hyped garbage

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Lon Chaney, Jr. stars as Charles "Butcher" Benton, a crazed underworld figure. After pulling off a bank job for his crooked attorney Paul Lowe (Ross Elliott), he ends up double crossed, and on death row. He vows revenge against Lowe and his accomplices, Squeamy Ellis (an uncredited Marvin Press) and Joe Marcelli (Ken Terrell). He is able to do so when an ambitious doctor (Robert Shayne) succeeds at bringing him back from the dead. Tracking the reborn "Butcher", who now has immense strength and is impervious to most weapons, is dedicated detective Dick Chasen (Max Showalter)."Film noir crossed with 'Frankenstein'" is indeed a great way to describe this goofy but irresistible plot, which is supplemented by Showalters' frequent narration. It may not be truly great cinema, but it sure is a hell of an entertaining B picture. Working from a screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins, producer & director Jack Pollexfen maintains a fine pace and some decent action, especially the rather over the top finale. "Butcher" does live up to his name, sort of, by killing off a fair amount of people.The performances are all adequate to the material, with Showalter coming off as an engaging hero, and Marian Carr making for a sexy and appealing leading lady. (She plays Eva Martin, a burlesque performer who had spent some time with our villain, and is soon romanced by our hero.) The solid supporting cast also includes Stuart Randall as the police captain, Robert Foulk as a bar owner, Roy Engel as a desk sergeant, Lyle Latell as a cop, Joe Flynn as Shaynes' assistant, and two other very sexy ladies, Peggy Maley and Reita Green.Entertaining to watch, especially for Lon Jr. fans and B movie fans in general.As has been pointed out, this is somewhat similar to an earlier Lon Jr. vehicle, "Man Made Monster".Seven out of 10.

In 1956 Lon Chaney Jr returned to the horror genre with Indestructible Man and The Black Sleep, the less said about The Black Sleep the better. Anyway it had been eight years since Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein and four years since his role as a mute henchman in The Black Castle. Fans of his will be interested to know that this is a semi of remake of Man Made Monster (1941) the movie which typecast him in horror genre.Here he plays a robber sentenced to death and he has the nickname Butch so I assume he also killed people, he's bought back to life via a Frankenstein type way but the electricity has damaged his vocal cords, fans of Chaney Jr will know that because of his alcohol problem he often asked for his dialogue be eliminated, entirely if possible so apart from the opening scene he has no dialogue. Having been bought back to life he's a man on a mission to kill his ex partners who set him up. Two brilliant scenes are when he kills the scientist and assistant that bought him back to life and around the half hour mark when he kills two cops. The detective hot on his trail is Max Showalter and he narrates the story similar to Friday in the TV show Dragnet.While everything else in the movie is fine the good work of the cast and crew is tainted a little bit the silly romantic sub plot with the detective and Chaney's ex girlfriend played by Marian Carr, in my opinion it seemed forced and didn't do anything for the story.All in all a must see for fans of Lon Chaney Jr or fans of 1950's B horror movies.

A scientist, working on a cure for cancer, uses a machine which sends electric bolts into the confiscated corpse of executed armored car robber Butcher Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr). Benton knows the whereabouts of $600,000 stolen from the car, hidden away from three people who helped orchestrate the job, a sleazy lawyer named Paul Lowe (Ross Elliot, laying on the slime, quite a heel), and two partners, crippled "torch man" Joe Marcelli (Ken Terrell) and "Squeamy" Ellis (Marvin Ellis). These three, out of revenge for Benton's hiding the loot, turned state's evidence against him, which led to the Butcher's arrest. Meanwhile, Detective Richard Chasen (Max Showalter), while reassigned to a different case, continues to work on the armored car heist off-duty hours. A beautiful blond burlesque dancer, Eva Martin (Marian Carr), knew Benton, and doesn't have a clue that an envelope from the Butcher (stolen by Lowe) contained a map to where the loot is kept in the sewers below Los Angeles. Butcher, thanks to the mad science which sent thousands of volts into his body, multiplying his cells and shocking his heart back to life, has been given superhuman strength and an ability to withstand bullets fired from the guns of police who dare to attempt to arrest him. A vow of revenge against the trio who sent him to prison, Benton will go after Lowe, Marcelli, and Ellis. Chasen, the Los Angeles Police department, and Eva will try to stop him from causing carnage and death as the body count rises when those who enter his trajectory often wind up quashed. INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN is a C-grade vehicle with Lon Chaney's name is big letters, milking his horror icon status for all its worth. Max Showalter's narration doesn't just draw us a map, but an architectural layout of the plot. The director features so many close-ups of Chaney's face—particularly his eyes—it's borderline embarrassing. But, jowls, haggard look, wrinkled face, the sign of alcoholism and living up to his father's fame, I felt, actually adds a little extra to his characters. He is still burly and towering, with quite a presence, imposing his stature over those who are unfortunately in the way. The conclusion features not only a chase through a sewer system, but quite a fireworks show when Benton attempts to *recharge his batteries* using the electricity of a power plant. Butcher also gets his hands on two of those who wronged him, lifting them up in the air and hurling them to their doom. But, the film, when Chaney is absent, is standard crime drama fare. Carr, quite a bombshell, who becomes a romantic love interest for the film's hero, Dick Chasen, isn't exactly the world's greatest actress, but is certainly eye candy. Chaney's so powerful he can incapacitate two grown man with choke holds, knock a door of its hinges with a shoulder block, lift a car up off the ground, take a missile launcher blast to the chest, and a blow torch to the face! Chaney's only dialogue comes at the beginning when he warns Lowe that he will kill him. He mostly lumbers about, a look of madness in his eyes, heart full of hate, murderous intent on the brain. While the movie didn't do a lot for me personally, Chaney's presence in the film supplied enough entertainment to watch it all the way through to the end.

Someone somewhere must've had tongue tucked into cheek: INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, a rehash of Chaney's MAN MADE MONSTER, is chock full of names like "Dick Chasen," "Captain Lauder," and a lawyer named "Lowe." (Here's an oxymoron for ya: "honest lawyer.") Funniest of all, though, has to be Wally Cox as a lab assistant: it was Cox who provided the unforgettable voice of one of my all-time favorite cartoon superheroes, UNDERDOG. The print of INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN that I saw seemed to have been cut: almost every single time there's a death, it takes place off screen (though the aftermath is clearly shown). It's not badly done, it's just not by any means exceptional; even Chaney's normally sympathetic portrayal is slightly off (as one might expect, seeing as how he's playing an executed murderer). If the storyline sounds familiar to comic book fans, it should: Marvel's Luke CAGE, HERO FOR HIRE, was probably inspired by it (the same way DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, FRANKENSTEIN, and THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS inspired THE HULK).