Gila! (Jim Wynorski, 2012)

In The Giant Gila Monster (1959) there was a local drunk called "Old Man Harris" (Shug Fisher). The hot rodders all wanted to buy his old Model A Ford. 

I checked IMDb and did some math and found that Old Man Harris was ten years younger than me, and his antique car was newer than mine. I was more amused than hurt.

I finally got to see Jim Wynorski's 2012 remake. Set in the '50's. There's a homage to American Graffiti. There are two rival hot rodders, one in a yellow Ford coupe, the other in a black Bel Air. 

In the original, the monster was a real gila monster walking around a miniature set. It never appeared in the same shot with people. In this one, it was computer generated and we see it eat people. The rich guy wasn't as loathsome and the poor girl wasn't in danger of being made a ward of the state. There was less subplot and they scaled back the class conflict.

The movie was ahead of its time gun-wise. They appeared to use airsoft or prop guns with muzzle flashes added digitally, which they're doing a lot more of now after the accidental shooting on the set of Rust.

Available free on Tubi.