Review of One Million Years B.C. (1966) by Brad H — 16 Mar 2010

Big, hairy men and lush looking women in scantily clad leather bikinis grunt and scream at a variety of plasticine dinosaurs in this straight forward but classic prehistoric adventure.

One Million Years BC is unlikely to be highly regarded on any of the lists of must see movies, but it none the less retains its iconic status. There's a couple of reasons for this. The first is that it is one of the many films to showcase the skills of Ray Harryhausen. Best known for the animation techniques that brought the 1933 King Kong to life, Ray Harryhausen is a special effects legend in his own time. Many of his ideas and techniques can be seen reproduced and copied throughout the 1940s, '50s and '60s, and there is no doubting that the stop/go animated dinosaurs are his creation. Even the superimposed monster Iguana )whilst very shabby by today's standards) was a well regarded method that was still relatively frightening back in the day.

The other reason for its cult status I suspect is main cavegirl Loana (Raquel Welch) who still sizzles with incredibly sexual feminine beauty whenever the camera is pointed in her direction (many will recognise the film's poster/front cover even if they have never seen this film). The fact that Welch easily outshines all of the other female roles in the film (and there is a lot) STILL doesn't give you an idea of just how good she really does look!

John Richardson gives a suitably gruff performance as Tumak (the film's main character), and despite the lack of a traditional script there's still plenty of human Drama to muse over (the film is actually a remake of the 1940 film "10 Million B.C." and follows essentially the same plot). The film as a whole should be considered a visual treat if nothing else, and it's clear that some care was made to compensate for the basic dialogue with breath taking sets and visually appealing details (such as the clear physical differences between the tribes based on their different habitats). Some of the acting feels a little over dramatic (edging on cheesy), but how else can you portray emotion without words?! In some ways this could be considered more realistic (I suppose body language would have been much more important with Cavemen then is is now)!

I also want to note that the rocks hitting other rocks caveman soundtrack is a mixed bag- whilst it's very much in theme with the film my girlfriend described it as "loud, horrible noise", and in many ways she is right.

THE VERDICT?

It doesn't even matter that humans and dinosaurs never actually existed at the same time, One Million Years BC is a classic caveman flick. DON'T expect Oscar winning performances or incredible story telling. DO expect lots of prehistoric brawls and cavegirl eye candy.

LIKE THIS?

YOU MIGHT LIKE...

10,000BC- Action packed re-write for the 21st century generation, although it suffers from genre identity issues and a seriously bad reputation amongst Top Critics.

CAVEMAN- Gentle, spoof caveman flick complete with plasticine stoner-dinosaurs and much better caveman music (well, it DOES have Ringo Star as a Caveman)!