized. My doom would be instantly upon me. No time to think, just die.
    One comfort however slight: those same rocks or boulders hiding the spider of proportionate size, would hide me as well, provided I wasn't discovered by other means i.e. being upwind of the critter or sumpthin'. Those obstructions would also be its handicap.
    Far more dreadful then is, I feel, the idea of being out in open country with no where to run and no way to outdistance a 100' high terror rapidly closing the miles between us. You have all that time in which to contemplate your certain death.
    Still, on balance, Heaven forbid it should be bearing down on me from behind the crest of a hill, that is to say, a much bigger rock.

I just watched this last night.  Excellent!! I especially loved the view from the Tarantula's mouth as it attacked it's human victims. Ace.

There it is! A huge Spider ready to attack that city! weve been waiting this whole +ucking film for this moment and at last its there!
BUT WHATS THAT! CAN IT BE? YES! ITS GOOD OLD CLINT BLOWING THE THING TO BITS! DAMN YOU CLINT! DAMN YOU!

and to think the same studio made the original DRACULA nd FRANKENSTEIN (Boris!!! I miss you Boris!!! )

Well, where is the "Random act of violence against a giant spider, committed by a younger Dirty Harry, no less!" line?

One realy big arachnid and bigger then a house and wandering through the desert eating animals and people too slow to run and those who are always falling down and i also saw this same giant spider in a 3 STOOGES movie HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL and well the deformed guys and the big big rat and guine pig but other wise a realy great movie

My second favorite giant insect movie next to THEM.The scene where the TARANTULA destroys the house trying to eat the leading lady scared the hell out of me as a kid.AT LEAST he ate the scientist he was far more scarier then the spider.A GREAT MOVIE.

Another movie my brother took me to see when I was an impressionable six year old.  My sister-in-law told me that "There aren't any spiders like that around here.  BUT they do live on the other side of the world, and SOMETIMES they come over here".  I rode the whole way home from the drive in with my feet up on the seat, and would never let my legs dangle off the side of my bed.  Scared the cr*p out of me!

acromegaly is a real disease, it's what Andre the Giant had.

David

Rondo Hatton too.

YES!!!!  :smile:

I have to visit the Reader comments and reviews section more often...lotsa interesting stuff going on here...! :smile:  :thumbup:

Good film.
Ya ever think the spider must have been starving? How much nutrition does one human give a bug that big? No wonder its on an eating spree!

I'm surprised you didn't mention the big one...

... watch the ending of the movie, and listen to the jet pilots voice ("alright. fire two rockets...")


let's just say, the actor could've told the spider "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you , punk?"

the did mention

classic

The part where those two farmers are driving their pick-up you can hear sheep or goats but the back of their truck is empty save for some cages

They reused this big spider in the THREE STOOGES movie HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL but this time its on VENUS and its breathen fire

I must have been about six or so when I saw this movie.  I just remember being terrified and coming home and hiding under a telephone table in my parents living room. Remember telephone tables? Real  fifties!

 :hot:I'll say because that damned tarantula comes awfully close to the Mayberry of Arizona before Clint and his flyboys of the Air Farce crisp it into spider fries.  If that wind is not blowing in the right direction, the practice of Doc will be toast. 
Some of the scenes, especially at night are creepy to say the least and while the makeup job on Deemer when he is last seen is not good by today's standards, when I first looked upon his severely deformed countenance, I was mighty shocked.
Steve is rather sexy for a man woman.  You would think that Matt Hastings would call her Steffie.  No, he has to call her Steve.  And boy, does she catch it from Prof. Deemer after she brings Matt back to the lab at the end of her little shopping spree.
Well, for Deemer it is all down hill from here.
Did I forget one little thing?  You bet, the Tarantula is scootin' feet around the desert chewing up cows, pickup trucks, horsies, and farmers.  After a big meal, it drops bits of excess digestive fluid in the large economy size.  When Matt takes a sample to the experts and says that there are mass quantities of the stuff, he is called a liar or on an LSD trip.
Well, all ends well but I still wonder how long it took the giant inferno to reach little ole Mayberry, Arizona. :twirl:

This movie was entertaining. Also Clint Eastwood had a small part as being one of the Air Force pilots.

I hadn't seen this movie in years when it showed up on THIS network. You gotta love these sorts of big creeping bug films! :thumbup:

This was really a lovely film.

I remember seeing snippets of Tarantula as a kid, and finding it absolutely terrifying. Those shots of a giant tarantula slowly crawling its way across the desert in black and white burned their way into my brain.

I finally watched the whole movie a few days ago, thirty years or so after my first viewing.

I liked it a lot. The story is pretty much the stereotypical '50s science horror type film, nothing to write home about. What sets this film apart is the fantastic visual effects. The "villain" is the giant tarantula, which still works incredibly well. The tarantula is such a primal image, and seeing it blown up several thousand times with really very good FX is fantastic.

I don't know if the rest of the score is different, but the director Jack Arnold uses the exact same horn cues he used in his legitimately great Creature From the Black Lagoon.

This is a great film, if you like this sort of thing.