I saw this movie virtually back to back with "The Giant Behemoth" and I can't get over how much better this one was considering it came out six years earlier and both had the same director, Eugene Lourie. That's probably in large part due to Ray Harryhausen's animation work on this picture. One notable comparison to make is when the rhedosaurus here comes in contact with motor vehicles they actually look like real ones instead of the toy props trampled by the paleosaurus in the later picture. Very well done.
Actually the picture hooked me early on when in an opening sequence the scientists made reference to 'azimuth 63 degrees' during the atomic bomb blasts. Any sci-fi flick using the word azimuth automatically earns bonus points with me. The dinosaur didn't waste any time showing up either, that was a plus as well since many monster films try to whet your appetite with an extended build up and then tease it's appearance with quick shots or shadowy parts before the grand entrance. This beast was fully on display for a good part of the picture, which made it easy to notice that he had a singular dorsal instead of a bilateral, and you couldn't miss that cantilevric clavicle suspension. Yeah right.
You know what else was pretty cool? The film makers did a nice job of putting New York City on display with some great street scenes. Pepsi Cola was the beverage of choice on the Times Square billboard, while Clark Gable was appearing in 'Across the Wide Missouri" at one of the local theaters. Then just down the street Kirk Douglas was starring in "Detective Story" while Judy Garland was appearing in person at an All Star Show a couple of doors down. Kind of makes you wish you were around when this picture came out.
And so who do they get to bring down the prehistoric rhedosaurus? I never caught his character's name during the show but it was pretty cool to see Lee Van Cleef draw down on the monster and fire that radioactive isotope gizmo to stop him in his tracks. If you think about it though, the beast from twenty thousand fathoms went down fairly easily after taking out the roller coaster. I thought he'd at least get a crack at the Tilt a Whirl.
Actually the picture hooked me early on when in an opening sequence the scientists made reference to 'azimuth 63 degrees' during the atomic bomb blasts. Any sci-fi flick using the word azimuth automatically earns bonus points with me. The dinosaur didn't waste any time showing up either, that was a plus as well since many monster films try to whet your appetite with an extended build up and then tease it's appearance with quick shots or shadowy parts before the grand entrance. This beast was fully on display for a good part of the picture, which made it easy to notice that he had a singular dorsal instead of a bilateral, and you couldn't miss that cantilevric clavicle suspension. Yeah right.
You know what else was pretty cool? The film makers did a nice job of putting New York City on display with some great street scenes. Pepsi Cola was the beverage of choice on the Times Square billboard, while Clark Gable was appearing in 'Across the Wide Missouri" at one of the local theaters. Then just down the street Kirk Douglas was starring in "Detective Story" while Judy Garland was appearing in person at an All Star Show a couple of doors down. Kind of makes you wish you were around when this picture came out.
And so who do they get to bring down the prehistoric rhedosaurus? I never caught his character's name during the show but it was pretty cool to see Lee Van Cleef draw down on the monster and fire that radioactive isotope gizmo to stop him in his tracks. If you think about it though, the beast from twenty thousand fathoms went down fairly easily after taking out the roller coaster. I thought he'd at least get a crack at the Tilt a Whirl.