Never liked Gamera, the giant turtle from the Daiei Studios, rival (mostly inferior) to Toho Studios' Godzilla.
He was slower and more awkward than Godzy, and his rival monsters were very weak in comparison. I was a fan of the original series of films, as a kid, though, and often on the 4:30 movie, after school, I'd see Gamera and Godzilla films.
The best film was the original Gamera, made in black and white, in the year I was born, 1965: Gamera The Invincible.
Like the Godzy films, Gamera was rebooted a few times, but the original magic was always missing. And, as noted, Gamera never had the magic load Godzilla did, anyway.
Here is the opening to the first film:
I did not realize it until posting this clip, though, that Albert Dekker, of Dr. Cyclops fame, was in this film, in the Americanized inserts.
It's interesting how some actors, like Dekker, Vincent Price, or Faith Domergue, got stuck in certain genres, not just for years, but for decades.
Anyway, Gamera eventually was killed off in 1980, then restored in a later series of films which I've not seen, and likely will never see. To me, Gamera was always a Teddy Bear version of Godzilla, and that seems just about right.
