CheerupSilver
Very Cool!!!
MonsterPerfect
Good idea lost in the noise
Grimossfer
Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
robert3750
Gotta love Ray Harryhausen's animated dinosaurs, although I was disappointed that the first one shown is just a blown up lizard. The other major attraction is Raquel. The instant she's on screen, the reaction is Holy Moly!! I was all of 11 when I first saw this movie, and I truly believe she helped bring about the onset of puberty. Whatta body! I watched it again last night, and I appreciate how she looked as much as ever. Goofy, unscientific caveman fun.
utgard14
Prehistoric hokum from Hammer about a brown-haired caveman named Tumak (John Richardson) and a blonde cavewoman named Loana (Raquel Welch) falling in love despite their differences. We learn a lot about the politics and relationships of primitive man, as well as learn all there is to know about dinosaurs. And it's 100% true! Screw naysaying scientist types. This is a remake of the 1940 Hal Roach film One Million B.C., which starred Victor Mature and Carole Landis. I'm one of that movie's few fans. Most people bash it pretty hard. This Hammer version is more famous than the earlier one, due almost entirely to lovely Raquel Welch. Like the earlier film, this one gets little respect. Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects are great. The film has a very attractive look, with nice cinematography and good location shooting at the Canary Islands. Of course, one can't praise the aesthetics of this movie without talking about the beautiful women in their fur bikinis, chief among them Raquel Welch. Even if the movie were just 90 minutes of her in that bikini, that would be enough to warrant recommending it. She's boobtacular! There's definitely some camp appeal to this flick. After all, it's a caveman movie where they communicate mostly through grunts and noises, with the occasional jib jab word thrown in. I think it's a fun time-passer. Not a lot else to say about it. It's babes in bikinis and bearded bozos fighting dinos. Anybody who goes into this expecting something deeper than a puddle deserves to be disappointed.
Jonathon Dabell
"People did not live in the days of the dinosaurs. You must realise that the picture is being made for entertainment, not for professors
. I think one has to accept that licence with an 'entertainment picture', because it's not supposed to be a documentary," declared Ray Harryhausen. Before this film, dinosaurs in movies were created by shooting lizards in close-up, with extra body-bits glued onto them to create the desired effect. Here, Harryhausen uses his considerable talent as a stop-motion animator to create numerous monsters of the past, including an allosaurus, brontosaurus, ceratosaurus, triceratops and pterodactyl.One Million Years B.C follows the adventures of a caveman named Tumak (John Richardson). The son of a tribe leader, he is banished from his tribe following a fight with his father over a piece of meat. He wanders alone into the wilderness and encounters various strange creatures, before eventually stumbling across a more advanced tribe who have developed things like music, painting, jewellery-making and agriculture. He is welcomed by these new people and lives among them, quickly catching the eye of a cavegirl named Loana (Raquel Welch). Meanwhile back at Tumak's birth tribe, his father is overthrown as leader by the ruthless Sakana (Percy Herbert), Tumak's treacherous brother. Tumak is forced to leave his new tribe after attempting to steal a spear, and is joined on his wanderings by Loana (who has fallen in love with him). They have various adventures before eventually making it back to Tumak's native home. Upon discovering what has happened during his absence, Tumak challenges his brother for leadership of the tribe. The final battle is interrupted by a massive volcanic eruption which wipes out many of the people in its path.The film is the best of the series, helped along by a solid performance from Richardson as the adventurous caveman and Harryhausen's sterling work in the effects department. Welch is on hand to provide the 'eye- candy' while Martine Beswick provides extra sex appeal as an animalistic girl from Tumak's tribe. Also worthy of note is the score by Mario Nascimbene, a beautiful blend of siren-like wailing and clashing cymbals, reminiscent of the operatic music of the spaghetti westerns. It's probably the best score of the entire prehistoric series. On a more negative note, One Million Years B.C. is the ugliest of the films at a photographic level. Despite promising Canary Islands locations, there is something unattractive about the cinematography and the film's poor use of colour. The story structure also becomes a little wearisome towards the end; an endless cycle of walking around – dinosaur attack – walking around – dinosaur attack – walking around – dinosaur attack. Overall, though, this is a good film with enough going for it to make its weaknesses forgivable. Is it the best film Hammer made? No
but it is a lot of fun, and Harryhausen's contributions alone make it worthwhile. We all know it's bogus as history and repetitive as a story, but One Million Years B.C. works well as what it was intended - that is: wild, sexy, adventure-filled entertainment.
Wuchak
"One Million Years B.C." is actually a serious 1966 attempt to depict life in prehistory for cavemen and women. Many reviewers complain that human beings and dinosaurs NEVER occupied the same period in prehistory, but this is merely our best present-day educated guess. Who knows? Twenty years from now we may discover evidence that people existed at the same time as dinosaurs. The fact is that we DON'T KNOW precisely what it was like for people in prehistory and never truly will; all we can do is guess based on the evidence at hand. This movie is simply a serious attempt to show what it may have been like for people IF they lived at the same time as dinosaurs. Capeesh?I said this was a serious depiction, but there are admittedly some humorous aspects. For instance, the mullet-headed blond men of the Shell Tribe and the indoor cave sets straight out of the original Star Trek TV series.Other than that, I can't think of anything bad to say. The location photography from the Canary Islands is awe-inspiring and Ray Harryhausen's dinosaur animation is excellent, holding up very well even to this day; take, for instance, the way the allosaur and, later, t-rex are shown breathing in their dying moments. Needless to say, great attention to detail. The movie even throws in a couple of superimposed iguanas and a tarantula.Oh yeah, most guys understandably rave about Raquel Welch as Loana and her infamous cavegirl bikini, and she is indeed stunning, but -- believe it or not -- there are a few other female castmembers that are more beautiful due to better womanly curves, like Lisa Thomas as the blonde Sura, essentially Loana's sidekick in the Shell Tribe, and Yvonne Horner as the dark-haired Ullah of the Rock Tribe. The statuesque Martine Beswick is also on hand as Nupondi of the Rock Tribe. I must not forget to mention the outstanding musical score; it's very fitting, very primal.Lastly, there's no talking as we understand it; only grunting and primitive lingo. Bottom line: "One Million Years B.C." is enjoyable and highly recommended unless, of course, you have pompous hangups about (supposed) historical chronology.The film runs 100 minutes.GRADE: A-