The fanciful drama will have its U.S. premiere at the Plaza Classic Film Festival in El Paso.
Veteran actor and C&I reader favorite Sam Elliott will be on hand for the U.S. premiere of his latest film, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, August 10 at the El Paso Community Foundation’s Plaza Classic Film Festival. And before you ask: Yes, he plays the title role in writer-director Robert Krzykowski’s independently produced drama.
Elliott stars as Calvin Barr, an elderly yet resilient loner who really did dispatch the infamous Nazi leader during World War II. (Aidan Turner plays the character in flashbacks.) Decades after performing the heroic deed that irreversibly changed the course of his life — and not necessarily for the better — Barr is once again called upon to terminate another threat to humanity: the legendary Bigfoot, who has been infected with a deadly and highly contagious disease.
Sounds like a comedy, right? But it isn’t.
After the movie’s recent world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Collider.com film critic Haleigh Foutch described The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot as “much more pensive and lyrical than the cheeky title lets on. Instead of a midnight movie, we get a meditative drama that hones in on regret, infamy, and the legacy of violence. ... It’s an introspective character piece that allows Elliott to deliver one of the most grounded, nuanced performances of his career. That makes it a must-watch for a certain set of film enthusiasts, and Elliot’s unexpected performance is worth the price of admission alone, but The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot is also a fascinating experiment; a dark drama that treats pulp genre with the earnest emotional weight of an awards contender.”
Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com also was impressed: “More than its title kills, the film's most captivating passage is a showcase of Elliott's incredible way with pacing his words so that each of his thoughts land. As he speaks in an extended close-up to two men who want to hire him for the Bigfoot assassination, a quiet living room conversation yields a walloping power. ‘It’s nothing like the comic book you want it to be,’ Elliott says in the middle of the tale, his matter-of-fact gaze desperately wanting to caution against hagiography. And he’s right. Krzykowski's exquisite The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot is even better.”
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot will be screened at 10:30 p.m. August 10 at the Plaza Theatre in El Paso. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Plaza Theatre box office and Ticketmaster.com. Elliott, writer-director Krzykowski, El Paso-based producer Lucky McKee, El Paso-based editor Zach Passero, and El Paso-based sound designer Andrew Smetek will participate in a Q&A after the screening.
Additional information about other Plaza Classic Film Festival events — including special appearances by Bruce Dern and Ali MacGraw — is available on the festival’s website.