The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Fodor's Valley of Gwangi 2008 Edition

As this review begins, one must pose a question of sorts to the mass audiences. If "The Valley of Gwangi" were a travel destination, say like a classic visit to Dinosaur Land, would modern audience want to go, or would the glitz and glamour of the Jurassic attraction in the neighboring city drown the excitement. Could a mom-and-pop destination, complete with an Allosaurus created by the maestro himself, Ray Harryhausen, still appeal to a generation transfixed on iPods, CGI, MySpace, and boy-band ring tones? Is the destination worth the trip? Below is compiled a review of sorts on why "The Valley of Gwangi" would be an excellent place to spend your summer, complete with a restaurant guide, a locals favorite section, and the much needed, "Watch Your Step" section (aka the pitfalls to avoid). This is a guide to hopefully help the amateur Harryhausen traveler, as well as the most experienced. "The Valley of Gwangi" is a strange, yet wonderful trip that should be continually experienced (despite the bizarre ending), and hopefully never forgotten.

For a trip to "The Valley of Gwangi", you want to pack light. There will be quite a bit of running, horseback riding, church destruction, and trap making, so you definitely do not want to be weighted down with a burdening weight. This guide suggests just finding what you need when you arrive, one could even approach the vast traveler himself, Tuck Kirby, straight from another death defying trip filled with cons, hassles, and barters. He is your "need-to-get" guy. On this trip, he is hunting for a horse, preferably one that his old flame, a lady named T.J., currently uses in one of the greatest sideshow attractions you are going to find on your trip. With little to carry and a guide by your side, you may want to avoid such pitfalls as asking young children name Lope for help. This is an obvious swindle, as he claims he needs to feed his family - while continually paying for further information. Let's not even discuss the crazed gypsy with an eye-patch coupled with her small guide. That is our competitor; you don't want to travel with them. Trust me. It is these socialites that you meet on this trip that will provide you with at least an hour and a half of entertainment. One can even be guaranteed the cliché shout "By George!" from our resident archeologist which is a constant source of laughter and amusement. They may seem overplayed, wooden, and at times not quite as frightened as they should be that they are standing in front of a Triceratops, but they are good companions, and worthy of the special effects that will soon engulf you.

Did I say "engulf", oops, I mean to say devour you! Is anyone else hungry? Looking for that perfect spot in the Valley where you can enjoy a sit down meal. Well, count that out. Here, it is survival of the fittest - literally. When this guide went to tour the local eateries, we used the Gwangi as our guide. He showed us how to properly eat Triceratops, elephants, jealous boyfriends, and anything else that was in the way. To be honest, our Gwangi is an eating machine, but thanks to the brilliant animation by Harryhousen, it is worth the poor service. Harryhousen may fall short on the small detail (some quote the lack of shadows), but it is the overall effect that makes you want to visit again and again. The creatures he creates, while they are as colorful as a bowl of Lucky Charms, are realistic, coupled with honest reactions that put you there with the creatures. The scene that stands out is one where our guides are trying to tie the neck of a Gwangi to keep him secure. The beast screams, tugs, grabs at the real ropes in a way that real animation may have cheapened out. Take these scenes of realism, our pesky - non-traumatized guides, and the detail of blood on the Gwangi's victims, and this film steps up another notch that a regular viewer may never see coming. The detail during our fights, one could credit Harryhausen again, are superb. While the colors seem to be a bit over the top, the attacks placed are not without scars. This could make the average tourist see the danger and the madness in our team's unheroic ways to become the best sideshow in the Valley, and the true threat that lies within them.

Finally, the "Watch Your Step" section. With very little to fill this section, it is necessary because not everyone traveling will want to see the Gwangi due to what modern technologies are currently available. All this guide can say is beware of these short pitfalls. 1) The ending. Without ruining your entire trip, I must say that the last twenty minutes revealed a much different tone that the first 90 minutes of this journey. With our iconic final scene, I felt our mayor of this town, Jim O' Connolly, captured the ideas of cowboys and dinosaurs fighting together, in fact it was the fight sequences that kept me glued to the screen, but there were two separate films in this one little B-movie. There was the greed, the corruption, and the voice of our carnival people as they hunted for the main attraction, but then there was the counter-point to their greed. There was the destruction - and that carried with it a new world that didn't mesh as well with the first. Another "pitfall" to this trip, may be our locals (as they are also a plus), but their lack of concern when fatal errors occur to one of their own, their lack of true fear, and the cliché stereotypes that follow our bumbling archeologist are fun, but not for honest cinema. Outside of these two minor drawbacks, the Gwangi will satisfy every urge you have to ensure safe passage through the Cape of Monster Cinema.

Overall, I must admit, this film surprised me more than anticipated. Having grown up with the Jurassic option always in plain sight, it was a pleasure to finally allow this film to breathe. One can only hope others decide to pick up this journey and enjoy the sights, sounds, destroyed religious centers, and Allosaurus vs. Elephant fights. A bit of warning if there needs to be, this is B-rated, this is not high quality cinema if you nitpick acting and technical civility, but when traveling in the rural south -- who needs that sort of high-tech honesty? Ray Harryhausen influenced our current generation of film with such films as "Valley of Gwangi", and it shouldn't be forgotten. I applaud this film for what it accomplished, and promise - even with the nimble ending - that if you choose to embark on an adventure like this - remember my first word of advise - pack light ... you are in for a strange and fantastic voyage!

Grade: **** out of *****
October 9, 2008

A straightforward, no-nonsense, monster movie.

The sound and image quality of the film are excellent. Only at a couple of points does the image have a slightly dirty or deteriorated appearance. The light balance is excellent throughout. The character development is nice, and at least as good as those found in the Indiana Jones movies. The confident, strong willed woman (T.J.), the operator of a Wild West Show, works well in this movie. My complaints are only slight. The stop-action of the tiny horse looks a little phony (its a phony pony). The stop-action technique works better with imaginary creatures than with real animals. (Perhaps twice the density of stop figures should have been used with the horse.) Also, Gwangi is somewhat violet in color. I would have preferred the more traditional dinosaur color of green or brown. Another complaint is the sour ending. If I had my way, I would have written a happier ending, for example, by disclosing the discovery of Gwangi's eggs with babies hatching out, where the baby dinosaurs are recruited for use in the Wild West Show. But we are stuck with the sour ending.

To put things in perspective, a much better movie in the same genre is SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD. SINBAD is another Ray Harryhausen movie, which also features two battling monsters, a prophetic curse, and a small valuable object (a tiny horse in GWANGI; a lamp in SINBAD). But GWANGI lacks the epic qualities and more abundant variety that is found in the SINBAD movie.

If you don't want to learn the plot, you need to stop reading at this point.

The film opens with a bleak landscape resembling Death Valley. We see eight gypsies in a valley searching for a companion. The companion, a man with a bag, is shown stumbling down a gulch. He clutches a bag. Something alive is inside, something making neighing sounds. But an old blind woman (a witch), one of the gypsies, issues a warning, "No, no. Leave it I tell you. If he does not go back to the Forbidden Valley, we will all suffer a terrible fate. Fool! Ah. One day he will learn to obey the Law of the Gwangi."

A few minutes of credits are then shown.

The story begins with a Wild West Show marching into a Mexican town. A cowboy atop a moving stagecoach twirls a lasso, followed by a cluster of running Mexican boys. Then, a cute Mexican boy (Lope) materializes and offers to do odd jobs for Tuck Kirby, a former associate of the Wild West Show. We see the actual Wild West Show. Indians chase a stagecoach around and around the arena. Galloping horses tumble to the ground, throwing their riders. The stagecoach is set afire, and it leaves by way of a gate. There are faux gun fights and faux fist fights. The stunts in the arean scene are excellent.

The next act introduces us to Miss T.J. Breckenridge ("T.J."), a beautiful woman, who does tricks on a horse. We see her atop a horse, about to dive off a platform into a pool of water, where the rim of the pool is ringed with flames. The horse dives from the platform--a trick identical to that performed, at one time, at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. But the crowd in the arena is sparse.

Tuck Kirby makes another appearance. T.J. does not welcome him at first. T.J. throws him out saying, "You stick to your con tricks and I'll stick to my horse tricks." Lope is friends with a professor, an American paleontologist. The old professor adds science to this science fiction film. At turning point then occurs. We see the arena being used for rehearsing a bull fight. A matadore practices in the ring, but Lope fools around in the ring with a blanket. A bull begins to attack. Tuck Kirby dashes into the ring and saves the boy. Then T.J. falls back in love with Tuck. Another man (Carlos) saves Tuck from the bull.

In the next scene, we finally see the tiny horse, the one contained in the cloth sack at the start of the movie. This occurs 25 minutes into the movie. "What are you doing here, over 50 million years after you should have been extinct," exclaims the professor. T.J.'s goal is to use the tiny horse as an act in the Wild West Show, to bring in more customers.

But at night, the dwarf, the blind witch, and their gypsy friends, steal the tiny horse, and deliver it back to the Forbidden Valley and set it free. While stealing the tiny horse, the dwarf conks Carlos on the head. But Lupe with the professor, and separately Tuck Kirby, follow the gypsies to the Forbidden Valley. Finally, 40 minutes into the film, the gypsies let the tiny horse free, saying, "Fly little one."

Within a few minutes, T.J., Tuck, Lope, and the professor have re-captured the tiny horse, but it escapes and leads them through a tunnel to a second valley. The second valley resembles Elephant Hill, a part of Canyonlands National Park. Now, fortyfive minutes into the film, there is a scene with a pterodactyl. The bird carries Lupe off, but he is saved a few minutes later. Then, a tiny dinosaur appears, and shortly thereafter, Gwangi materializes and eats the tiny dinosaur. Then, 50 minutes into the film, a triceratops appears.

Comedy makes its appearance. One of the group observes that the bullets that they had been shooting at the dinosaurs were only blanks, used in the Wild West Show. The men dig a deep hole and cover it with pine branches. Something gets caught in the trap, but it is only the professor.

From the 60 minute to 75 minute time point (15 min altogether), there is a generous lassoing scene. At one point, three cowboys on three horses have simultaneously thrown three lassos around Gwangi's neck. After this scene, Gwangi is wheeled into town on a large cart. But in lumbering along a desert road, they encounter the witch and the dwarf. The witch warns them, "Soon you will be doomed, all of you, unless the evil one is set free."

Within a few minutes, we are back at the arena. This time the arena is packed with thousands of Mexicans, many with sombreros. But we see the witch instructing the dwarf to set Gwangi free. The dwarf sneaks under Gwangi's red tent and unlocks the gate to the cage. At this point, an elephant act draws to a conclusion. Then Gwangi escapes, with the Mexican dwarf in his mouth. Gwangi fights the elephant, and in the mean time, there is a massive mob scene, as thousands of Mexicans dash from the arena, upsetting fruit carts. The scene is reminiscent of the theater mob scene from THE BLOB with Steve McQueen. Part of the mob runs into a cathedral. At one point, an escaping person falls and rolls down the cathedral steps. But at 90 minutes, Gwangi enters the cathedral. A torch is overturned, and the entire cathedral, along with Gwangi, goes up in flames. The film ends at 95 minutes
December 29, 2007

they grow em big south of the border!

Ray Harryhausen adapted a Willis O'Brien story to create another magical fantasy. It goes without saying that the sfx are wonderful, the settings exotic and the final scenes frantic. The actors vary from the endearing Laurence Naismith & eohippus,the bland James Franciscus & Gila Golan, to the ridiculous Indian woman & the obligatory annoying kid. Sadly, Ray can control dinosaurs but not ham actors. September 10, 2007

Still a great movie

Before technology found the way to improve monster moves, this was the way we saw them. Even with the old methods, the story is still one of the greats. May 15, 2007

South of the border - down Mexico way

It was the turn of the 20 th century. Champ Connors (Richard Carlson) was putting on a rodeo show. Returning to make a horse deal and to see the girl (Gila Golan) that he did not realize he love was Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus.) Looks like more than one man loved her. However she had a "show must go on" attitude.

Can anyone win her heart? Meanwhile down in the valley, the valley so low, in an environment that was untouched for millennium Gwangi waits. Gypsies warn us not to go there.

We get a good history lesson as many people do not realize that the horse originated in the Americas and migrated to Asia.

There are some staking similarities between this cowboy love story and King Kong. The only major difference is Gwangi (Ray Harryhausen creation) would eat anything or anybody.

It Came from Beneath the Sea June 10, 2006

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