Snowbeast (1977)

Former 1968 Winter Olympics gold medal ski champion Gar Seberg (Bo Svenson) and his wife Ellen, a television presenter (Yvette Mimieux), return to his home, a ski resort in the Colorado Rockies where the faded star seeks a job using his skiing skills. As the Sebergs arrive, the town’s annual winter carnival is spoiled by the disappearances of a series of vacationers, later revealed to have been brutally killed by an unknown animal. There are eyewitness accounts that the culprit is a Yeti, Bigfoot or Sasquatch, which are met with ridicule. The owner of the ski resort (Sylvia Sidney) declares that there is no such being, because she doesn’t want to lose her business, and she arranges for her grandson Tony (Robert Logan) to keep the disappearances a secret. The local sheriff (Clint Walker) spreads the story that there is a lone savage bear on the loose. Tony gives Gar a job with the ski resort and confides in him about the monster. Gar’s first job is to stalk and kill it. Gar keeps an open mind due to his wife’s former work on a documentary about Sasquatch sightings, but is reluctant to kill it, feeling that it would be murder. He changes his mind when he sees the remains of the first victim and the monster comes to town and not only panics the population but kills the mother of the Snow Carnival Queen. A great retro-bigfoot movie made for television from the 70s!