Prehistoric man Tumak is banished from his savage tribe and meets pretty Loana, who belongs to a gentler coastal tribe, but he must fight caveman Payto to win her favors.Prehistoric man Tumak is banished from his savage tribe and meets pretty Loana, who belongs to a gentler coastal tribe, but he must fight caveman Payto to win her favors.Prehistoric man Tumak is banished from his savage tribe and meets pretty Loana, who belongs to a gentler coastal tribe, but he must fight caveman Payto to win her favors.
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
- Caveman
- (uncredited)
- One of the Cave People
- (uncredited)
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
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.
"One Million Years B.C." is just as good, if not better, than the original film upon which it was based. It follows the same basic storyline and the same kind of plot. It's basically an ancient love story to perhaps explore the possible emotions of our ancestors. And then to add some campy, but innovative action to heighten the entertainment value. The film stars Raquel Welch, who in her fur bikini, is undoubtedly the most famous feature of the film. The poster shot of Raquel from this film is more famous than the film itself. And she is stunningly beautiful on screen. Also not all that bad in performance. John Richardson is a great equivalent to Victor Mature from the original and in my opinion, Richardson has a more convincing appearance and performance as a strong and bold warrior. And the rest of the entire cast is just more actors and actresses dressed in fur clothing and wearing makeup to enhance the appearance of an ancient race.
After Raquel Welch, the most famous feature of "One Million Years B.C." is the stop-motion dinosaurs created by the famous and brilliant effects artist Ray Harryhausen. Here, he is at his peak. It was animating dinosaurs in his youth when he began to learn to perform the art, so bringing them onto the screen was always right in his territory. The film features several dinosaurs, not enough in my opinion, I would have liked to have seen two or three more, but enough. All of whom are realistically created after hours and hours of hard work. And the dinosaurs are much more convincing than the people in rubber suits and giant lizards from the original. There is one graphically enlarged lizard in the film, however, and it turned out more comical than frightening with its hissing sounds and its slurping tongue. But not a bad effect or idea, nonetheless. The other dinosaurs, particularly the fearsome Allosaurus, are magnificently done. They even utilize the breathing mechanisms to make it appear as if the animals are actually breathing. And while stop-motion animation may seem obsolete now days, back in its day, it was the most convincing special effect in Hollywood. And it still remains to this day as a magical and popular animation technique.
Aside from the dinosaurs, the other special effects were acceptable for their time. There were a few moments where I could tell that the cave wall that two cavemen are shoving each other into was really made out of rubber. And a few other shots weren't perfect either, but nothing to get picky about. It is, after all, a 60s film.
Bottom line, "One Million Years B.C." is a very fine film and is very entertaining and satisfying if you just simply treat it as a non-serious fantasy film, which it is. Just sit back, enough the sight of Raquel Welch's stunning beauty, the magnificent Mario Nascimbene music score in the background, fine performances by the cast, wonderful stop-motion dinosaurs, and a great camp classic.
The plot, such that it is, concerns Tumak (John Richardson of 'She'), one of the "rock people" who look like spaghetti western refugees and like nothing better than grunting, wearing fur, and beating the crap out of each other. Tumak falls out with his old man and brother, is banished and after some aimless wandering around avoiding dinosaurs (and in one surreal moment a giant tarantula!), he stumbles across the hitherto unknown "shell people". They are blonde surfer types who introduce him to such innovations as improved spears, hot water, painting, crying and feminism. And also to the babelicious Loana (Welch) who takes a shine to him. Tumak still has "attitude problems" and ends up getting banished from their tribe too, but with Loana and a new and improved spear what more can the guy want? Of course he heads straight back to his homies and yes, there's trouble ahead including fraternal friction, a jealous ex (Nupondi, the stunning Beswick), lots of Harryhausen dinosaurs, and exploding volcanos. Does mindless entertainment get any better than this? Hardly ever. Add a cool score from Mario Nascimbene and what you have is a classic piece of unforgettably trashy exploitation.
Did you know
- TriviaMartine Beswick said that both she and Raquel Welch actually got along wonderfully during the making of this film. She also said that they were offered stunt doubles to do their cat fight scene in it, but she and Welch both insisted that they do it themselves.
- GoofsWhen the boy tries to steal the meat from the fire and has his hand stepped on by one of the men, he screams and there is a lingering shot of his mouth, showing dental fillings.
- Quotes
Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
Ahot: [pointing to himself] Ahot.
Tumak: Ahot.
Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
[pointing to herself]
Loana: Loana.
[pointing to Tumak]
Loana: Nnn?
Tumak: [misunderstanding] Ahot.
Loana: [pointing to Ahot] Ahot.
[pointing to herself]
Loana: Loana.
[pointing to Tumak]
Tumak: [finally understanding] Tumak!
- Crazy credits[opening statement] The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.
- Alternate versionsThe Spanish DVD release of the film (the edited U.S. version) runs 91 minutes. The UK DVD release of it (the unedited version) runs 100 minutes.
- ConnectionsEdited into Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- One Million Years B.C.
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £422,816 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $669
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1