THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT (1976)
Article 5011 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-7-2015
Directed by Harry Winer
Featuring Ivan Marx, Peggy Marx, Yukon Frida
Country: USA
What it is: Cryptozoology documentary or pseudo-documentary

A tracker tells of his obsession of finding and photographing Bigfoot.

I am not a cryptozoologist. Nor am I a debunker of cryptozoological theories. I am merely a guy who watches movies and writes about them, and my given genre ground just happens to include movies about Bigfoot, whether they purport to be documentaries or not. I will admit that I’m the type of person who thinks it would be cool if Bigfoot really did exist, but I make no claim about whether that is so or not. Therefore, when I say that I found this movie to be one of the more interesting documentaries I’ve encountered on the subject, it’s not to say that it’s the most convincing; it’s more to say that it was entertaining and personable. Instead of emphasizing evidence for the existence of the creature, it concentrates on one man’s desire to track the creature down and photograph him, with the belief that the resulting footage will be proof enough. And, on the level of storytelling, I was entertained. However, I do take note that the script credits two writers, neither of which is Ivan Marx, the man whose story is being told, a detail which does cast a bit of doubt on the proceedings. Furthermore, I was curious enough to do a little research on Marx, and he is definitely a controversial figure in the world of cryptozoology, and if an article I read from Peter Byrne about him is any indication, then his Bigfoot footage is not to be accepted as authentic. I will, however, make one comment of my own. The most entertaining part of this movie involves footage of the one of the most impressive moose I have ever seen. It is a very clearly photographed moose, and nobody doubts it existed, as far as I know. In contrast, the Bigfoot footage is relatively murky and lacking in detail. If the Bigfoot had been as well photographed as the moose, maybe it would have been more convincing.