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Our
story takes place at the turn of the last
century down in Mexico where a broken down wild-west
circus barely scrapes out a living
down. Enter Tuck Kirby (James
Franciscus), a former stuntman for
this one-lung outfit, who now buys acts for
Buffalo Bill's more famous Wild West Show.
Wanting to purchase the show's only real attraction,
Omar the Wonder Horse, whose act is diving
off a high platform into a blazing pool of
water, Tuck runs right into a brick wall
when T.J. Breckenridge -- the show's
owner, Omar's rider, and Tuck's former
flame -- refuses to sell.
There's
still the teeniest hint of a romantic spark
between these two, so when T.J. (Gina
Golan) reveals that Omar is an
integral part of her show's new main
attraction, she can't help but gloat that
it'll be a guaranteed money-maker. With
that, she unveils El Diablo: The World's
tiniest horse. (He's about the size
of a small cat.) Amazed by the
sight, Tuck takes note of the critters'
strange cloven hooves. Asking where it
came from, T.J. reveals it was captured by
Carlos (Gustavo
Rojo) somewhere in THE FORBIDDEN
VALLEY. Defying the old gypsy curse of that
profane place, he captured El Diablo, and
as a sign of affection, gave it to T.J.,
and the jealous Carlos isn’t very happy
with the rekindling romance between these
two former lovebirds.
Later,
Tuck meets a Professor Bromley (Laurence
Naismith), a paleontologist, whose
made a startling discovery. He shows Tuck
the fossilized hoof prints of an eohippus.
(The great-great-great-grandfather
of the modern horse.)
The small animal came to extinction long
before man evolved, but right beside the eohippus'
hoof print, imbedded in the rock, is a human
footprint! Bromley believes this discovery
will rewrite history, but Tuck recognizes
the similarity between El Diablo's hoof
and the eohippus' hoof print. Sneaking
Bromley a peek at the little horse, the
paleontologist is shocked and amazed to
find a living fossil. Demanding to know
where it was found, so he can find other
specimens, Tuck directs him to Carlos, but
he refuses to help.
Undaunted,
Bromley makes a deal with the local
gypsies to steal the eohippus, and
releases it, with the hope it will lead
him back to THE FORBIDDEN VALLEY.
Tuck doesn’t quite catch him in the act,
but pursues him into the desert. Carlos
and Champ (Richard
Carlson) blame Tuck for the theft,
and along with T.J. and a few other
cowboys, they form a posse and head after
the horse thieves.
They all catch up with each other just
in time to follow El Diablo through the
secret entrance into THE FORBIDDEN
VALLEY.
Once
inside, they find more than they bargained
for. The valley is littered with dinosaurs,
and it isn’t long before Carlos is
bulldogging a Pterodactyl. While trying to
round up a few more attractions for the
show, they run smack into Gwangi: the
legendary king of THE FORBIDDEN VALLEY.
Armed
with stage rifles that only fire blanks,
the crew must rely on their rodeo skills
to survive. This all leads to the wildest
roundup in screen history: When Gwangi
attacks them, they all try to rope and
hog-tie the ferocious allosaurous. (More
on this later.)
Gwangi is almost trussed up and captured
but manages to chew through the ropes and
breaks free. Then a horned styrachosauraus
rumbles into the rodeo and distracts
Gwangi long enough for the cowboys to make
a break for the valley entrance. Gwangi
kills the other dinosaur and roars after
them. While the others make it out, Gwangi
plucks Carlos off of his horse and turns
him into an appetizer. Wanting to get to
the main course, the dinosaur tries to
come after them, but the entrance isn’t
quite big enough, and he gets stuck. And
his struggling eventually causes it to
collapses on top of him, knocking him out
cold.
The
monster subdued, he's hauled back to
civilization as the new main attraction
for the show. You
can probably guess what happens next, but
we’ll tell you anyway. With a little
help from the gypsies, who considered him
a god, Gwangi breaks loose, runs amok,
munches a few locals and kills an elephant
(and I really think Harryhausen has
something against pachyderms. He kills
another one in Twenty
Million Miles to Earth.)
Gwangi eventually meets his doom when he
is trapped in a cathedral and burned to
death.
The
end
Hey,
Gwangi-burgers all around.
The
biggest problem with The
Valley of Gwangi
is that, for the most part, it’s Dynamation-guru
Ray Harryhausen’s forgotten film. Released
as the bottom half of a double-bill with a
much more adult-oriented film, it never
reached it's target audience and has
remained in relative obscurity ever since.
And that's too bad. You're missing one
heck of a movie.
Rumor
has it, while mucking through his garage
one day, Harryhausen stumbled upon an old
script called "Valley of the Mists"
written by his old mentor, Willis
O’Brien. We all know that it was
O’Brien’s work on the original King
Kong that inspired Harryhausen to
revolutionize the art of stop-motion
special effects, and the two would
eventually collaborate on the original Mighty
Joe Young.
The
script was for a western -- with a catch.
Along with the standard cowboys and
shoot-em-ups, O’Brien thought it would
be fun to throw a dinosaur into the middle
of it to see what kind of mayhem it could
cause.
Some
sources say this script originated right
after he made King
Kong. Set to take place near the Grand
Canyon, lurking among the rocks, some
cowboys find an allosaurous. They manage
to lasso and capture it, and then sell it
to the circus. The monster escapes and
winds up fighting some lions for the
film's climax. O’Brien could never get
the picture financed -- that happened to
him a lot, so it was shelved and
forgotten. But some of it's elements,
including the lion attack, did show up in Mighty
Joe Young.
O’Brien
eventually did oversee the effects for The
Beast of Hollow Mountain,
a film where cattle rustlers turned out to
be another allosaurous with a forked tongue. (See
Illustration.)
Harryhausen
took the found script to his long time
collaborator, producer Charles H. Schneer.
They decided with a little tweaking The
Valley of Gwangi
would be their next project.
The
one thing that benefits Gwangi,
along with most other Harryhausen films,
is that they don’t fall into a familiar
B-movie trap: They aren't hampered or encumbered
by incompetent or dull scripts. The
special effects are the showpieces, and
the main reason to watch, but the films
are seldom boring in between those F/X
shots. The stories are solid, and are
competently directed and executed. Although
I understand there were some nasty
creative differences between Schneer and
director James O'Connolly on this one.
Beyond
Harryhausen’s optical stunts, there is
some wonderful live action stunt work in Gwangi
as well. (Human
and equestrian.) You also can’t
overlook Jerome Moross’s spirited score.
Another big plus in most H&S
collaborations is the music.
What
is it about Harryhausen’s films that
compel us to break out the Playdough and
make some dinosaurs? We marvel and watch while
his animated creatures interact and pull
things away from the live actors and
ponder "How in the heck does he do
that?"
Now
most people think that the skeleton battle
in Jason
and the Argonauts
is Harryhausen's masterpiece and the
epitome of his craft. I’m sorry,
but I gotta cast my vote for the team
roping of the dinosaur scene in Gwangi.
The combination of six actors, six horses
and six ropes is absolutely amazing to
watch. And one boggles that the man seldom
used tools and did all the movements by
memory.
So,
before I go and cue up that scene again
for the millionth time, I'll admit that
this is my favorite Harryhausen film.
I’d also like to encourage all you
parents out there who are tired of
watching Disney Musicals or other
mind-numbingly sweet fluff with their kids
to give Gwangi
and other Harryhausen films a try.
They’re all rated G, and even though
they do get a little gruesome in spots
(hey,
a monster’s got to eat too), I
highly recommend them.
Believe
me, you’ll enjoy the change of pace.
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