The Giant Gila Monster is a 1959 science fiction horror film directed by Ray Kellogg and produced by Ken Curtis. This low-budget B-movie starred Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low budget monster and zombie films, and Lisa Simone, the French contestant for the 1957 Miss Universe, as well as comedic actor Shug Fisher and KLIF disc jockey Ken Knox. The effects included a live Mexican beaded lizard (not an actual Gila monster) filmed on a scaled-down model landscape. Plot The movie opens with a young couple, Pat (Grady Vaughn) and Liz (Yolanda Salas), parked in a bleak, rural locale overlooking a ravine. A giant Gila monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing the couple. Later, several friends of the couple assist the local sheriff (Fred Graham) in his search for the missing teens. Chase Winstead (Sullivan), a young mechanic and hot rod racer, locates the crashed car in the ravine and finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile attacks a train that the authorities realize they are dealing with a giant venomous lizard. By this time, emboldened by its attacks and hungry for prey, the creature attacks the town. It heads for the local dance hall, where the town's teenagers are gathered for a sock hop. However, Chase packs his prized hot rod with nitroglycerin and rigs it to speed straight into the Gila monster, killing it in a fiery explosion and heroically saving the town. Cast Don Sullivan as Chase Winstead Lisa Simone as Lisa Fred Graham as Sheriff Jeff Shug Fisher as Old Man Harris Bob Thompson as Mr. Wheeler Janice Stone as Missy Winstead Ken Knox as Horatio Alger "Steamroller" Smith Gay McLendon as Mrs. Winstead Don Flournoy as Gordy Cecil Hunt as Mr. Compton Stormy Meadows as Agatha Humphries Howard Ware as Ed Humphries Pat Reeves as Rick Jan McLendon as Jennie Jerry Cortwright as Bob Beverly Thurman as Gay Clarke Browne as Chuck Grady Vaughn as Pat Wheeler Desmond Doogh as hitchhiker Ann Sonka as Whila Yolanda Salas as Liz Humphries Patricia Simmons as Sherry (uncredited) Angus G. Wynne III as dumb teen (uncredited) Production Filmed near Dallas, Texas, the film was budgeted at $175,000 and was produced by Dallas drive-in theater chain owner Gordon McLendon who wanted co-features for his main attractions. McLendon shot the film back to back with The Killer