The Big Picture

Clint Eastwood’s first film role was in the lesser-known Universal monster movie,
Revenge of the Creature
in 1955.
Despite his minor role, Eastwood’s personality shines through even in his early days as an actor in
Revenge of the Creature
.
While
Revenge of the Creature
may lack a groundbreaking story, it is still an underrated ’50s monster movie experience worth watching.

When you think of the most popular faces in movies over the last 70 years or so, it probably won’t take your brain long to drum up images of Clint Eastwood. Whether we’re talking about Westerns, thrillers, or, more recently, biopics, Eastwood can do it all. He has starred in several movies that could be considered the greatest of all time and has even stepped behind the camera and directed a ton of highly praised pictures himself. Simply put, Eastwood is the kind of movie star that many of the greats aspire to be. While he might not currently be at the peak of his powers, the fact that he continues putting out quality movies like Cry Macho and Richard Jewell is a feat in and of itself. Nobody does it like Eastwood.

Every movie star has their humble beginnings though, and this case is no different. It would probably shock most to learn that Clint Eastwood’s first film role was in a Universal Monster Movie. But not even in one of the true-blue classics! Eastwood’s first shot at the movie business was appearing in 1955’s Revenge of the Creature, a sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, which was released just one year prior. Don’t get your hopes up, he’s hardly in this movie at all. That being said, he’s already brimming with tons of personality, even in this early a role. Eastwood aside, this is one of the most underrated monster movies in Universal’s canon. Revenge is the ultimate Gill-man experience! What more could you want?

Clint Eastwood Has One of the Longest and Greatest Careers in Hollywood History

As he’s working on his (alleged) final film, Juror No. 2, we’re almost 70 years out from the beginning of Eastwood’s career. Over the years, he’s starred in acclaimed Westerns like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and Hang ‘Em High, thrillers like Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz, and has continued to show up as recently as 2021’s Cry Macho. It’s impossible to try and do his on-screen career justice in just a few sentences. On top of his acting roles, ever since his debut feature, 1971’s Play Misty for Me, Eastwood has maintained a prolific career in the director’s chair. He has helmed over 40 movies! Because Eastwood has been around for so long, it feels as though some people take his contributions for granted; but when you think about it, Eastwood is a bit of an island in the history of film. Has any single artist who operates as both an actor and a director accomplished as much as this? If so, the list isn’t long.

Clint Eastwood’s First Move Role Was in Universal’s ‘Revenge of the Creature’
Image via Universal Pictures

But in order to achieve this massive filmography, Eastwood had to get his start somewhere. Revenge of the Creature would come along, in which he wouldn’t even play second fiddle to Gill Man. He’s more like the 15th fiddle, in the film so little that he doesn’t even get an official credit at the end of the movie. Who needs credits, though? It’s undeniably Clint! In it, he plays Jennings, a klutzy lab technician who is frustrated after losing a mouse. A moment later, he finds it scurrying around in his pocket. That’s it! We did say it was brief.

Related All the Wild ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ Remakes We Never Got It is one of the most beloved Universal Monsters movies, yet a remake has always struggled to exist.

What about the rest of Revenge of the Creature? Everyone talks about how great the original Creature from the Black Lagoon was (although it has its unignorable issues), and they aren’t wrong about that. Black Lagoon perfectly fuses ’50s science fiction aesthetics with the gothic visuals and storytelling tropes of the Universal Monster series. It’s the perfect bridge between these two eras. Revenge, on the other hand, is a full-blown ’50s science fiction monster movie. In it, Gill-man has been captured and taken out of his Amazonian habitat. He is soon transported off to Florida’s Ocean Harbour Oceanarium. There, he is studied by scientists and put on display for civilians to come and gawk at the sight of him. It’s no spoiler to say that, eventually, Gill-man breaks free and wreaks havoc on everything around him. There is a love story between two doctors, Clete Ferguson (John Agar) and Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson), but make no mistake — this is really just “Gill-man: The Movie.”

While Revenge might not have as great of a story or feel as much like a Universal Monster Movie as its predecessor, it is a super underrated slam dunk of a ’50s monster-on-the-loose experience. The original was a fantastically spooky exercise, but a large part of that is because we barely saw Gill-man in it at all. Revenge is just the Gill-man show! In the same way that he’s put on display for random civilians to come look at, he’s also thrown on-screen seemingly at every chance that director Jack Arnold got. This is probably down to the film’s total lack of story, but that’s okay. Gill-man is why we’re here, after all. It’s so fun to watch him run amok throughout Florida, juxtaposing this freaky-looking man-fish against all kinds of classic Americana imagery.

The Gill-man suit looks a bit more rubbery than it did in the first movie, but that’s also probably just because it’s on-screen way more. In the original, we didn’t have time to think about whether his costume looked shoddy or not. We were just excited to see him! Despite all of that, rubber monster costumes from this era are a visual treat, so we wouldn’t go as far as to call it a flaw.

Aside From Gill-man, ‘Revenge’ is Full of Dull Characters

As I hinted at before, the story in Revenge isn’t anything groundbreaking. Gill-man is captured and taken to Florida, two doctors fall in love, Gill-man sets his eyes on the female lead, breaks free, captures her, and is eventually killed (until next time, obviously). It’s a standard monster movie but lacks the kind of on-screen presence that you might hope to carry you through one of these movies. The first film had two fantastic leads in Julia Adams and Richard Carlson, whereas this movie has Lori Nelson and John Agar. They have their moments, but there’s a reason their names aren’t as widely known as the kid who was in the movie for about 30 seconds.

So next time you catch a schlock horror movie and think it’s nothing more than a cheesy piece of junk, don’t forget that the next big star could be hiding somewhere in there. One of Matthew McConaughey’s earliest roles was in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Leonardo DiCaprio was a child actor in Critters 3, and, Eastwood got his start in Revenge of the Creature. Many of our greatest stars wouldn’t be here without horror movies!

Revenge of the Creature is available to rent on Amazon

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