The Giant Gila Monster

The Giant Gila Monster is a 1959 hot rodmonsterscience fiction film, directed by Ray Kellogg and produced by Ken Curtis. This lowbudget Bmovie starred Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low budget monster and zombie films, and Lisa Simone, the French contestant for Miss Universe of 1957, as well as comedy relief Shug Fisher and KLIF disc jockey Ken Knox,. The effects included a live Mexican beaded lizard not an actual Gila monster filmed on a scaleddown model landscape. The movie is considered a cult classic.

Filmed near Dallas, Texas, the film was budgeted at 175,000 and was produced by Dallas drivein theater chain owner Gordon McLendon who wanted cofeatures for his main attractions. McLendon shot the film back to back with The Killer Shrews. Both films were feted as the first feature films shot in and produced in Dallas and the first movies to premiere as double features. Unlike most double features released in the South, these films received national distribution.In exchange for doing the special effects, Kellogg was allowed to direct the film. Curtis allowed Sullivan to pick the songs with the teenage market in mind. Knox, who played Horatio Alger Steamroller Smith, was an actual disc jockey working at radio stations in Texas owned by McLendon. ........

Source: Wikipedia