Worst Movie of All Time: Manos

Plan 9 From Outer Space has unfairly over the years gotten the reputation of being the worst film of all time. Sure, it's pretty awful with it's pie plate flying saucers, random stock footage that doesn't mesh with the scenes, the woman's "Off you go into the wild blue yonder" dialogue along with several other aviation cliché's all in one scene, the plane with no steering devices that looks like two people being filmed in a Porta John, a kiss scene that looks like the lead actor basically just playing the leading lady's face like the bagpipes, the crypt that basically looks like they're all crawling out of Snoopy's doghouse and of course the dentist who looks nothing like Bela Lugosi.

Not to mention, unconnected footage of Bela Lugosi obviously film during the day while all the other shots of his character (with the dentist in his stead) at night.

But with that said, Plan 9 still has a watchability factor. As wooden and badly done as the movie is you can still watch it and have a good laugh all the way to the end.

Which now brings me to Manos: The Hands of Fate. This film makes Plan 9 look like The Empire Strikes Back.

Personally, I've only seen this movie on the episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and I think that's the only way this film can really be viewed. I enjoyed the episode for Joel and the Bots comments. But it's still a very hard film to get through. And stay awake during.

A bit of history behind the film, it was the brainchild of Harold Warren a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas who produced the film as a result of a bet.

Yes, you read this right. A BET!!


He also starred in it, alongside El Paso theater actors Tom Neyman as the title character and John Reynolds as Torgo. Manos was an independent production by a crew that had little or no background or experience in filmmaking and a very limited budget at their disposal.

The main plot from the film is about a vacationing family who stay the night at a lodge where the caretaker is a supposed to be a satyr named Torgo with an erratic, repetitive speech pattern who takes care of the house "while the Master is away".

With lines like: "There is no way out of here. It'll be dark soon. There is no way out of here."

When I first saw the film back in the 1990's, I didn't realize Torgo was supposed to be a satyr. Mostly for the lack of hooves. I just thought he was, as Tom Servo pointed out, a man where his Depends the wrong way.

Michael and Margaret stumble upon "The Master" (Tom Neyman) and several women dressed in translucent nightgowns, later revealed to be his wives, who are asleep. Torgo ties Michael to a pole and The Master suddenly comes to life. His wives also awake, and a short argument over the fate of the family ensues. The Master decides to sacrifice Torgo and his first wife to the film's mysterious deity and namesake, "Manos".

The production according to Wikipedia:

Warren was very active in the theater scene in El Paso, Texas, and once appeared as a walk-on for the television series Route 66, where he met screenwriter Stirling Silliphant. While chatting with Silliphant in a local coffee shop, Warren claimed that it was not difficult to make a film, and bet Silliphant that he could make an entire film on his own. After placing the bet, Warren began the first outline of his script on a napkin, right inside the coffee shop. To finance the film, Warren accumulated a substantial, but nevertheless insufficient, sum of cash, reportedly $19,000 ($124,751 in 2009), and hired a group of actors from a local theater and modeling agency. Because he was unable to pay the cast and crew wages, Warren promised them a share in the film's profits.

Under the working title The Lodge of Sins, the movie was filmed in mid 1966. Filming mainly took place on the ranch of Colbert Coldwell, a former judge of El Paso County. Most of the equipment used for production was rented, therefore Warren had to rush through as many shots as possible to complete filming before the deadline for returning the equipment. Footage was shot with a 16 mm Bell & Howell camera which had to be wound by hand and filmed for only 32 seconds. This has been suggested as a possible explanation for the many editing problems present in the final cut. The Bell & Howell camera was incapable of double-system recording, and thus all sound effects and dialogue were dubbed later in post-production, reportedly by only three or four people including Warren. Later during production, Warren renamed the film from its working title to Manos: The Hands of Fate. The word "manos" in the title is Spanish for "hands", therefore the film's title literally translates to Hands: The Hands of Fate.

Early in production, one of the actresses broke her leg. Warren rewrote her role to have her make out in a car with an actor during the events of the entire film. The couple appears in the beginning of the film interspersed with the opening credits and shots of the main characters driving through the Texas desert. Despite events in the film portraying police officers ordering them to leave, they are seen again later in the film while the events transpire at night, still embracing in the same location. The inclusion of these characters has been the focus of criticism for having no apparent connection to the main plot of the film.

To portray his character Torgo as a satyr, John Reynolds constructed what is described as a metallic rigging worn under his trousers. The effect conveyed by his work was to leave his character with oversized knees and difficulty in walking. Fake cloven hooves may have been made by Reynolds for his costume, but they were not worn during filming, as he is clearly shown wearing boots in several scenes, which can even be seen in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version which superimposes the silhouettes of theater seats and three of the show's characters over the bottom of all the films they feature.

Warren decided to shoot night scenes at nighttime, which proved to be difficult, and for unknown reasons, Warren did not choose to use the normal technique of shooting day for night. In many of the night scenes, the camera and lights attracted swarms of moths, which can be seen in the film's final production. In the scene in which the cops "investigate" Mike's gunfire, they could walk only a few feet forward, because there was not enough light to illuminate the scenery for a panning shot, creating the unintentionally amusing impression that the officers hear the gunfire, step out of their car, consider investigating but then give up and leave before making a proper check of the scene.

Post-production efforts were reportedly minimal, despite promises by Warren that any problems in the film would be fixed in later editing. One of the more visible examples of this is a brief moment at the beginning of the film in which the clapperboard is visible after a cut to the "make-out couple". It is rumored that the entire opening sequence, which consisted of the main characters driving around looking for their hotel for minutes on end with minimal dialogue or effect on the plot, was the result of such neglect. Warren had intended to include opening credits at this stage of the film, but forgot or was unable to add them. Reportedly, Warren's small crew became so bemused by his amateurishness and irascibility that they derisively called the movie Mangos: The Cans of Fruit behind his back.

Apparently, the reception the movie got on opening night was less than spectacular. After a great deal of laughter from the audience over it's poor quality and redundant dialogue, the cast of the film made a hasty exit.

And John Reynolds, who had played Torgo in the movie, committed suicide approximately six months after production wrapped.

After a few local screenings at the drive-in's the film was almost entirely forgotten. The film ultimately surfaced through a public domain video supplier.

These are usually the films you can find on the $1 rack at Wal-Mart.

And a copy from a television package landed on the desk of Frank Conniff. Better known to the world as TV's Frank on MST3K.

If you've never seen the film, I highly recommend you check it out the MST3K version of it. The riffing makes the film a bit more bearable to watch.

But if you're a brave soul, there is a DVD of just the film on the market which you can purchase on places like Amazon.com and Half.com!!

Instead of posting a clip from the movie, I posted a video from a theater group in Portland, Oregon who staged a very funny production of Manos. Unlike the original, it's meant to be funny. And very fun to watch.