{2jtab: Movie Review}

Two aspects stand out as major assets in Don Chaffey's 1966 man-versus-nature sci-fi classic, One Million Years B.C. The first is the voluptuous beauty displayed by the fur bikini-clad Raquel Welch. The second is the innovative special effects work of Ray Harryhausen. Of course he is the mastermind behind the groundbreaking techniques used in many popular sci-fi movies of the '50s through the '70s including, It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955), Jules Verne's Mysterious Island (1961), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and Clash of the Titans (1981). Though many of his methods appear dated when viewed by today's CGI standards, his stop-motion animation and blue-screen work were once considered the best in the industry.

Fifteen-minutes into One Million Years B.C. it becomes clear that the story will take a back seat to the visuals. Thinly veiled as a plot, most of the film's runtime is filled with animal skin-wearing cavemen and cavewomen who clutch spears, grunt, fight, gnaw on meat and not much else. Ironically, or perhaps not, despite the film's lack of true dialogue or spoken word in any known language, this is the role that launched Racquel Welch into stardom. She plays the beautiful Loana of the shell people who takes in a bleeding and bedraggled Tumak (John Richardson) of the rock people. After getting himself expelled from his own tribe of dark-haired, barbaric savages, Tumac wanders the rocky desert, near death, for days. Loana and a few of her tow-haired, scantily-clad female clanmates rescue him from a ravenous, gargantuan shelled-creature that looks strikingly similar to a superimposed Ridley's Sea Turtle.

The shell people are a far more civilized and industrialized clan than the rock people. They fish, grow vegetables, have perfected the art of weapon-making, and even seem to be crafted tailors. As we watch Tumak struggle with his lack of manners in the presence of the shell people, the mutual attraction between he and Loana becomes obvious. Perhaps an opposites-attract thing?

In a scene that has become synonymous with Harryhausen stop-motion animation, Tumac takes on a T-Rex, eventually killing it by impaling it on the end of a sharpened pole. Tumac quickly gains notoriety in his newly adopted clan for his dinosaur fighting skills. But he can't seem to pick up on the concept of being nice; therefore he is eventually kicked out of the tribe, dragging Loana with him.

Hoping that some of the shell people's social skills had rubbed off on him, Tumac heads back home in hopes of becoming tribal leader of the rock people. Perhaps his newly acquired spear will lead to respect from his former tribe mates. Along the way the two narrowly avoid certain death from a pair of fighting dinosaurs.

Short of being a voyeuristic time-portal for fans of Racquel Welch (not that there's anything wrong with that) or an exhibition vehicle for the talents of Ray Harryhausen, One Million Years B.C. serves as nothing more than a stark reminder of why they're called B-movies. In fact, a better analogy might be to call One Million Years B.C. a porn movie without the porn. There's not much plot or clothing, but what little of either there is, seems to serve as nothing more than a thread to tie together the shots of Racquel and the creature effects of Harryhausen.

{2jtab: Film Details}

MPAA Rating: Not rated. This movie has not been rated by the MPAA.
Runtime: 91 mins.
Director: Don Chaffey
Writer: Mickel Novak; George Baker; Joseph Frickert
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Tagline: This is the way it was.
Memorable Quote: "Tumac!"
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release Date: February 21, 1967
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 9, 2004

Synopsis: Caveman Tumak is banished from his savage tribe. He finds a brief home among a group of gentle seacoast dwelling cave people until he is banished from them as well. Missing him, one of their women, Loana leaves with him, deciding to face the harsh prehistoric world with its monsters and volcanos as a couple..

{2jtab: DVD/Blu-ray Review}

Component Grades Movie DVD Disc DVD Experience

DVD Details:

Screen formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, Spanish.
Language and Sound: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; trailer; restoration comparison with production notes.

• Restoration Comparison: Describes how the 20th Century Fox Film Preservation team created a film element transfer for the DVD. The original negative was known to be lost so they had to resort to alternative means of creating the transfer. We see actual side-by-side comparisons of the 1993 Film Transfer Master vs. the 1996 Laser Disc Master, the former being the far better candidate from which to make the transfer. We also see comparisons of the 2002 Film Restoration with Video Restoration vs. the 2002 Film Restoration.
• Trailers:
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Spanish theatrical trailer.
  • Fox Flix: Includes trailers for many other Fox Home Entertainment sci-fi features including; The Abyss; The Day the Earth Stood Still; Enemy Mine; Independence Day; Journey to the Center of the Earth; Fathom; Planet of the Apes 1968; Wing Commander; Zardoz; Planet of the Apes 2001.
• Inserts: Contains paper insert with scene selections. Also included is a "Sex Goddess" insert that highlights many of the DVDs in which Racquel appears.

Number of discs: 1

{2jtab: Trailer}

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