Joi Landis (Joi Lansing) is piloting a small plane when she has engine trouble. When the engine dies, she parachutes out of the plane to safety. No sooner is she on the ground when she is attacked and kidnapped by a Bigfoot creature.
Jasper B. Hawks (John Carradine) and his side kick Elmer Briggs (John Mitchum) run a small traveling store. They go from general store to general store selling various items. They stop at Bennett’s General Store looking to do some business. The general store is run by Mr. Bennett (Ken Maynard) and his daughter Nellie (Dorothy Keller).
As they pull up to the store a motorcycle gang is leaving. Two of the bikers, Rick (Christopher Mitchum) and his girlfriend Chris (Judith Jordan) go off to spend some time alone. The two of them stumble onto a Bigfoot burial ground and are attacked. Rick is knocked unconscious, and Chris is kidnapped. When Rick comes to, he heads back to the general store to call for help. He calls the sheriff, Cyrus (James Craig) who doesn’t believe him and dismisses Rick’s concerns. Bennett, on the other hand, believes there may be something in the tales of strange creatures in the woods.
Jasper and Elmer are still at the general store. Jasper decides that if there is a Bigfoot, he wants to catch it and make money off it but showing it in a traveling freak show. When they finally find Bigfoot, it turns out to be an extended family of mostly females and a smaller youth. Jasper, Elmer and Rick are captured and tied up with Joi and Chris.
When the biker gang finds the burial ground, they realize that their friends are in trouble. They then run into locals Hardrock (Noble Chissell) and Slim (Nick Raymond), who tell them about Bigfoot. Hardrock, Slim and the gang decide to try to find Rick and Chris and rescue them. What they don’t know is that there is a larger, male creature that is looking to use the captured women as breeding stock.
“Bigfoot” was released in 1970 and was written and directed by Robert F. Slatzer. It is an American low budget independent science fiction horror movie.
The premise of the film is a little strange. A traveling salesman and a biker gang battle a Bigfoot who is trying to breed with human women. It could make for a strange but campy movie. Unfortunately, it falls very flat. The most exciting thing about the movie is the title. The motorcycle gang, instead of wearing leather jackets and t-shirts wear sweaters and windbreakers. Acting, dialogue and directing are rather boring. There are a lot of Bigfoots (or is it Bigfeet) and they come in the small, medium and large sizes. Not the scariest creatures ever but not the worse either. Carradine is his usual bombastic southern fried self and Joi Lansing is eye candy for the guys, but other than that, and the cool term “Sasquatch-Ploitation”, there isn’t much to keep you interested.
Beside John Carradine the movie included some old-time character actors such as Ken Maynard, Doodles Weaver and little person Jerry Maren as the child Bigfoot. Some unusual acting choices are Lindsey Crosby, the son of Bing Crosby, as well as Lindsey’s wife, Suzy Crosby. Chris Mitchum, son of Robert Mitchum and John Mitchum, brother of Robert Mitchum. Nick Raymond, who played the character Slim, also played the giant Bigfoot. At one point the larger Bigfoot battles a bear. The bear in the movie is Bruno. He was in “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972) and “Gentle Ben” (1967). With 24 acting credits to his name, Bruno has just as much acting experience as some of the humans.