guanche

OK, the viewer has to first get over the artistic license. Dinosaurs predated even the most primitive humans by about 60 million years and stone age guys and gals didn't trim their animal hides into bikinis and speed trunks---like stoned age ones might. A protective "momma" dinosaur and cute baby sibling dinosaur who think one of the bikini babes is part of their litter? And respond to human voice commands? Well, maybe that's how the Flintstones civilization got started. The film's dialogue is strictly in a "caveman" language consisting mostly of the words "akeeta" and "neesho". The Imdb. Description states that the producers devised a 27 word vocabulary taken from Phoenician, Latin, and Sanskrit.

Be the above as it may, this film is still a lot more realistic in many ways than similar ones. It is a fairly credible depiction of a late Paleolithic tribe in a coastal environment with complex social and religious practices. And their material culture seems to have at least some basis in archaeology as well as in anthropological studies of more recent hunter/gatherer societies. The spear shafts are often less than straight and the stone spearheads are irregularly shaped and varied. The nets, cordage, and huts really do appear to have been made entirely of natural plant fibers. Even the combats with the dinosaurs believably demonstrate how humans may have dealt with such situations if they ever had to. Although I doubt humans (unless tree dwelling and more apelike) could have survived in a dinosaur habitat prior to the invention of firearms.

The photography is great, with some stunning views of a very varied and sometimes otherworldly landscape---filmed in the Canary Islands, where a day hike can take one to tropical forest, rocky beachfront, and arid desert habitats. Another interesting and little known connection to "cavemen" are the native inhabitants of the Canary Islands, called collectively "Guanches", although the term originally referred only to those from Tenerife. They were a Caucasian people possibly related to the Berbers but no longer exist as a separate ethnic entity, although their genes survive, some people claim their ancestry, and there have been recent attempts to rediscover their heritage. Their origins are mysterious, but they were often depicted wearing animal skins like "cavemen". Not subdued until around 1500, they were a Neolithic culture that practiced agriculture, raised pigs and goats, mummified their dead, and built low stone buildings. However, they do not appear to have had any watercraft at all, much less the seaworthy rafts depicted in the movie. In fact, there was almost no contact between the seven islands, even though some could see others in clear weather. Pretty strange for an island people. Even if they really were the rebellious North Africans exiled there by the Romans as indicated by the chronicler Suetonius. He doesn't specify the location of the exile islands, but since the Canary Islands are less than 200 miles from the west coast of Morocco, this origin seems the most plausible.

An entertaining film experience for those who like this kind of movie. Real thrills, hot women---and some laughs.

My memory of the show is too vague to offer specific comment, but I recall watching and liking it at ages 3-4. Albert Aley, who wrote a number of episodes, was a distant cousin, and arranged for my family and I to attend the filming of an episode. I was 4 at the time, so it would have been 1955. The cast were all very nice to us. Astro in particular, horsing around (post shoot) with my brother and I, and letting me sit and climb on some of the props.

Of course, at that age I remember the occasion a lot better than the show itself. And, by reading this imdb description of the show, I just learned that Frank Sutton, Sgt. Carter from Gomer Pyle, was one of the space cadets. An unexpected connection from the earliest days of TV. Live and learn!

I do recall that the cadets were all straight arrow, level headed types which was standard for 50's television heroes. Pretty ironic that the term "space cadet" has come to mean a drug addled or simply absentminded person.

This one checks all the worst boxes with regard to stereotypes. Mostly portraying black people as clownish simpletons with superior rhythm and dancing prowess. Rufus (a seven year old Sammy Davis Jr.) offers anyone who votes for him not one but 2 porkchops. When he takes power, presiding over an all black government, the most pressing issues are laying in a good supply of porkchops, fried chicken and watermelon. And the legislative chamber has a razor check booth. A reminder that among themselves they're not always funny.

Some of this is a real howl, despite it's crude racism. Nevertheless, it's a great illustration of how African Americans faced not just the ethnic or religious biases that afflicted many disfavored groups, but true dehumanization. It's still a gas, yet the laughter it produces is a guilty pleasure. But it also teaches a real history lesson and acts as a great counterpoint to those claiming blacks didn't have it any worse than Jews, Italians, Irish, and other white immigrant groups when it came to discrimination. Even Native Americans, who to this day are the poorest and most deprived group in the country, and also often negatively portrayed in film, were still human beings to be taken seriously. Despite the fact that it could be due to their often unfair portrayal as bloodthirsty savages. But black people were generally comic relief, their sole purpose to serve and sometimes amuse others. Not quite human. Sort of like talking animals in children's books. Hilarious in spots but very sad upon reflection.