One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Director:

Don Chaffey

Writers:

George Baker (1940 screenplays)
Joseph Frickert (1940 screenplays)

Release Date:

21 February 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

This is the way it was.

Plot:

Caveman Tumak is banished from his savage tribe. He finds a brief home among a group of gentle seacoast...

Plot Keywords:

Loincloth | Beautiful Woman | Volcano Eruption | Volcano | Caveman

Cast

Raquel Welch	...	Loana
John Richardson	...	Tumak
Percy Herbert	...	Sakana
Robert Brown	...	Akhoba
Martine Beswick	...	Nupondi
Jean Wladon	...	Ahot
Lisa Thomas	...	Sura
Malya Nappi	...	Tohana
Richard James	...	Young Rock Man
William Lyon Brown	...	Payto
Frank Hayden	...	1st Rock Man
Terence Maidment	...	1st Shell Man
Micky De Rauch	...	1st Shell Girl
Yvonne Horner	...	Ullah

Runtime:

100 min | USA:91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia) | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Lago Verde, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

Raquel Welch was dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Humans and dinosaurs were not contemporaneous. There were no dinosaurs one million years ago, having gone extinct 65 million years ago.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Goin' Down the Road (1970)

Never a dull moment

This movie is everything a prehistoric adventure should be. Forget the fact that dinosaurs and man did not co-exist...this is just as much a fantasy as "Jason and the Argonauts" or "Star Wars".

The world of "One Million Years B.C." is insanely brutal, where man is the weakest creature in a harsh landscape of volcanoes and giant monsters. The Rock People have lives that are "nasty, brutish and short", where only the strongest survive. They are dominated by the rugged chief Akoba, whose two sons Tumak and Sakana are in a constant battle to see who will gain his favor. Sakana gains the upper hand and Tumak is banished into the wastelands. After dodging monsters, he finally arrives at the seaside domain of the Shell People, who are more cultured and civilized. He captures the eye of the beautiful Loana and the two have a non-stop series of adventures.

The narrative is direct and primitive, befitting the primeval setting. John Richardson is quite good as Tumak...he is decent but still has a lot of barbarism in him. As for young Raquel Welch, not even the special effects of Ray Harryhausen could outshine her incredible beauty in this film. Even in our own time, gorgeous babes like these are rare...they would be totally impossible in the prehistoric world. The stunning Raquel is pure eye candy and succeeds better in this regard than any other actress in film history. Especially noteworthy is her cat-fight with sultry Martine Beswick, no slouch in the looks department herself.

Ray Harryhausen outdoes himself again with brilliant stop motion dinosaurs. Look at the realistic movements of these creatures, which have not been surpassed by CGI. The ravenous Allosaurus who duels with Tumak is a particular stand-out, but the battling Triceratops and Ceratosaur are also pretty cool. The movie also features the more standard giant lizard dressed up and made huge, but even this scene is better than most of its ilk. An eerie scene featuring ape-men and some colossal earthquake and erupting volcanoes round out an exciting picture.

Don't look for anything really deep in this one. Just expect primitive action with plenty of monsters, battling cavemen and the awesome Raquel Welch. This movie does everything it sets out to do.