This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Okay, okay. I know. Cowboys and dinosaurs, right? Absolutely. I love this movie as much now as I did when I watched it thirty years ago as a child desperate for dinosaurs...any dinosaurs...to be depicted in films. Believe me, I watched so many creature features and let's be honest, most of them were pretty dull. The best one's were always with effects courtesy of the great Harryhausen, of course. 'Gwangi' is head and shoulders my favourite. Is that because of the acting talent in the movie? Er, 'fraid not. James Franciscus looks unnervingly like Dick Van Dyke and is just as annoying. Gila Golan, despite being dubbed through the whole movie, really struggles to convince as the owner of a Wild West show, or indeed a human being. But you don't watch a film like this for the actors, do you? So here's why this film is amazing. The tiny horse. The pterodactyl. The elephant slam down. The big lizards. And of course, Gwangi the Allosaurus. Fighting cowboys in Mexico. But really, for me, it's the tiny horse. Best bit of stop-motion this side of a tauntaun. The film cracks along, you can enjoy the slightly hokey dialogue, marvel at the performance of Laurence Naismith as the professor (I don't think he has tenure) and wish you too could find a tiny horse. Splendid.

James Franciscus stars as an ambitious cowboy who discovers a valley containing a T-Rex(called Gwangi) that he(along with others) captures and sells to a circus, where it becomes a star attraction. Of course, it doesn't appreciate its captivity, eventually escaping and causing havoc before it meets its fiery fate... Ray Harryhausen's model F/X are quite good, but once again, the story is predictable and routine, with little character involvement. Nice to see veteran actor Richard Carlson turn up, but despite a good pair of performances from him and Franciscus, the film falls short, though is remembered for mixing the cowboy and monster genres.

One of Ray Harryhausen's most famous films, The Valley of Gwangi is an all-time dinosaur classic that has inspired future dinosaur films such as "Jurassic Park." It really pushed Ray to make the interactions between the cowboys and the prehistoric beasts convincing, which for the most part he was successful.Plot: The discovery of a living Eohippus (a three-toed, tiny ancestor of the horse) causes cowboys, circus performers, and scientists alike to visit the land where it came from: a prehistoric valley untouched by time and the modern world until now. The valley's inhabitants, ruled by the fearsome carnosaur Gwangi, don't seem to be pleased to see these outsiders and would like nothing more than to tear them apart.The story was originally created by Ray's mentor Willis O'Brien (who did the effects for King Kong), who couldn't make it after writing the original script, so it's only fitting that his successor would finish it for him. And boy did he finish it well. This movie has all the spectacle of a true sci-fi action/adventure film. The action scenes are great and the music is wonderful and fits perfectly with the tone of the film. Many creature scenes that were done by Ray are fantastic, such as the roping of Gwangi and Gwangi's battle with a styracosaur, all done seamlessly.Overall, I consider this movie over "Cowboys and Aliens." Greatly done and definitely one of Ray Harryhausen's best works. Check it out.

Filmed in Spain, the movie's sort of like Spaghetti Western meets King Kong. In fact, the screenplay parallels much of Kong, with a hard-driving promoter (Carlson), a public exhibition (an arena), a lost world (the valley), and a landmark climax (a cathedral). Of course, this one doesn't manage the peculiar pathos of Kong, but still manages to entertain.Key to monster movies are special effects, and expert Ray Harryhausen has had plenty of practice. I just wish the editing had condensed a climax that goes on too long and fails to ratchet up the showdown suspense. Note too, how the rushing crowd scenes don't edit in effectively, even though the people appear genuinely panicked. In my little book, the movie fails to sharpen its elements because of generally loose editing (contrast with parallel scenes in Kong).Nonetheless, Franciscus is handsome, Golan is drop-dead beautiful, and the veteran Carlson picks up a payday. And if their acting fails to equal the force of the critters (again, contrast with Kong), they at least look great in Technicolor. There is one really poignant moment that unfortunately gets passed over too quickly. That's when Gwangi overpowers the circus elephant after a brief struggle. I'll bet not a single person was rooting for Gwangi as our modern beast takes on the Neanderthal in a battle to the death. There's nothing in Kong like it, and had this movie managed, the struggle could have injected real emotional impact. As things stand, however, the movie is mainly watchable for its Technicolor special effects.