Jurassic July - One Million Years B.C (1966)

Directed by: Don Chaffey

Starring: Raquel Welch, John Richardson, Percy Herbert, Martine Beswick

Richardson is a caveman banished from his tribe who is taken in by a more civilised band of coastal dwellers. This leads to a confrontation between the two tribes.

If you've never seen the movie I'm sure you've seen the poster. The image of Welch in her fur bikini is one of the most iconic in all pop culture, even playing a part in the plot twist of "The Shawshank Redemption". Apart from her pneumatic figure and Harryhausen's stop-motion creations there's little else to hold your attention though.Those Harryhausen creatures are fantastic however. After the groundbreaking "Jason & the Argonauts", also helmed by Chaffey, this is probably his most impressive work. The foot tall models blend almost seamlessly with the live action with caveman spears bouncing realistically off dinosaur hides. For some reason the producers decided to implement footage of live lizards and turtles alongside the stop-motion beasts. Those scenes look ridiculous in comparison to the ones Harryhausen worked on. Obviously the movie is historically ridiculous but giant turtles living alongside T-Rexes?

While it's no classic, this movie did have some important implications. It's completely dialogue free save for a few caveman grunts. There's also a psychedelic representation of the big bang. Both these elements were no doubt significant in enabling Kubrick to get "2001: A Space Odyssey" made. Had this not been the box-office smash it was I doubt studios would allow a 30 minute opening featuring neanderthals or an LSD style rebirth of man sequence.
If you enjoy cleavage and stop-motion dinosaurs (and what man doesn't love at least one of the two?) then this is definitely worth a look but unfortunately all the meat is on Welch and not the story.
6/10

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