Harry and the Hendersons

I mentioned recently that I had the 1980s movie Harry and the Hendersons on my DVR, and intended to do a post on it because it's recently gotten a new Blu-ray release. So over the weekend I finally got around to watching it.

George Henderson (John Lithgow) is the father in a Seattle family who works for his family's hunting-goods store. He likes the outdoors and going camping, as does his bratty son Ernie (Joshua Rudoy), but his wife Nancy (Melinda Dillon) and teenaged daughter Sarah (Margaret Langrick) not so much. They're camping somewhere in the Cascade mountains, having driven in to a remote site on a dirt road rather than a state park with dedicated camping sites. On the way home, they accidentally hit something, which is known to happen with large wild animals.

George gets out of the car and inspects whatever it is that they've hit, and comes to the conclusion that it looks suspiciously like what popular imagination claims a Sasquatch looks like. This even though everybody knows there's really no such thing as a Sasquatch. In any case, they might be able to make a bit of money if they have an example, even if dead, of a mythical Sasquatch, so they tie the poor creature to the roof of the car and set off for home.

It turns out, however, that this Sasquatch is in fact not dead, as it surprises the family by looking in through the windshield, something I can imagine would scare the bejeezus out of anybody. But that only seems to be a one off thing, as Harry doesn't seem to be moving. So they take him home and stick him in the basement.

Meanwhile, there are people who have been trying to find Bigfoot all there lives. One is scientist Dr. Wallace Wrightwood (Don Ameche), who has written several books on the subject, and now that he's of retirement age, he's cut back on his workload by running a roadside "Bigfoot museum" out in the Cascades. There's also hunter Jacques LaFleur (David Suchet), who finds the tracks and sees how the footprints end suddenly, merging with tire tracks. Furthermore, he finds one of the license plates from the Hendersons' station wagon, which enables him to get the Hendersons' address.

The Sasquatch turns out to be alive, of course, and is given the name Harry by the Hendersons. But he escapes the Henderson house and starts running around the neighborhood. So now there are obviously more Sasquatch sightings and the case of Harry becomes a local phenomenon as everybody and his brother wants to find the Sasquatch.

There's not that much of a story to Harry and the Hendersons; at least, not much that's original. The story does more or less hold up, although watching the movie it felt like the sort of plot I'd seen before. The fact that it being well after the end of the Production Code means you can also have a potty-mouthed little kid and this is supposed to be funny and not obnoxious doesn't help. Still, the special effects of Harry are good, and the story is entertaining enough. It'll keep you entertained, even if it isn't anything special.