The Valley of Gwangi is a 1969 western-fantasy film directed by Jim O'Connolly and written by William Bast. The film is also known as Gwangi, The Lost Valley, The Valley Time Forgot, and The Valley Where Time Stood Still. It was filmed in Technicolor.
The film is known for its creature effects provided by Ray Harryhausen.
Plot
Sometime near the turn of the century, a beautiful cowgirl named T.J. Brekenridge (Gila Golan) hosts a rodeo that is struggling. Her former fiance Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus), a heroic former stuntman working for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, wants to buy out T.J.
T.J. has an ace she hopes will boost attendance at her show - a tiny horse. Tuck meets a British paleontologist named Horace Bromley (Laurence Naismith), who was working in a nearby Mexican desert. Bromley shows Tuck fossilized horse tracks, which Tuck notices to be similar to T.J.'s horse's feet. So Tuck sneaks Bromley in for a peek. Bromley declares the horse to be an Eohippus.
The tiny horse came from an area known as the Forbidden Valley. A gypsy claims that it has a curse, and demands that it be returned. Later a group of thieves (presumably under orders from the Gypsy) collaborate with Bromley to steal the horse and release it to the valley. Bromley collaborates in the hopes of following the horse to its home.
Tuck nearly walks in on the theft, notices the horse missing, and sets off after it and Bromley. When T.J. and her crew discover that the horse is missing they believe Tuck has stolen it. T.J. then forms and leads a group of cowboys after Tuck and Bromley on a mission to retrieve the horse.
Making their way into the valley, Tuck, T.J, and the rest of the group meet up and soon discover why the valley is said to be cursed as a Pteranodon swoops down and snatches a boy who had accompanied the group into the valley. After killing the Pteranodon, they spy an Ornithomimus, a small dinosaur which they chase after in the hopes of capturing it. Chasing it to a creek they run right into Gwangi, a vicious Allosaurus which pursues them back to their base camp. Upon discovering that their guns are armed with blanks, the group attempts to rope him only to have a Styracosaurus enter the fray, which distracts Gwangi long enough for the group to make a break for it.
Gwangi manages to catch and kill one of the cowboys, and then knocks itself out while trying to exit the valley in pursuit of the rest of the group. Securing the creature, they take it back to town where it is to be put on display in T.J.'s show. However on opening night one of the Gypsies sneaks in and begins to unlock Gwangi's cage in an effort to free it. Instead the unfortunate man is killed and Gwangi breaks free, killing Bromley and a circus elephant (actually modelled after a prehistoric mastodon) in the process.
Eventually Gwangi, Tuck, T.J and Lope (the Mexican boy), end up in a cathedral which catches on fire during battle. After some close calls Tuck and T.J. manage to escape and lock the door behind them, trapping Gwangi in the burning building which then crumbles around it. Screaming in agony, Gwangi dies in the fire and the town makes Tuck the town hero. However, the town's population is also saddened by the thought of a magnificent creature like Gwangi dying such a horrible death and by the loss of life due to the dinosaur's rampage.
Trivia
- During the 1980s hit TV series Scarecrow and Mrs. King, anytime the television was on, The Valley of Gwangi was showing. It is said to be an inside joke.
- Although Harryhausen intended Gwangi to be an Allosaurus, he based the model of the dinosaur on Tyrannosaurus. Harryhausen occasionally confuses the two, stating in a DVD interview: "We called it an Allosaurus, occasionally... They're both meat eaters, they're both Tyrants... one was just a bit larger than the other."
- The roping of Gwangi was achieved by having the actors hold on to ropes tied to a "monster stick" that was in the back of a Jeep. The jeep and stick when filmed with Gwangi are on a back rear projection plate and hidden by his body and the portions of rope attached to his body are painted wires that are matched with the real ropes.
- Gwangi was originally conceived by Willis O'Brien, the man who did the animation for the original King Kong. In O'Brien's script, then called Valley of the Mists. In the original version, cowboys going around America find an Allosaurus in the Grand Canyon. After finally roping the dinosaur, they put it in a Wild West show, but when the creature, now called Gwangi, breaks free, it fights escaped lions in the show. After killing the lions, Gwangi goes on a rampage around the town and was run over a cliff by a man in a truck.
- Actress Gila Golan's Israeli accent was so strong, all her lines were redubbed on the film by a voice over.
- Actor Laurence Naismith who plays Professor Bromley was in another Harryhausen movie, 1963's Jason and the Argonauts as the shipbuilder Argos.
- The movie was filmed in Cuenca, Spain.
See also
External links
