Der letzte Dinosaurier

Richard Boone plays billionaire Masten Thrust, an oil tycoon and big game hunter who leads a scientific expedition to explore a lost land in a dormant volcano under the polar ice cap. Joining him are scientists played by Joan Van Ark and Steven Keats, as well as a renowned Japanese scientist who doesn't last very long...seems that a T-Rex is out to get them, and it will prove to be the biggest challenge of Thrust's career.

Reasonably entertaining yarn is fun for kids, but also has themes of obsession and tragedy that will appeal to adults. Sure, compared to the "Jurassic Park" films the F/X here are primitive, but at the time, were impressive, and hold up OK. Not especially original, but does have a fitting end. On DVD from Warner Archive collection.

Stupidly beautiful. This movie epitomizes the 'so bad it's good' genre of films.

The only two talents in it are Richard Boone and Joan van Ark, and only Boone is any good. It's kind of sad that the man who rose to fame as Paladin should wind up in this ugly pile of celluloid. While he turns in a fantastic performance, I couldn't help but feel that he so outclassed all his fellow actors in this piece that he shouldn't even have been there.

The effects in this film are laughable, but fun. The idea of a dinosaur being buried in the wall of a cave and suddenly coming to life is B-movie gold. When the 'triceratops' gets killed, watch how it falls. It's clear that the stunt performer in the FRONT of the costume knows the timing best. He falls to the ground, well before the back half of the dinosaur follows suit.

Speaking of 'suits', there is nothing good to say about the purple tyrannosaur, in this flick. It seems to have some kind of stealth technology, since Bunta (reputed to be the best tracker in the world) twice fails to notice it until it's within biting range of him. I don't know how all the prints are, but in the version I own, the Tyranno's roar contains Godzilla's trademark bellow.

This is loads of fun, to watch, if you like bad movies. I love them, and especially bad monster movies, so I consider this the gem of my collection. If bad movies are your thing, definitely get this one.

Well, I haven't seen this since it was originally aired in '77...so my comments are based on something I saw 23 years ago. But I remember, and my brothers remember, it was pretty good. And the rock-bouncing-off-T-Rex's-head thing that is mentioned-that was Cool! We liked that! Ditto the being drug down the hill by the boulder scene. This was fast paced, tongue in cheek, exciting-we enjoyed it.

What can I say? Maybe its terrible, maybe it's bad Godzilla/Gammera level-I donno. But at the time, we had a blast.

So-a 1977 rec. here....

**1/2 outta ****

The Last Dinosaur was one of those "out of nowhere" movie-of-the-week films in the 1970's that was pretty exciting for the time especially to fans of Japanese Tokusatsu films. Originally slated for a theatrical release (around when the Dino King Kong was out in the previous December) it was suddenly pulled and made into a Friday Night ABC Movie of The Week. Rankin Bass-who were no strangers to Japanese co-productions were the guns behind this production, co-produced with Tsuburaya Productions of Japan-the people who brought us Ultraman in various forms. Starring mostly an American cast including the late Richard Boone, Joan Van Ark and the late Steven Keats, it told the tale of a prehistoric pocket of time in what was a superheated volcanic caldera somewhere at the frozen arctic circle, containing dinosaurs. It plays a lot like the films The Land Unknown(1956) and The Land That Time Forgot(1975) in feel and pace. Sure the dinosaurs were guys in suits(A Triceratops with front knees!) but they were filmed in such a way, the music and score was so well done, and the cast did a fine job that this didn't matter much to many of us brought up on Godzilla. The film has a lot of class to it, from the opening score by Nancy Wilson "The Last Dinosaur" to the overall "big" feeling of the film-the locations at hot springs in Northern Japan were excellent and lush- and the undeniable feeling of Kaiju Eiga to it. There are some amazing set pieces-the T-Rex's "bone yard" and a tracking shot that takes us deep into the jungle to see the T-Rex eat a giant fish from a stream. Tsuburaya's FX people did their job in style here and aside from a few dodgy matte shots, they do their job well. This film is considered the best 1970's "kaiju" film from Japan, even over the five Godzilla films made during that decade. Rankin Bass did several other co-productions with Tsuburaya providing the creatures or miniatures- The Bermuda Depths(1978) and The Ivory Ape(1980)-but neither measured up to the epic look of this film.

Now I'm here to tell you that "The Last Dinosaur" is the "cream of the crap" when it comes to hilarious, cheap, ridiculous, monster movies. Not even the reigning champ, "Mighty Peking Man" can compare to this wonder of wondrous trash. A certain beer commercial has the "most interesting man in the world", however this film has Richard Boone, playing Masten Thrust, who's dinosaur hunting exploits certainly qualify him as at least the second most interesting man in the world. Throw in a rubber suited T-Rex , beer can polar borers, Japanese cave men, a basketball player for a tracker, and it goes on and on. This should be banned at "bad movie festivals" as unfair competition. - MERK