Villian(s)  Large bear

Actor(s):  Christopher George, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel, Joan McCall

Brief Description  Grizzly is a 1976 American eco-horror thriller film directed by William Girdler. It was a massive commercial success, becoming the most financially successful independent film of 1976 by earning $39 million worldwide—a box office record it held until it was dethroned by Halloween two years later. The film is widely recognized as one of the very first and most blatant "Jaws rip-offs," swapping Steven Spielberg’s rogue great white shark for a massive, land-locked man-eating bear.

Plot:
The film takes place in a large, unnamed U.S. National Forest (filmed in the Georgia wilderness). The peace is shattered when an abnormally large, prehistoric 18-foot-tall, 2,000-pound grizzly bear develops a taste for human flesh and begins brutally killing hikers and campers. Much like the mayor in Jaws, the greedy Park Supervisor refuses to close the park down because it is facing a bumper crowd of tourists. When the killings escalate into a national news story, the supervisor stubbornly bypasses standard safety protocols and allows a group of rowdy, drunken amateur hunters into the woods to find the beast. This only makes the situation more chaotic and dangerous.

Chief Park Ranger Michael Kelly partners with an eccentric naturalist, Arthur Scott, and a rugged military veteran helicopter pilot, Don Stober, to track the animal down themselves. After the grizzly kills several more people—including Ranger Kelly’s own naturalist friend—Kelly and the helicopter pilot make a final, desperate stand against the bear. Realizing their standard rifles are completely ineffective against the colossal creature, Kelly ultimately destroys the grizzly using a rocket launcher. The titular monster was actually portrayed by a real, live-action Kodiak bear named Teddy. While Teddy was actually 11 feet tall, the filmmakers used forced perspective and clever camera tricks to make him look 18 feet tall.