Oh Turner Classic Movies, you complete me. I just watched the classic 1955 feature - IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA.
This black and white gem was one of the first films that legendary effects man Ray Harryhausen worked on. What makes it such a classic? The villain of the piece is a HUGE RADIOACTIVE OCTOPUS!! or 'Sexopus'. Due to budget restrictions Ray could only give his beast six arms instead of the customary eight? How tight is a movie budget when you gotta cut two arms from your octopus just to come in under budget?
This movie has everything I love...
The brave citizen's running for their lives (which they do for most of the movie).
The brave soldiers and sailors who give their lives to protect the city.
A 'modern' woman with her own crazy ideas about living in a man's world.
That one lone tentacle that seems to be the only working arm to reach and probe and destroy the dockside buildings.
Guys stripping in the tight confines of a submarine's control room before going out of the escape hatch (located ON TOP of the sub mind you) to put harpoons into the eye and body of the great and terrible beast.
The destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge and a general freaking out of San Francisco.
Tickle fights! (I made that one up - but wouldn't it have been cool if they did have a scene like that?)
