This is a series on old dinosaur movies. Specifically, I am looking at anything released before 1990; before Jurassic Park revolutionized cinema with its CGI animation. I will not be covering anything "dinosaur-adjacent", such as kaiju monsters like Godzilla or the creature from The Giant Behemoth, which are perhaps inspired by dinosaurs, but clearly not meant to represent any real world genus. I will also be skipping over films that are heavily dependent on "borrowed" footage from other films, such as the Valley of the Dragons / Prehistoric Valley.
Also known as: N/A
Runtime: 1 hr 25 min
Background:
Dinosaurus!
is a 1960 American film produced by Fairview Productions and Jack Harris
Productions. A few scenes were filmed on the Island of St. Croix, in the
U.S. Virgin Islands. Marcel Delgado was only given two weeks out of an
agreed six, to make the dinosaur models. The stop-motion
brontosaurus model and jungle set miniature would go on to appear in the
"The Odyssey of Flight 33" episode of The Twilight Zone. Footage of the
tyrannosaurus was also borrowed for "The Secret of Gilligan's Island"
episode in season three of Gilligan's Island. It's roars were also
borrowed for creatures in The Outer Limits TV series.
Plot Summary:
An
American engineering team is building a harbor on a Caribbean island
when they accidentally uncover two frozen dinosaurs: a brontosaurus and a
tyrannosaurus. A drunken Irishman by the name of T.J. O'Leary is tasked
with guarding them during the night, but a lightning strike brings both
back to life. O'Leary is eaten by the tyrannosaurus who goes on to
attack a trolley cart. A frozen caveman the island manager, Mike Hacker,
had found and hidden also thaws out.
"How are my strapping babes? Teething are ya? Well, you're a very sweet and quiet babe not to be shrieking about it. And you too! Mustn't play favorites." -T.J. O'Leary
The caveman stumbles into a house and is confused and delighted by the objects inside. A dinosaur loving boy named Julio, comes to see "Betty" but is ecstatic to see a living caveman. Julio quickly befriends the caveman over food, but the two have to flee the house when the boy's guardian, Mike Hacker, shows up to reclaim the caveman. Julio and the caveman hitch a ride across the island on the back of the brontosaurus.
The caveman comes to the aid of Betty Piper who is almost devoured by the tyrannosaurus. The tyrant lizard then goes for the brontosaurus which suffers severe injuries. Eventually it manages to run away, stumbling into quicksand. Julio, Betty, and the caveman take shelter in an abandoned mine while two workers, Bart Thompson and "Dumpy", use molotov cocktails to drive the beast away from the mine. Hacker tries once last time to take the caveman hostage, but the caveman sacrifices himself holding up a collapsing beam, allowing Julio and Betty to escape.
The island residents, now aware of the danger, take up refuge in an old fortress. Hungry, the tyrannosaurus travels to where the food has congregated. Bart drives out in an excavator to battle the tyrant lizard, knocking it off a cliff into the water below. Tourists aboard a passing crew ship then wonder why so many people would come out to see them, but reason nothing exciting must ever happen on such a "quiet peaceful island".
"There is a time for everything. The caveman slept all those years, then one day woke like Rip Van Winkle. He found the world so changed he didn't want to be in it anymore." -Bart Thompson
Thoughts:
This is one of the more entertaining classic stop-motion dinosaur films I have seen. There is peril, laughs, and pretty good acting, especially from the child actor. The animation is middle-of-the-road; not Harryhausen quality but also not the worst you'll see. The caveman is easily the best one I've seen so far. His features are not cartoonishly exaggerated like in other films of the era and he has a lot of personality. I love the way they had him interact with the modern world: being scared of a mirror, playing with the stove, being fascinated by dresses, and searching for the source of the voice from the radio. It's an easy to watch, wholesome family-friendly movie.
Related Articles:
- Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)
- One Million B.C. (1940) / One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Dinosaurus! (1960)- Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)
- The Last Dinosaur (1977)
- Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds (1977)
- Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
- Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)
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