Revenge of Bigfoot

Revenge of Bigfoot was a PG-rated horror movie filmed in Miller County, Arkansas, and Bowie County, Texas, in 1978 and released in 1979. The film had a limited release.

The movie stars Rory Calhoun as “friendly rancher” Bob Spence, T. Dan Hopkins as a Native American man named Okinagan, and Mike Hackworth as Rufus J. Pickle, a “local bigot” (it was Hackworth’s second acting job; he had previously played Sam Fuller in Charles B. Pierce’s The Town That Dreaded Sundown). Okinagan comes to Arkansas seeking work and is hired by Spence after he pulls Spence’s tractor out of a muddy field. Pickle then starts a petition drive among like-minded people to force Okinagan to leave the area but is unsuccessful in evicting him. Bigfoot then shows up and attacks several homes, but not Spence’s—Okinagan has a “white panther” charm that repels such cryptids. The beast attacks Pickle while he is in an outhouse, knocking it over, and the bigot buys the white panther charm for $2,200, which is what Okinagan needed to buy land to establish his own farmstead. Okinagan surprises Spence by then pulling another charm from his pocket, proclaiming that “a panther has more than one tooth.”

The producers of Revenge of Bigfoot, which was also released as Rufus J. Pickle and the Indian, were Harry Z. Thomason and Joe Glass from a screenplay by S. Dwayne Dailey and Rosemary Dailey. While IMDB credits Thomason as the director of the movie, Hackworth said in a 2015 interview that Dwayne Dailey was the main director, with Thomason directing only the final scene.

Revenge of Bigfoot was considered to be lost for many years. Hackworth—an associate producer who had scouted locations for the movie—revealed in the 2015 interview that almost all copies of the film were seized by federal agents investigating a corrupt banker who had helped finance the movie; they were later burned. However, James W. Hughes, executive producer of the movie, discovered a copy of the original film in his attic, and Hackworth had it converted to videotape. Dailey’s son Cody, who with his sister portrayed Rory Calhoun’s character’s children in the movie, uploaded an almost complete copy of the film onto YouTube on December 23, 2021.

While no contemporary reviews of the movie appear to exist, a 2012 blogger wrote that “according to those who have seen the movie it won’t keep you on the edge of your seat or get your adrenaline pumping…but it was an entertaining way to spend 90 or so minutes.”

For additional information:
“Mike Hackworth: A Texarkana Treasure.” May 2, 2015, interview by John Tennison. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vH7rX5jdrk (accessed December 8, 2023).

“Part of Revenge of Bigfoot movie made in 1979.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5odQWZGlU58 (accessed December 8, 2023).

“Revenge of Bigfoot.” Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197820/ (accessed December 8, 2023).

“Revenge of Bigfoot.” The Classic Horror Film Board. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/revenge-of-bigfoot-1970-t84476.html (accessed December 8, 2023).

Strickler, Lon. “What Happened to ‘Revenge of Bigfoot’?” Phantoms and Monsters, April 2, 2012. https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2012/04/what-happened-to-revenge-of-bigfoot.html (accessed December 8, 2023).

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System