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| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Jim O'Connolly |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 1969 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Warner Home Video |
| MPAA RATING: | G (General Audience) |
| FEATURES: | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen |
| TYPE: | Science Fiction |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 085392751921 |
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Customer Reviews of The Valley of Gwangi
Harryhausen's Dinosaurs in the Old West: Now that's cool! This was one of the least financially successful of stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen films, which is a shame, since it's one of the wildest and most interesting. Based on an idea by Willis O'Brien, the visual effects master on the 1933 "King Kong," "The Valley of Gwangi" is basically a re-imagining of "Kong" as a Western. Yep, you heard that right, pardners: this is a Giant Monster meets the Western film.
Now come on, that's got your attention, right?
"Gwangi" is just a blast. Watching the mixture of cowboy antic with a lost land of dinosaurs is the ultimate Saturday morning matinee experience. The kid in you will just wake up right away and start cheering. (As for kids themselves, do you really have to ask? They'll love this!)
At this point in his career, Harryhausen was producing masterful effects and getting more ambitious with each film. Here he has a sequence of cowboys roping an Allosaurus (astounding!), and later a rampaging dinosaur caught in a burning cathedral. Even with today's computer effects, Harryhausen's effects have a wonderful marvel to them, a magic that CGI can't really capture. (Unless you're Peter Jackson.)
Like most of the films Harryhasen produced with Charles Schneer, the actual dramatics and script are a bit lacking. James Franciscus is right on the money in his part as the smooth-talking frontier huckster, but Gila Golan is wooden and terrible as his love interest. The dialogue often clunky, but don't worry -- the dinosaurs or a cowboy shoot-up are right about the corner.
The DVD also contains a featurette interview with Harryhausen, where he explains how the film came to be made and talks about how he achieved the incredible "dino-roping" sequence. Your appreciation of this visual effects genius will only go up when you hear what he had to do to get this amazing scene to work.
Fans of plain old fun films: BUY THIS! Visual effects fans: BUY THIS! Anyone who wants to capture the feeling of being a kid and loving dinosaurs and cowboys: BUY THIS!
HARRYHAUSEN'S DINOSAURIAN TOUR DE FORCE
Resurrecting an aborted project that Willis ( KING KONG ) O'Brien wanted to make himself, Ray Harryhausen followed-up his successful Hammer film ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. with this movie, working once again with longtime partner Charles H. Schneer. Filmed in Spain, this 1969 offering has stunning stop-motion animated dinosaurs.
Set around the turn of the century in Mexico, it is a very Kong-like tale of a mighty creature ( the titular Allosaurus with T-Rex attributes ) that is captured in "Forbidden Valley" and brought back to a local Wild West show / circus to make money. The monster flees its bonds and proceeds into a magnificent cathedral, which becomes consumed in a raging inferno and brings about its demise.
Harryhausen, who worked a full year on the special effects, effectively populates a valley that is lost in time with a number of prehistoric animals, which include an equine Eohippus, a "plucked ostrich" called an Ornithomimus and a horned Styracosaurus who fights Gwangi to the death in a memorable sequence. The highlight is a well-staged roping sequence which consumed many months of Ray's time to realize; he had to carefully align the animated ropes on the Gwangi model with real ropes used in live action to snare a Jeep with a pole affixed.
Other key points include the escape of Gwangi from its cage ( a split-screen process was used in the making of this effect ) and battle with an eleplant model, and its fiery finale in the great edifice ( utilizing the optical printer to superimpose flames around the allosaur's feet ). Ray Harryhausen outdid himself for this feature which includes literally hundreds of animation set-ups to concoct the visual effects.
Unfortunately, the live-action sequences do not show as much panache. James Franciscus and Gila Golan do not create any sparks as the movie's leading couple. Curtis Arden is okay as Lope but no more, and Richard Carlson looks haggard as the impresario of the circus troupe. The only bright spot is the amiable performance of Laurence Naismith as the slightly eccentric Professor Bromley who recognizes the miniature horse for what it is.
Even though it was a commercial failure in 1969 due to a number of unfortunate circumstances that took place ( lack of advertising, its pairing with an R-rated movie and changes in cultural tastes ), THE VALLEY OF GWANGI is a spectacular adventure teeming with fantastic creatures and exotic settings that should not be overlooked. The superficial storyline and other shortcomings pale when Ray works his legendary magic. A highly recommended picture that is only unsuitable for the the very youngest of children ( under 5 yrs. of age ).
Get in touch with your inner forbidden valley.
The Valley of Gwangi is not a good "A" grade movie. It's not even a good "B" grade movie. But it is a fantastic "C" grade movie (the cinematic province of directors such as Ed Wood). Come to it with the right expectations and you'll not be dissappointed in this tale of Cowboys battling Dinosaurs in a turn of the century Mexico crawling with Spanish, Flamenco playing Gypsies (How did the Gypsies get here? Originally the story was supposed to be located in Spain, and they survived the rewrites that relocated it to Mexico.) The film is also significant in that it forms part of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhousen's body of stop-motion animated features.