One Million Years B.C. (1966)

Prehistoric man Tumak is banished from his savage tribe and meets pretty Loana who belongs to a gentler coastal tribe but he must fight caveman Payto to win her favors.

Director:

Don Chaffey

Writers:

Michael Carreras (screenplay), Mickell Novack (adapted from an original screenplay by) (as Mickell Novak)

Stars:

Raquel Welch, John Richardson, Percy Herbert

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Raquel Welch	...	Loana
John Richardson	...	Tumak
Percy Herbert	...	Sakana
Robert Brown	...	Akhoba
Martine Beswick	...	Nupondi
Jean Wladon	...	Ahot
Lisa Thomas	...	Sura
Malya Nappi	...	Tohana
Richard James	...	Young Rock Man
William Lyon Brown	...	Payto
Frank Hayden	...	1st Rock Man
Terence Maidment	...	1st Shell Man
Micky De Rauch	...	1st Shell Girl
Yvonne Horner	...	Ullah

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

fur bikini | caveman | stone age | tribal warfare | cave girl | 

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Taglines:

Travel back through time and space to the edge of man's beginnings... discover a savage world whose only law was lust!

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Un millón de años A.C.

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions Limited, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£422,816 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$8,000,000, 31 December 1966

Company Credits

Production Co:

Associated British-Pathé, Hammer Films, Seven Arts Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A poster of Raquel Welch in the movie was featured in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

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Goofs

As Loana drags the unconscious Tumak away from the attacking Achelon, actor John Richardson helps out by pushing himself along w/ his right leg several times.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: This is a story of long, long ago; when the world was just beginning.

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Crazy Credits

Characters and scenes appearing and names used are imaginary, and every reference to names, characters or facts really happened is purely fictional.

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Alternate Versions

The British version runs 100 minutes and features 9 minutes of footage cut from American prints. This includes a scene where Nupondi (Martine Beswicke) does a provocative dance; Tumak (John Richardson) tastes from the container of paint in the Shell Tribe's cave; and an extended violent scene of a fight among the ape-men while Tumak and Loana (Raquel Welch) hide, and extended scenes showing Tumak, as he leaves his tribe, shown wandering the valley, and coming across the skeleton of a giant lizard. The widescreen laser disc is the British version (which gives Richardson first billing), while the VHS release is the American version (which gives Welch first billing).

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Connections

Featured in British Film Forever: Magic, Murder and Monsters: The Story of British Horror and Fantasy (2007)

User Reviews

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Take off your cultural blinders...the one you put on when you watch a "trashy" movie...and think about what you are actually experiencing as you watch this movie. Is it merely a "trash" entertainment? To be sure, Raquel Welch in her furkini, the now quaint quality of the Harryhausen effects, the girl fight between Raquel and Martine Beswick, all provide the frisson of "trash" delight. But this movie is much more than that, a tour de force of imagination, and a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. The vision of man adrift in a hostile universe, at odds with his fellow creatures, his own untamed emotions, and the apocalyptic earth itself, is haunting and beautiful. Our only hope is Raquel, who offers a transcendent vision of peace and love--without uttering a word.

Special kudos to the music. Where the special effects strain against their limits, as in the terrifying pterodactyl attack and the final upheaval, the music carries home the emotion. I am reminded of Schopenhauer: "The internal relation that music has to the true nature of all things can also explain the fact that, when music suitable to any scene, action, event, or environment is played, it seems to disclose to us its utmost secret meaning and appears to be the most accurate and distinct commentary on it." In a film where words matter so little, the music is especially crucial. As you watch the pterodactyl snatch Raquel and carry her off to feed its young while the other humans watch in helpless dismay, listen to the music, and think about the "utmost secret meaning" of what you are witnessing. This is an artistic moment of astounding ambition, and there are many such moments throughout this sustained meditation on man and the universe.

A few years later, the same team made Creatures the World Forgot, a more "realistic" look at prehistoric survival sans dinosaurs, with a Cain and Abel story that is riveting...and my god, the cave people are hot!