One Million Years B.C.

One Million Years B.C. is THE film that made me a movie fan and lover of all things prehistoric! Ray Harryhausen's creatures are great, the music adds superbly to the atmosphere, the location photography looks just right (just ignore the occasional obvious set), and there has never been a better-looking cavegirl than Raquel Welch!

A solid-gold guilty pleasure! Actually, what's there to be guilty about? This film is solid-gold entertainment!

Take off your cultural blinders...the one you put on when you watch a "trashy" movie...and think about what you are actually experiencing as you watch this movie. Is it merely a "trash" entertainment? To be sure, Raquel Welch in her furkini, the now quaint quality of the Harryhausen effects, the girl fight between Raquel and Martine Beswick, all provide the frisson of "trash" delight. But this movie is much more than that, a tour de force of imagination, and a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. The vision of man adrift in a hostile universe, at odds with his fellow creatures, his own untamed emotions, and the apocalyptic earth itself, is haunting and beautiful. Our only hope is Raquel, who offers a transcendent vision of peace and love--without uttering a word.

Special kudos to the music. Where the special effects strain against their limits, as in the terrifying pterodactyl attack and the final upheaval, the music carries home the emotion. I am reminded of Schopenhauer: "The internal relation that music has to the true nature of all things can also explain the fact that, when music suitable to any scene, action, event, or environment is played, it seems to disclose to us its utmost secret meaning and appears to be the most accurate and distinct commentary on it." In a film where words matter so little, the music is especially crucial. As you watch the pterodactyl snatch Raquel and carry her off to feed its young while the other humans watch in helpless dismay, listen to the music, and think about the "utmost secret meaning" of what you are witnessing. This is an artistic moment of astounding ambition, and there are many such moments throughout this sustained meditation on man and the universe.

A few years later, the same team made Creatures the World Forgot, a more "realistic" look at prehistoric survival sans dinosaurs, with a Cain and Abel story that is riveting...and my god, the cave people are hot!

Watching 1970s TV screenings of 'One Million Years BC', the Connery Bond movies, the original 'Planet Of The Apes' and 'The Omega Man' made an enormous impact on my childhood that I don't think I've ever truly recovered from! Looking at it now as an adult you can see how laughably stupid it all is, but you can't help but still love it! The vision of Raquel Welch in her animal skin bikini nearly brought puberty on five years early for me. She's still a sight to see but the charms of Martine Beswick ('Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde', 'A Bullet For The General') are now more to my taste. She's sensational!

The plot, such that it is, concerns Tumak (John Richardson of 'She'), one of the "rock people" who look like spaghetti western refugees and like nothing better than grunting, wearing fur, and beating the crap out of each other. Tumak falls out with his old man and brother, is banished and after some aimless wandering around avoiding dinosaurs (and in one surreal moment a giant tarantula!), he stumbles across the hitherto unknown "shell people". They are blonde surfer types who introduce him to such innovations as improved spears, hot water, painting, crying and feminism. And also to the babelicious Loana (Welch) who takes a shine to him. Tumak still has "attitude problems" and ends up getting banished from their tribe too, but with Loana and a new and improved spear what more can the guy want? Of course he heads straight back to his homies and yes, there's trouble ahead including fraternal friction, a jealous ex (Nupondi, the stunning Beswick), lots of Harryhausen dinosaurs, and exploding volcanos. Does mindless entertainment get any better than this? Hardly ever. Add a cool score from Mario Nascimbene and what you have is a classic piece of unforgettably trashy exploitation.

This deals about the struggle of primitive cavemen and their battle against prehistoric monsters and other creatures . It's a remake of the 1940 movie by Hal Roach with Victor Mature , Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr . It starts with a prologue that tells you all you want to know about this "brutal world¨. This is a story of a long , long ago when the world was just beginning. A young world , a world early in the morning of time . A hard , unfriendly world with creatures that sit and wait , creatures that must kill to live. And man , superior to the creatures only in his cunning . There aren't many men , a few tribes scattered across the wilderness . Never venturing far , unaware that other tribes exist even , too busy with their own lives to be curious . Too frightened of the unknown to wander . Their laws are simple , the strong take everything . A chief named Akoba (Robert Brown) is leader of the Rock tribe . And his sons are named Tumak(John Richardson) and Sakana (Percy Herbert) from the tribe of the Brunettes. There is no love between them and confrontation emerges . Tumak meets a cave woman (Raquel Welch) from the tribe of the Blondes , both of whom trying to make a life for themselves and take on rival clan , subhuman, cannibalistic tribes and volcanoes on its ending in an earth-splitting volcanic eruption .

This classic Hammer -in its 100th movie- and Seven Arts production is a stupendous story of adventure , thrills and romance. The tale provides sweeping and exciting entertainment . The action scenes blend creatures and humans more seamlessly than ever before in cinema and has some nice battles between prehistoric animals . Surviving Brontosaurs, Triceratops, Dinosaurs ,Alosaurs, Pterodactyls are the true stars , rise to the occasion to amuse in an otherwise slow movie. The fantastic beasts look superb and are stunningly made by expert craftsmen as the spectacular special effects include dinosaurs , fighting between Tiranosaurius Rex and Triceratops , a giant turtle ,along with some superimposed iguanas, all of them are made by technician-artist Ray Harryhausen. As warns the movie the characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names character or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional . Produced and written by Michael Carreras adapted from an original screenplay by George Baker . Wonderful cinematography in glimmer color DeLuxe by Wilkie Cooper filmed on location in Lanzarote , Island Canarias (Spain) . Exciting music and special musical effects composed by Mario Nascimbene with usual musical supervisor Philip Martell ; furthermore rare sounds by Roy Baker . The motion picture is professionally directed by Don Chaffey . Rating : Good and unforgettable for famous fur-trimmed bikini clad that you'll always remember .

Raquel Welch's later, more solid acting performances will never erase our memories of this dinosaur-epic wherein she runs around in full cavegirl regalia. Then again, she may not want them to. Time has been surprisingly kind to this reworking of 1940's "One Million B.C." The special effects are very good, the wilds of prehistoric nature are often excitingly, colorfully captured, and handsome John Richardson is charismatic as a caveman who, along with Welch, ditches his tribe to set out on a personal journey. Yes, it's Raquel in a fur-bikini that most people will remember, but a good time is had by all. **1/2 from ****