The Valley of Gwangi
Directed by Jim O’Connolly
Written by William Bast and Julian More
1969/USA
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Tia Zorina: Fool! One day he will learn to obey the law of Gwangi, or like his brother he will perish![/box]
The main reason to see this one is for Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation. He’s done better work in other movies.
TJ Breckingridge (Gila Golan) owns a traveling Wild West Show and performs as a trick rider. Tuck Kirby, TJ’s ex-fiance (James Franciscus) arrives with an offer to purchase TJ’s star pony for Wild Bill’s Wild West Show. This would allow TJ to pay off some massive debts. But she has another idea, she has learned of a prehistoric miniature horse that lives nearby. Tuck and TJ manage to capture it. This infuriates the local gypsy who puts a curse on the enterprise.
Later, a posse of men gain entrance to a forbidden valley where they are attacked by a number of dinosaurs, including the Gwanji. Naturally, the men decide to force Gwanji to perform in the circus and achieve the mass destruction such decisions inevitably lead to.
This one has some pretty good production values but lacks the cast, energy or originality to make it anything worth seeking out, except perhaps by Harryhausen completists.
