Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century 1977

Industry tycoon Morgan Hunnicut asks his friend Prof. Henry Wassermann to lead an expedition to study the giant Yeti found frozen in a large ice block on Newfoundland’s coast. The plan is straightforward, yet shadowed by ambition: Hunnicut intends to use the prehistoric creature as a trademark for his multinational empire. The expedition includes Cliff Chandler and Morgan’s grandchildren, Jane Hunnicut and Herbie; Herbie is notable for having discovered the Yeti, and he has been mute since surviving a family plane crash that claimed his parents.

When thawed, the Yeti wakes with a jolt; bright lights and camera flashes provoke a rampage that sends everyone racing to safety and leaves Jane and Herbie unconscious. After the initial chaos subsides, the Yeti calms, and the children’s dog Indio leads him back to the spot where they were left. Jane and Herbie awaken to find the Yeti looming over them.

With the Yeti momentarily tractable, he carries the children away through the icy terrain while Indio, Professor Wassermann, Cliff, and two other men follow in a pursuit. When the Yeti sets the kids down, Jane signals Indio to search for the rest of the group, prompting a new moment of discovery.

Jane and Herbie soon realize the Yeti is not a mindless threat but a creature capable of gentleness. The pair share fish with him, and the professor refines a theory: the fur-lined and trimmed coats the expedition wears may have signaled kinship to the creature. He speculates that the Yeti has adopted them as family, seeing Jane as his wife and Herbie as his son, respectively.