The Beast of Hollow Mountain

"The Beast of Hollow Mountain" would likely have more appeal for any viewer who first saw it at a young and impressionable age. If you're seeing it for the first time as an adult, like this viewer, you may well still find it to be fairly charming, an interesting combination of the monster movie and Western genres. The beast of the title, a dinosaur, doesn't show up until 3/4 of the way into the movie, and until then we get a likable enough human drama with a touch of mystery and mysticism: just WHO, or WHAT, is responsible for the disappearances of cattle in Mexico?

One of those eager to find out is American rancher Jimmy Ryan (amiable Guy Madison, often to be seen with a smile on his face). In the meantime, Jimmy finds employment for local drunk Pancho (Pascual Garcia Pena) and loves the sweet Sarita (lovely Patricia Medina), although she's agreed to marry another man, Enrique Rios (Eduardo Noriega), a rival of Jimmy's in more way than one, and a constant thorn in his side.

Co-director Edward Nassour does the decent stop motion animation in this reasonably entertaining little diversion; the concept originated with the legendary stop motion specialist Willis O'Brien of "King Kong" fame. The colourful CinemaScope photography is quite gorgeous, giving us an eyeful of all of the flavour of the Mexican locations; there's a lot to take in. The script by Robert Hill is dialogue heavy so less patient viewers may fidget a little while waiting for the dinosaur to show up. But things do get pretty exciting once it does.

Madison and Medina are highly engaging leads, and the supporting cast features some fine performers. Julio Villarreal has a solid presence as friendly old Don Pedro, but Noriega captures the lions' share of the attention playing a man who turns out to be a real piece of work. The audience will be primed and ready to see this human antagonist get his comeuppance.

This Mexican-American production is fun stuff - nothing great, but very easy to take while it lasts and it doesn't overstay its welcome at a running time of 80 minutes.

Seven out of 10.

It is said that a mountain surrounded by a swamp is hollow and that a prehistoric monster from 'the dawn of time' comes out during times of drought to stalk the land.

Alright, so the plot lacks any sense of reality (there would have to be a whole race of dinosaurs for them to survive until the present day). The special effects also leave something to be desired. But look over these faults and you'll find that this film is actually very enjoyable and entertaining. The dinosaur isn't revealed until the last twenty minutes, but when it shows its face there's non-stop action, and for once the dinosaur can move fast and so poses a genuine threat. The dinosaur itself is fairly well-animated and there is a wonderful 'golden age of monster movies' feel about the whole thing.

I saw The Beast of Hollow Mountain in the theatre when I was nine. I slept under my bed for weeks. I just knew that T. Rex was going to walk up to 504 5th Avenue West and look in my second storey window and consider me a tender morsel. The world has changed considerably since this movie was in theatres. While it was just as primitive as described by the other reviewers here, this little boy had the be-Jesus scared out of him. I call that good film-making.

Just a little south of the Texas border, the cattle ranchers are having trouble with an unusual rustler -- a Tyrannosaurus Rex. This is one of the few non-Harryhausen stop-motion films produced during the 1950s. The original concept was bought from Willis O'Brien by Edward and William Nassour, but they reneged on their promise to hire O'Brien to do the animation. The Nassours did it themselves. The animation is extremely rough, but the model of the tyrannosaurus is pretty good (except for its excessively long tongue -- it looks like a long red tentacle!)

Be prepared for a long wait before the dinosaur shows up; the first two thirds of the film is pure Western soap opera and endless filler scenes of a Mexican fiesta. The dinosaur doesn't actually make an appearance until the last twenty minutes of the film. The climax, however, is action packed -- a running battle on the open range between a hungry dinosaur and the cowboy hero, Guy Madison (star of TV's `Wild Bill Hickok' from 1954 to 1957). Patricia Medina is the lovely heroine.

Watch for a scene in which the tyrannosaurus runs after a galloping horse; the animation was done with a series of plaster models, each one posed at a different point in the running reptiles stride. Special effects processing was handled by Jack Rabin and Louis DeWitt (`Kronos' and `Atomic Submarine').

TRIVIA NOTE FOR TRUE SCI-FI FANS: The T-Rex in this movie is just one of many sci-fi monsters that were defeated by actors who achieved fame in cowboy roles. In `Tarantula' the spider is destroyed by a bomb dropped by pilot Clint Eastwood. The Martians in `War of the Worlds' are pitted against Gene Barry, star of TV's `Bat Materson'. The ants in `Them' are gunned down by James Arness of `Gunsmoke'. `The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms' dies from a radioactive bullet fired by Lee Van Cleef, star of `The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' (among others). `The Blob' proves to me no match for Steve McQueen, star of `Wanted: Dead or Alive'.

Other famous cowboys featured in 1950s sci-fi movies include Eric Fleming (`Rawhide') in `The Conquest of Space' and `Queen of Outer Space', Michael Landon (`Bonanza') in `I was a Teenaged Werewolf', and Ken Curtis (`Gunsmoke') in `The Killer Shrews'. Sci-fi veteran Richard Carlson never achieved fame as a cowboy star, but he did get to play a cowboy in Ray Harryhausen's faithful 1968 version of the ORIGINAL cowboy-versus-dinosaur idea -- which was first thought up my Willis O'Brien back in the 1930s; `Valley of Gwangi', twenty years before `Beast of Hollow Mountain'!

This cowboy and dinosaur movie is better than it's reputation. Though moving slowly in places, it is capably acted and has enough action and plot development to keep both me and my 7 year old son interested. (It did lose the 4 year old periodically)

My only addition to other's previous comments are that I do feel the film holds up fairly well considering it's age. The female lead is surprisingly liberated, being no-one's useless sex object. She manages to make independent decisions, shows that she is quite capable of taking care of herself, and does not panic in the face of danger. When the beast of the title appears she does not scream and panic or fall helplessly to the ground as so many 50's heroines would do, instead her reaction is one of realistic shock and brief fear, followed by quick and decisive action. She even manages to evade the monster for an extended period without tripping or twisting her ankle. during this whole movie she does not do anything stupid or anything contrived to serve as a plot device.

The hero is also fairly realistic. He is neither a chauvinist nor a stereotype. We see that while he is determined to fight for his own rights, he will concede and consider a course of action that will benefit those people he cares for. He is strong and confident without being overly macho, and he is intelligent and thoughtful.

I found the other characters were treated with respect, also. There is no odious comedy relief. Even the drunken father is handled with care and not a caricature. The little boy is likeable, not annoying as is often the case in this sort of vehicle.

I found the wedding festival, which annoyed one reviewer, to be colorful and entertaining. A welcome surprise in a movie of this type.

Finally, although we are forced to wait a long time for the appearance of our monster, and the first appearance is much too abrupt, once it appears it is almost never off the screen and is certainly entertaining. Nit pickers will of course have a field day with the effects. They are, after all, none too realistic. However, the effects do have a unique sort of charm.

The true nature of all of these effect sequences is clouded in rumour and innuendo. It is my understanding from various interviews and articles that when the producers bought the story outline from Willis O'Brien that they also purchased some test sequences which he had created. The rest of the scenes were then produced by the method described in other reviews whereas static sculptures in various positions were substituted frame by frame. If you watch closely it does seem that there may be more than one dinosaur which do not quite match each other, and a few scenes stand out in their fluidity. The running sequences mentioned by another reviewer are obviously much smoother of motion than most of the jerkier scenes. Of course the big rubber-boot feet are obvious.

As for the tongue. Both of my kids loved it! Kids know fun when they see it!