In 1942, stop-motion animator Willis H. O'Brien, who was known for doing the special effects work on the original versions of THE LOST WORLD (1925) and KING KONG (1933) faced a tough time between 1933 and 1946. He had an idea for a movie about cowboys catching a dinosaur and bringing it back alive (where it escapes and wreaks havoc and gets killed by the heroes). The project was called GWANGI, he pitched it to RKO with a script, storyboard, diorama and a puppet built by Marcel Delgado. Sadly, the project was left unmade due to how expensive it was. Obie ended up working on the original MIGHTY JOE YOUNG four years later.
Enter 1967, after the success of Hammer's ON MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), Ray decided to rework the project with his producer and friend, Charles Schneer. The result was THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969). Taking place in the old west, a group of cowboys, lead by Tuck Kirby, played by James Franciscus (who would later appear in BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES in 1970), track down a big blue Allosaurus-Tyrannosaurus Rex hybrid, to bring it back alive, where it wreaks havoc in the city. James Franciscus does a great performance as the film's protagonist. Gila Golan as the lovely T.J. is added for the film's sex appeal akin to Rachel Welch with ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. Laurence Naismith as the quirky old Englishman, Professor Bromley, is enough to supply some laughs and chuckles. Curtis Arden as Lope is a nice addition for the kids, and horror actress Freda Jackson (you might remember her on 1965's DIE MONSTER DIE with Boris Karloff) as Tia Zorina, The Witch, giving the film a chilling and eerie feel to it. If there is anything that steals the picture and attracts audiences, it is Ray Harryhausen's wonderful special effects and animation! Gwangi the Big Blue Allosaurus is one thing, but the other monsters are another. There is a Styracosaurus that fights and looses to the prehistoric blue meanie. An Ornithiomimus, which as the protagonists best describe it as, "a plucked ostrich." A pterodactyl that take Lope and gets lassoed down. Plus, an Eohippus, the prehistoric ancestor to the modern horse to add cuteness factor to it. There were a lot of changes in this production. Obie's unmade version had a Triceratops, a lion fight in the arena (which got used in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG), and gets knocked off a cliff by a truck (which predated the death of the T-Rex in DINOSAURUS (1960) where the beast gets knocked off a cliff by a crane). In this version, there is a Styracosaurus, an elephant fight in the arena (a throwback to 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH), and Gwangi meets his fate inside a burning cathedral, (taking a page out of FRANKENSTEIN). This monster, like King Kong and the Rhedosaurs in THE BEAST FROM 20'00 FATHOMS (1953), caused people to tear up when dying a horrible death.
While the film did have a lot of good merchandising and promotion like any blockbuster film, this movie flopped in the box-office! Why? First of all, most people are not into this whole escapism films. Most of the films at that time consisted on sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. According to Ray Harrhausen, he said that no one wanted to see a naked dinosaur. Well guess what? This movie gained a cult following. Joseph Laudati, who is a stop-motion animator and Harryhausen fan, made an animated amateur super-8 film in 1976 called THE PRIMEVAL KINGS. Tony Luke's animated amateur films from the 80's featured Titanus, and he is modeled after Gwangi. One time someone asked me if I heard of THE VALLEY OF GWANGI and seen it. I replied that I did, and the person who asked was relived because most people never heard of it. What does it come to show? Two things: It is an underrated classic and a cult classic. Bottom line: Worth the watch so give it one. Rated G, but it contains violence and some gore. Best watched for children over the age of seven.
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