hyped garbage

Excellent but underrated film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Studly John Richardson plays a caveman named Tumak during the early days of man. He ends up banished from his own tribe (the "rock people"), after a falling out with his father *and* brother. After some wandering, he is attracted to a more peaceable tribe known as the "shell people", in particular a vivacious bikini wearing babe named Loana (Raquel Welch). Winning her favor will be only one of his problems, as he wears out his welcome with the shell people as well, and there are always dinosaurs and other animals to avoid.I'm sure some viewers will go in expecting a good time given the ingredients: super sexy Welch in the role that made her a superstar, typically solid production values from Britains' legendary Hammer Studios, and an abundance of dinosaurs created by stop motion master Ray Harryhausen. The film offers good fun, and even a little social commentary along the way. (Tumak learns the appeal of feminism from the shell people.) Shot on various locations in Spain as well as at Elstree Studios in England, there's pretty scenery in addition to the pretty gals on hand. Mario Nascimbene provides the soaring music score and the striking "musical effects". Harryhausen does typically amazing work with his creations, although they're supplemented by a little bit of the traditional method of making ordinary animals (an iguana, a tarantula) look massive through trick photography. Some of the special effects may show their age, but doubtless some viewers will still prefer this sort of thing to the digital FX that would be rendered nowadays.The performances are as engaging as any portrayals of primitive people could be. Richardson is a strapping hero, but Welch is required to do little more than look good. (Hey, not that anybody's complaining here!) Co-starring are sultry cult icon Martine Beswicke ("Prehistoric Women"), who has a memorable catfight with Raquel, Percy Herbert ("Man in the Wilderness"), and Robert Brown (best known for playing M in the James Bond adventures of the 1980s).A remake of the 1940 feature "One Million B.C.", this is suitably rousing entertainment with a truly exciting final reel.Eight out of 10.

This is by far Ray Harryhausen's worst work, a disappointment on every level. Although there is some good stop motion dinosaur action,there is also plenty of disappointing lizards on green screen action. It has a slow moving story and absolutely NO dialogue. They should have gone with less grunting and more action.The cave people seem to know everything except how to communicate with each other and that's lame.And why do they all live in one cave?Being able to watch a young Raquel Welch makes it bearable. I'd recommend this to fans of Welch and Harryhausen but all of them have probably seen it already.Otherwise,only watch this if you like to be very bored.

You got dinosaurs, prehistoric man (and women), adventure, thrills, desperate situations and the age old theme of man struggling to survive. Food is a constant battle and shelter not so much. Forget about clothes as they go bare minimum in this one. Remember, back in the fifties, this type of movie was a hit and can't miss. You pay your fifty cents, get your popcorn and cokes and you and your date along with friends went out and had a good time. Of course they always had a double feature plus a cartoon too. The speech in this movie is sparse but they make up for it with hand gestures and grunts of disapproval and approval proving that we can communicate with each other no problem. Notice the three different cultures displayed here. The rock people who live a hard life which makes them hard, these Neanderthal types that are one third man and two thirds beast and the beach people who are mellow and clean. Make you own detail observations please as I just wanted to make the point. I watch this every five years or so for some of the memorable scenes. The one where they catch a wart-hog, bring it home, roast it and then devour it with no regard to women, children or elders getting their share or any share makes you wonder about how these people will survive long-term. Survival of the fittest comes through quite clear. With the beach people, you get the impression that being next to salt water creates a different mindset for how you treat each other as they share and take care of each other. Definitely have your favorite snack and tasty drink on hand for this, have some meat finger foods like chicken wings or drumsticks for atmosphere and pick out a character that you want to emulate and relate to. Let your inner cave-person out....

I saw this in the mid 80s on a VHS. Saw few years back on a pirated DVD. This film has a bare story line, no dialogue other than caveman grunts and groans, a lil slow but exciting and brutally violent, and sometimes laughable pre historic survival movie. The best part of the movie (including Miss Welch) are the creatures. Other than a few real life things blown up in size, they are brilliant. Harryhausen just knows how to make creatures. This is a cult classic, entertaining showcase for Harryhausen's skills, and has enough action. The movie has a giant iguana, ape men, Brontosaurus, a giant spider, Archelon, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, a Triceratops, Pteranodon n Rhamphorhynchus. Audience get to see miss Welch in a two-piece deer skin bikini. Mankind's first bikini.