Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is one of those movies that I obsessed over for ages. Then, I discovered the Internet and my weird rabbit holes just kept going deeper.
Remember when Christopher Guest did a HBO remake of the movie?
It happened around 1993 and starred Darryl Hannah in the titular role. I don’t think I’ve seen the movie since it aired, but for some reason it stuck in my brain.
Why did I obsess over Attack of the 50 Foot Woman?
Well, it had to do with the end of Allison Hayes’ life. Hayes is famous for playing the titular 50 Foot Woman and she went on to have a modicum of fame. She did an Elvis movie, appeared on Perry Mason and even had a Rick Dalton style episode of The FBI.
Turns out she was taking a calcium supplement during the mid to late 60s and was feeling a bit off. She researched what could be causing her health issues and discovered it was possibly lead poisoning. She would spent her last 10 years fighting with the FDA and others trying to prove her findings, but no one believed her. Eventually, she developed Leukemia and died circa 1977.
Months after her death, the FDA came back and said…we think that supplement was contaminated. Sorry about that, lady. There is quite the movie or documentary to made about this case, but nobody has touched it. Never understood why that was.
What comes on the Warner Archive Blu-ray?
Warner Archive brings Attack of the 50 Foot Woman to Blu-ray with a rather amazing commentary and trailer. I wasn’t that familiar with the historian used, but I liked that they got the real Honey Parker to comment on the track. The A/V Quality looks rather amazing for a B-Movie of its age. However, all of those Allied Artists movies played so dark at times.
Oh well, at least the 2.0 Mono track stayed robust throughout the presentation.
[…] Warner Archive keeps smashing out those hits. You get featurettes and trailers as the special features. It’s a fun look back at what created the movie and what choices were made in the adaptation. The A/V Quality is also quite strong with a clean 1080p transfer for the Oscar nominated cinematography. Plus, you get a DTS-HD 2.0 mono track that is respectful of the original audio elements. […]