Produced by Bert I. Gordon, The Beginning of the End is a menacing onslaught of giant-sized grasshoppers. Department of Agriculture functionary Dr. Ed Wainwright (Peter Graves) and photojournalist Audrey Aimes (Peggie Castle) discover that the huge grasshoppers are the product of a experiment in radioactivity gone awry. Before the Army can neutralize the green monstrosities, Chicago has been besieged by the ravenous insects. Beginning of the End was one of two horror films produced by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres; the other was The Unearthly (1957). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
How can anyone say anything bad about giant grasshoppers terrorizing a city? All of these 50's monster movies are great to watch and they don't drag on for 2 hours! Seeing the visuals of the grasshoppers crawling up the buildings is classic. Too bad younger people think these movies are cheesy! They don't know what they're missing.
Wonderful. In the vein of "Them", "Beginning of the End" provides a fun romp through the world threatened by 20' locusts. All images of the bug were of actual locusts (no clay-mation or papermachet). The dialog is good for the error and genre. Many plot devices are standard, however.. The pictures of the locusts climbing a picture of a skyscraper was especially amusing.
IMHO, worth the time to watch.
This is so much fun if you're a fan of 50's Sci-fi as I am. My favorite scene has a grasshopper knocking over a truck that clearly has "Tonka" written on its side. Plus, Peter Graves is always such a great hero.