Caveman (1981)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Carl Gottlieb

Writers:

Rudy De Luca (writer) and
Carl Gottlieb (writer)

Release Date:

17 April 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A pre-histerical comedy!

Plot:

A caveman seeks revenge on a much larger competitor for the hand of a beautiful cavewoman.

Plot Keywords:

Caveman | Prehistoric | Dinosaur | Gay Couple | Spoof

Cast

Ringo Starr	...	Atouk
Dennis Quaid	...	Lar
Shelley Long	...	Tala
Jack Gilford	...	Gog
Cork Hubbert	...	Ta
Mark King	...	Ruck
Paco Morayta	...	Flok
Evan C. Kim	...	Nook (as Evan Kim)
Ed Greenberg	...	Kalta
Carl Lumbly	...	Bork
Jack Scalici	...	Folg
Erika Carlsson	...	Folg's Mate (as Erica Carlson)
Gigi Vorgan	...	Folg's Older Daughter
Sara López Sierra	...	Folg's Younger Daughter
Esteban Valdez	...	Folg's Older Son

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

David Foster Productions

Trivia:

In an interview, Shelley Long said that at her audition, she didn't speak any English. She responded to everything with an ad-libbed series of grunts. It obviously worked.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Atouk take the fruit that causes him to pass out, we can see a glimpse of the mattress where he falls down, in the next shot the mattress is gone.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Lar: [whispering to Gog] Atouk alounda Tala.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in World of Warcraft (2004) (VG)

A big bug, rubber dinosaurs, and Ringo. In my book, that's funny!

I just had a look at the new DVD of one of my all-time favorite comedies (and I don't watch a lot of comedies), `Caveman.' It's one of the VERY few comedies that I can watch more than once. The rudimentary nature of much of the humor doesn't, in my opinion, make it a kid's film, although I think lots of kids would enjoy it. Bumping your head or falling on your arse has been funny since the Jurassic period. That's one of the great constants of human culture. Mix in some stop-motion rubber dinosaurs and a huge bug, and I think you'd have to have a stick permanently implanted up the bum not to at least get some laughs.

After reading some of the other comments, I'd like to make a point or two about this film: Yes, the stop-motion dinosaurs are not realistic. It's a comedy (duh!), and they're supposed to be funny, not realistically frightening a la Jurassic Park. The language spoken isn't Swedish (are you putting us on, dude from Toronto?), but a prehistoric language fabricated for this film. Caveman flicks have been doing that at least since the 1940 version of `One Million B.C.,' and these made-up caveman languages always sound to me a bit like Esperanto, another fabricated language. The language in `Caveman' may have been intended to parody that old film cliché.

The menu of the new DVD offers multiple soundtracks in English, French and Spanish. Be sure to check them out, suckers. There's really no extras on the DVD (some commentary from Ringo might have been fun), but it has an excellent anamorphic picture, which is enough for me. It never looked quite as good as it does here. It's just a good-natured comedy that's executed with style and artistry. It looks great, has some superb comedic actors that hit just the right note, and gets maximum effect from the simple gags it presents without in the least belaboring them (Mel Brooks fanatics, take note).