Caveman (1981)

A cave-man seeks revenge on a much larger competitor for the hand of a beautiful cave-woman.

Director:

Carl Gottlieb

Writers:

Rudy De Luca (as Rudy de Luca), Carl Gottlieb

Stars:

Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Daughter
Sara López Sierra	...	Folg's Younger Daughter (as Sara Lopez Sierra)
Esteban Valdez	...	Folg's Son

Storyline

In the Stone Age, the strong caveman Tonda is the leader of a hostile tribe and the outcast Atouk feels unrequited desire for Tonda's mate Lana. One day, Atouk is walking with his best friend Lar and they meet the cavewoman Tala. They save her blind father Gog from a tar pit and Tala fells unrequited affection for Atouk. Soon the smart Atouk becomes the leader of the misfit tribe and dispute the leadership of the whole clan and Lana with Tonda. But in the end, the leader needs a worthwhile mate.

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Plot Keywords:

caveman | spoof | prehistoric times | slapstick comedy | cavewoman | 

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Taglines:

Back when you had to beat it before you could eat it...

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA Mexico

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

El cavernícola

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Box Office

Gross USA:

$15,965,924

Company Credits

Production Co:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A., Turman-Foster Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The following Cavespeak from the movie translates as follows: "alunda" - love; "bobo" - friend; "haraka" - fire; "macha" - monster; "nya" - no/not; "ool" - food; "pooka" - broken; "ugh" - like; "kooda" - come/follow; "zug zug" - have sex; "fecchh" - "shit"/general profanity.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Atouk: Macha! Macha! Macha!

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Crazy Credits

The Critters Abominable Snowman ... Richard Moll Tyrannosaurus Rex ... Himself Big Horned Lizard ... Himself Pterodactyl ... Herself Howling Lizard ... Himself

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Connections

Spoofs When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)

User Reviews

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).