Years After Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale Jr. Starred In A Bizarre Cult Sci-Fi Movie About Spiders

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What? You don't know about Bill Rebane, the legendary B-movie director? Well, sit down, children, and let me tell you a tale. Back in 1965, Wisconsin's Latvia-born Bill "Ito" Rebane directed a film that is certainly in the running for one of the worst movies ever made. In the book "Famous Wisconsin Film Stars," Rebane himself used that descriptor. 

The story goes that Rebane was shooting a movie called "Terror at Half Day," but ran out of money before shooting was completed. He handed the half-movie over to legendary gore filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis, who finished it in his own bizarre idiom. The result was "Monster a Go-Go," which was "about a radiated astronaut who returns to Earth as a monster that chases girls in bikinis." It played in drive-ins, made its money, and sauntered into the night. 

"Monster a Go-Go" was handed to a new generation thanks to a 1993 episode of the movie-riffing robot TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Gen-Xers stayed up late to watch Bill Rebane's not-so-hard work get dragged through the mud by the "MST3K" hosts, and explorers of trash cinema suddenly had a new guru's filmography to explore. "MST3K" did Rebane another "favor" in 1997 by giving similar mocking treatment to his 1975 creature feature "The Giant Spider Invasion." The $300,000 movie now had a new generation of fans, and Rebane was cemented as a legitimate B-movie legend. 

"The Giant Spider Invasion" is notorious for its silly spider effects and for its corny script (by Richard L. Huff and Robert Easton). It takes place in Merrill, Wisconsin, and follows the fates of its sleazy denizens as, yes, giant spiders invade. The town sheriff is played by Alan Hale from "Gilligan's Island," in one of many, many, many gigs he had in his career.

Alan Hale played the role capably. Hale has gone on record with his real feelings about "Gilligan's Island," and he had nothing negative to say. He was proud of the work he did on the series. "Gilligan's Island," however, was preceded by dozens upon dozens of credits in film and on TV. Hale began his Broadway debut way back in 1931 when he was about 10, appearing in a production of "Caught Wet." Technically, his first movie was the 1933 drama "Wild Boys of the Road," but his scenes were cut. Hale's father was a prolific actor in his own right, and Alan Jr. took up the mantle, seemingly taking any acting gig that crossed into his field of vision. 

A quick look over Hale's IMDb page ... well, it's not quick. Hale's presence on television from the 1950s through the 1970s was constant. One of his more notable roles was playing the title character in the 1957 TV series "Casey Jones." He also played the title character in the 1952 series "Biff Baker, U.S.A." These two credits, however, are lost in a vast sea of one-to-three-episode appearances on just about every hit TV series of the day. "Death Valley Days," "Perry Mason," "Batman," "Ironside" ... you name it, he was on it. 

Lest you assume that "The Giant Spider Invasion" was a career step-down for Hale, know that he was always devoted to whatever gig he could get. By 1975, a decade after "Gilligan's" was on the air, he was still plugging away at movies and TV shows, happy to be in front of a camera. For Hale, "Spider Invasion" was the job that week. He was even in Clint Eastwood's "Hang 'Em High."

And what is "The Giant Spider Invasion" about? Well, apart from giant spiders? It's about Merrill, and the torrid stories there. Dan Kester (Robert Easton) is defying his wife, Ev (Leslie Parrish), and canoodling with a comely waitress named Helga (Christiana Schmidtmer). Ev's sister Terry (Dianne Lee) is dating the reporter Davey (Kevin Brodie). The local Sheriff Jones (Alan Hale) reports that nothing is amiss. Naturally, it's at that moment when a meteor strikes the town. 

The meteor not only emits a burst of magnetic energy that shuts down a B-52 bomber high above, but also, through gamma radiation, causes the local spider population to grow to enormous proportions. I suppose something like this might happen in a film called "The Giant Spider Invasion." Weirdly enough, the film was a hit. 

"Spider Invasion" was, as mentioned, openly mocked by the folks at "Mystery Science Theater 3000," but with the mockery came a new appreciation for Rebane's work, especially as a local icon ("MST3K" is also based in the Midwest). Indeed, in 2015, the Duluth News Tribune talked to Rebane about the movie to celebrate its 40th anniversary. That article noted that Rebane stopped making movies in 1989 because of a stroke, but that he still wanted to produce "Spider" as a stage musical. His final film was "Twister's Revenge!," which capped a career that included the frog attack movie "Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake," a.k.a. "Croaked: Frog Monster from Hell," "The Capture of Bigfoot," and "The Alpha Incident." These movies are all bad, but admirable, possessed of a low-budget gumption that can only be made by well-meaning B-filmmakers. 

There have been Bill Rebane festivals now, and Rebane, now 89, likely appreciates it.