Bigfoot or Bogus? Truth or lie? Yes or Bob Shelley?
It's now known that Patterson was one of the most successful cinematographers and illusionists ever, creating a wildly successful, credible one-minute film by pretending to clumsily use a hand-held camera providing enough shake and lack of focus to suggest that he was making his way through wilderness while trying to keep Bigfoot (Uh, shouldn't that say a Bigfoot? There is more than one!) in range, while at the same time diffusing details of the suit (including the zipper that ran down the back of the costume). He had instructed a friend in the suit to walk away from the camera so that it appeared as if Bigfoot was trying to avoid being seen and becoming abscured by brush, trees and branches. (Um, how would Morris, or Bob Shelley, for that matter, know that? Even though the film isn't a hoax, in the story the text says Patterson never told anybody that the film was a fake! Did Bob or Morris make it up?)
Patterson thus created the most-viewed fake gorilla since King Kong and created a film with the highest gross profits relative to production costs in history. He paid $435 for the gorilla costume, never paid the fellow in the gorilla suit, (Uh, how would you or Morris know that, Bob? Huh? SMART GUY?!) used up a ridiculously few feet of 16mm film that earned more than a million dollars- back when a million dollars was a lot of money! (Um, to kids, it still is. Seriously, people!)
