The Valley of Gwangi

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The stop-motion magic of legendary special effects creator Ray Harryhausen is the highlight of this sporadically exciting fantasy-adventure, which pits cowboys against dinosaurs in the Mexican desert. James Franciscus and Richard Carlson star as members of a struggling Wild West show who discover their newest attraction in Mexico--a tiny prehistoric horse. Exploration into a nearby valley uncovers living dinosaurs, including the fearsome "Gwangi"-an allosaur that the circus folk capture for exhibition. But as every creature connoisseur knows, monsters in cages always break free, and soon enough, the beast is on a rampage. Originally developed by Harryhausen's mentor Willis O'Brien in 1942, The Valley of Gwangi feels like a retread of his previous titles, especially 20 Million Miles to Earth, but Harryhausen's effects are spectacular as always (especially the miniature horse), and will please monster fans. Warner Bros' widescreen anamorphic DVD includes a short featurette, "Return to the Valley," in which Industrial Light and Magic animators pay tribute to Harryhausen's influence. --Paul Gaita

Description

A cowboy captures a prehistoric beast and hits on the idea of putting it on show at a traveling circus. The beast, however, has other ideas.

Customer Reviews:

they grow em big south of the border!.......2007-09-10

Ray Harryhausen adapted a Willis O'Brien story to create another magical fantasy. It goes without saying that the sfx are wonderful, the settings exotic and the final scenes frantic. The actors vary from the endearing Laurence Naismith & eohippus,the bland James Franciscus & Gila Golan, to the ridiculous Indian woman & the obligatory annoying kid. Sadly, Ray can control dinosaurs but not ham actors.

Still a great movie.......2007-05-15

Before technology found the way to improve monster moves, this was the way we saw them. Even with the old methods, the story is still one of the greats.

South of the border - down Mexico way.......2006-06-11

It was the turn of the 20 th century. Champ Connors (Richard Carlson) was putting on a rodeo show. Returning to make a horse deal and to see the girl (Gila Golan) that he did not realize he love was Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus.) Looks like more than one man loved her. However she had a "show must go on" attitude.

Can anyone win her heart? Meanwhile down in the valley, the valley so low, in an environment that was untouched for millennium Gwangi waits. Gypsies warn us not to go there.

We get a good history lesson as many people do not realize that the horse originated in the Americas and migrated to Asia.

There are some staking similarities between this cowboy love story and King Kong. The only major difference is Gwangi (Ray Harryhausen creation) would eat anything or anybody.

Ray Ray Ray Ray Ray!.......2006-03-19

James Fransicus can't act. He tries hard though and that's a good thing. It's fun watching him try and try. But he doesn't matter, just like a preacher matters not in church during the rapture... there is no preacher at that point, is there? And the rapture in the case of Valley of the Gwangi is the last half of the movie when all the cowboys, Fransiscus one of them, gets chased by Harryhausen's dinosaurs. The meanest of these prehistoric nasties is a big purple T-Rex. He's related to Barney, perhaps; I haven't seen that many other purple dinosaurs... But this is no Barney... He's a mean motorscooter and it's just amazing seeing this Rex battle cowboys and one scene in particular that's very, very nice is when the cowboys actually pull off lassoing this big purple brute, sticking him in a cage, and bringing him back "home". Then they take him to town and display him in front of many people (in a bull ring) and he gets mad and breaks free and reeks havoc ala King Kong. Mean Purple Dino even battles a Harryhausen elephant that looks fantastic. There's also a small horse in the film that's the size of a toy, and it's a little corny, but it doesn't matter because of Ray Harryhausen and his awesome stop-motion effects, making this flawed film into one heck of a masterpiece... as Ray does so well.

Interesting Mix of Cowboys And Dinosaurs With Spectacular Ray Harryhausen Animation.......2006-01-20

At first glance you would be possibly right to think that a film like "The Valley of Gwangi", just wouldn't work. Prehistoric dinosaurs mixed up in a western does not appear a very promising combination however this effort set sometime in 19th Century Mexico actually creates a very exciting story that in some ways has shades of "King Kong", to it. It most memorable qualities however are the truly spectacular dinosaur creations of special effects legend Ray Harryhausen. Again as in so many previous classic films such as "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", Harryhausen creates some wonderful stop animation monsters with his unforgettable stop motion Allosaurus (long before computer generated monsters on "Jurassic Park"), truly stealing the whole movie once it makes its appearance roughly half way through the feature. The film's highly original western setting I found very interesting that helped give "The Valley of Gwangi", its own distinct look and character. However in common with these types of features "Gwangi", of course includes an exciting and very fiery climax which will also stay in your mind for a long time with its stunning special effects involving the rampaging Allosaurus becoming trapped in a burning Cathedral which will have you on the edge of your seat right up to the finale.

Average customer rating:

they grow em big south of the border!
Still a great movie
South of the border - down Mexico way
Ray Ray Ray Ray Ray!
Interesting Mix of Cowboys And Dinosaurs With Spectacular Ray Harryhausen Animation

The Valley of Gwangi [Region 2]
Starring: James Franciscus , Gila Golan , Richard Carlson , Laurence Naismith , and Freda Jackson
Director: Jim O'Connolly
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( V ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000Z0HMQ