The Valley of Gwangi

What's not to like here-James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Naismeth, the excellent Harryhausen Allosaurus F/X, the dino-elephant battle, the cowboys roping the dino scene, etc. Very nicely done. No great acting, of course, and nothing you haven't seen already in Kong or 100 other places, but its what they do with it here that makes it worth yer while.

Personally I always enjoy it when I see it; I think it's one of the better dino flix you can find pre-Jurassic Park.

*** outta ****, esp if you like Harryhousen's stuff.

Okay, so it's the only dinosaur and cowboy movie (that I know of). The acting isn't much, but seeing three cowboys rope a T Rex -- and then seeing the T Rex fight an elephant -- that is cool.

And "El Diablo," the little eohippus, is just too cute.

Harryhausen's stop-motion animation is wonderful. Get the DVD with an interview in which he talks about how he did the cowboy-roping scene, and current animators/fx artists talk about he inspired them -- pretty fun. In a geeky kind of way.

Special effects master Ray Harryhausen is at the top of his game. What sounds corny turns out to be a very interesting cult classic. Jim O'Connolly directs this western meets science fiction thriller about cowboys discovering a lost valley of prehistoric monsters/creatures. These historical finds are then suppose to be the show saving performers in a traveling circus.

This turns out to be one the best dino movies you will ever see. The stop-motion animation is blended so well, it should take top billing. So many other movies are so fake in appearance...this project sticks out like a masterpiece.

The cast includes James Franciscus, Richard Carlson, Laurence Naismith and the alluring Miss Gila Golan.

I remember seeing this dinosaur movie when I was a kid - as a dino fan, anything dinosaur is movies was intriguing for me.

A dinosaur was captured by cowboy James Franciscus and brought to the Mexican circus. Of course, it's all mayhem while the T-rex escapes and wrecks havoc upon the town and threatening its citizens.

It was neat seeing the T-Rex roaming around and serving up some neat dino action and mayhem. The stop motion special effects weren't bad for its time, but the overall plot was little boring if I recalled and the acting was pretty mediocre.

But, not a bad special effects film - definitely better than some of the black and white B-movies.

Grade C+

Highly entertaining film about a wild west show that comes into possession of a prehistoric horse so small they hope to bill as the world's smallest. When a band of gypsies return the horse to the Forbidden Valley in which it was stolen, members of the wild west show go in search of the horse and come across a Lost World of prehistoric creatures.