An Overview of Western Dinosaur Films
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Dinosaurs in the western film genre have had a very strange history, but an interesting one nonetheless. Join me, as I take a look at some of the few films that are associated with the subgenre of the dinosaur western film.
---------------------------------------
Watch some of my other stuff here!
Dino Synth video:
• What is Dino Synth?
Quintaglio Ascension video:
• Exploring the Quintagl...
Just Like Old Times video:
• Just Like Old Times - ...
---------------------------------------
Join our Discord server, Jurassic Junction, for exclusive channel updates and/or just to chat with us!
/ discord
A new subreddit has been made for the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy! Check it out here if you're interested:
/ quintaglioascension
---------------------------------------
Music Used
"Vintage Hour" by Zalginni
• Video
"Vintage" by Sevenwordz Productions
• (FREE) "Vintage" Boom ...
"The Olden Days" by LVDS
• LVDS - The Olden Days
"90s Chilled Hip Hop Type Beat Instrumental" by MaverickMyers Radio
• (FREE) 90s Chilled Hip...
"BOOM BAP - Old School 90s Instrumental" by Redlox Beats
• FREE FOR PROFIT - BOOM...
"Metropolis" by PTC BEATZ
• "METROPOLIS" BOOM BAP ...
---------------------------------------
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
---------------------------------------
#Paleomedia
#DinoDiego
#Dinosaurs
Quick Correction: I was completely unaware that the word "gyp*y" is considered to be offensive, so very sorry about that. Obviously, it wasn't my intention to offend anyone, I just didn't know that's what they meant in the context of the movie.
This was definitely an interesting topic to cover! I definitely want to do more videos like this to cover more ground on different areas of paleomedia. Let me know if you want to see more of this kind of style and/or if you have any ideas you want to suggest. Thank you all for watching and thank you all so much for 40k subs!
Now I will need to watch all this movies.
Also while browsing on Amazon Prime Video I found a movie named "The Dinosaur Project" , its a wonderfull found fotage dino movie and I think that it would be a great video for you to explore.
@@LaBibliotecaEterna Found footage dinosaur films? Sounds like an awesome video idea
@@DinoDiego16 its a surprinsingly good film and I would love to see your comments on it.
@@LaBibliotecaEterna I've seen it before and I think its underrated
@@DinoDiego16 Yeah and its a shame that the directos have not made a secuel or any other work like that.
I unironically love old depictions of theropods in stop motion like the ones in King Kong
So do I. I have a soft spot for retro dinosaur depictions in fiction. I think they look really cool
The old “man in a suit” dinosaurs with their upright postures and dragging tails just felt so much more “monstrous”
Yes me too
@@trevormoffat4054 no dragging tails.
oh my god im running a western DnD campaign rn and wanted to introduce dinosaurs (because i just like dinosaurs) and i never expected to find SUCH a perfect video for this topic
Literally running a mini campaign starting tn of cowboys, hells yeah
So how you gonna incorpirate it without feeling forced
Four months have come and passed, how's the campaign?
@@kingsadvisor18 Oh wow I hadn't even realized it's been 4 months! The campaign is going well (i think!), have yet to find a good place for dinosaurs but I'm sure i'll find it one day 🙏
If you guys want more, I may or may not have a few hundred pages of notes talking about the batshit cryptids that were reported in the frontier days, including tons of dinosaurs.
There was a line of Choose your Own Adventure style books called “Fighting Fantasy” back in the 80’s. One of my favourites was “Robot Cowboy” which was a Western/Dinosaur/Giant Robot Sci-Fi story. As the story’s protagonist, you had to battle and round up wild dinosaurs in your giant robot. Let me tell you, it was just as epic as it sounds!
To give The Beast of Hollow Mountain some credit, that run cycle for the Allosaurus is surprisingly convincing. It’s not a realistic motion but it’s surprisingly smooth and actually makes the animal look alive.
I agree, the stop motion for the dinosaur looked really good for its time. It’s just too bad you hardly get to see it throughout the film.
Yes, the run cycle shots were the best animation in the entire film, and reminds one of the Taun Tauns in the Empire Strikes Back. I have held some of those run/walk cycle puppets, and they are tiny, only about 6" tall. They were very cool, if I had some money at the time I would have bought one. :(
The reason it looks so good is because they used Replacement Animation rather than Stop Motion. There was a series of statues sculpted in different poses to create the illusion of a walk cycle. The stop motion itself was obviously done very poorly. But that series of statues made the only life like scenes in the movie. They obviously needed a more skillful animator for the rest of the work.
Combining Westerns and Dinosaurs feels like a no-brainer just from a thematic point of view and I've certainly run across numerous non-film media that really runs with the idea such as the Son of Stone comics, the Broncosaurus Rex TTRPG setting, Shaun Keenan's art for 'Dinosaurs of the Wild West', a random novel I found in an Ollie's that I forget the name of and should have grabbed but didn't, etc.
Westerns and 'Lost World'-style dinosaur stories are both firmly rooted in Colonialism, with Westerns being about "taming the wild" and Lost World-stories being about exploration and "discovery". You'd think an easy next step is just having Cowboys trying to "tame" a Lost World. Alternatively just make a good Western, but just set it in a world where dinosaurs are already established as a normal thing in the world.
People are going to call me crazy for saying this, but I really want a REMAKE of Valley Of Gwangi. Modern-day CGI effects, but same plot line, same characters, and same character arcs. But with one tiny change to the ending: Gwangi manages to survive the ending, and the humans decide the right thing to do is return him to the Forbidden Valley.
Honestly, I don't think its a bad idea, if it was done properly.
don't just use CGI...include animatronics as well, like in Jurassic Park.
If done right could be the next jurassic park franchise, starting with the discovery of dinosaurs in the usa Louisiana purchase, ending with dinosaurs being war beasts in both world Wars and maybe a jurassic world sequel franchise set during the cold war and have radioactive foods mutating cold blooded animals and said animals including mutant dinosaurs used as war beasts. Saber tooth Bengal tigers and man sized mantises fighting raptors in Vietnam, Russia utilizing mammoths against aurochs and triceratops from Germany. Yeah if done right it could go from the valley of gwangi in the start of usa history, to the cold war with bioengineered monsters/kaiju beasts, complete with red dawn but with communist invading with giant insects and rival dinosaurs fighting usa patriots with usa dinosaurs and giant apes king kong style. Could be used to explore themes like use of animals as weapons, usa history, the terrors of Marxism and much more.
Maybe even sneak bits of the ancient astronaut theory with aliens being zookeepers to explain the prehistoric animals or at least their descendants. Could be a great tribute to Harry Harryhausen.
@@zacharymoss2994 Not gonna lie, it does have potential
Tbh I think it should end with the allosaurus dying, I think there could be an interesting degree of tragedy to it, even moreso with another much cheaper film called the Last Dinosaur.
Dinosaurs and cowboys really go well together. If I may add, there's Dino Ranch, a kids show on cowboys living with dinosaurs. Then there's the Dinosaur Cowboy World featured in Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero. Sure, neither of them are movies, but they still have the "dinosaurs and cowboys" idea.
We could use more of those Western/Dino genre more.
Dino Storm is also a dino cowboy mmo
There's also a number of tabletop RPG settings that run with the concept. Hell, even RDR2 went with the idea with its fossil digging missions.
I think it's absolutely CRIMINAL that this subgenre of western isn't as prolific than others, it's been by far one of my most favorite settings for any story to take place and I'm so glad you took the time to chronicle and archive it's history!!!
I grew up reading comics such as "Turok: Son of Stone," which was about 2 American Indians who ventured into a lost valley inhabited by dinosaurs. I also read, "Star-Spangled War Stories," which featured US military personnel fighting dinosaurs on "lost" islands in the Pacific during the Second World War. As a kid in the 1950s, I was a big fan of "westerns" and dinosaur movies, in particular, "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" and "Godzilla." Thanks, Dino Diego, for this look back to some of my favorite cowboy vs dino movies.
Man, I wish just for shits and giggles there was like, Theropod footprints somewhere in RDR2, if not give us a living dinosaur easter egg somewhere, in dialogue or being able to see it run off in the distance or something, would be fun.
There the dinosaur bones Easter egg.
@@YaBoiDREX Yeah with that Totalisaurus skeleton that is pretty much just a caricature
Funny how after I just finished watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for the 1st time, you happen to immidiatelly post this video. One thing brought my attention to the topic, I'd say except movies there are western games that include dinosaurs as well, one of them being _Dinostorm_ . I used to play it a lot back in 2014, and got it again a few months ago
Not a fan of cowboys but by goodness ray harryhausen did an awesome job with the dinosaurs and the tiny horses
I was having a really bad day so i’m really happy you uploaded!! I love your content sm
Cowboys and Dinosaurs was filmed in my hometown in Montana. Super surreal to see shitty cgi dinosaurs taking people out in front of the local movie theater lol.
Lol
Dude thats awesome. You got to see a masterpiece made right in front of you. What an honor😂
Disney’s The Three Caballeros (1945) and Disney’s Chicken Little (2005) are technically dinosaur films as the protags are birds, which are dinosaurs.
When you look at it I guess Dinosaurs and cowboys can never truly be separated. Looking at things like Dominion and the parts you pointed out in other movies like lost world and the good dinosaur.
This little sub-genre is certainly a fun one, it clearly seems to have inspired the Supersaurs/world of supersaurs book Series, which would definitely be a good fit for this Channel
This is a fantastic channel.
Thank you! That means a lot!
I agree
18:39 wait, this *wasn’t* an Asylum Studios movie?!
Kinda surprised you didn't talk about Rex Riders. I know it's a book and not a movie, but I think a reference to it would've been nice.
12:57 Gwangi is more correctly referred to as a Tyrannosaurus not an Allosaurus. Yes, I know Gwangi has three finger but the skull shape, body shape, and general size is more important. Ray himself has also tended to refer to Gwangi as a type of Tyrannosaurus.
Honestly suprised there isnt any media (at least that I know of) regarding dinosaurs in medieval times and knights calling them “dragons” since theres a whole lot of talk current day of medieval/ancient depictions of dragons supposedly being actual dinosaurs
Loved your video! I have a copy of Ray Harryhausen's watercolor of a cowboy shooting at an Allosaur that was done in the late 40's. I'm not sure if it was for Willis O'Brien's project but it hangs in my studio as a source of inspiration. I saw The Beast of Hallow Mountain at a matinee in the late 50's as a kid and Gwangi in the drive-in in the late 60's. I was on a date and ignored the poor girl because I loved the movie. Your coverage of this niche genre was awesome!
I have been loving all these explorations of older dinosaur media, including the books. Keep it up man!
Valley of Gwangi is pretty fun. It played a local theater years ago. The theater setting really enhances that scene at the end with the allosaurus in the cathedral.
It's ironic how Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs was released around the same date that Disney's Dinosaur was released on. Though wasn't the other reason that Gwanji flopped was mostly due to a shift in pop culture around that year? Since it's was released around 1969, and obviously you can guess what major event happened in history during that year.
Once the astronauts went up everything shifted from cowboys to space.
@@jpfan1989 Toy Story 2 refferance?
I got to find some of these movies, but Valley of the Gwangi is my all time favorite, because I'm still a fan of James Franciscus even though he has been passed away for a while now.
I just love the way you say Gwangi.
I wish allosaurus was an antagonist again
That would be cool to see, tbh
Kind of under-rated dino
Allow boi was used as a antagonist in like 2 movies and never again (the movies I am referring to are beast of hollow mountain and valley of gwangi)
@@WhatDillionYT what about Big Alice in Land of the Lost?
@@denisucuuu sure that does count but i forgot to mention i was refering to allos as the main antagonist
I'm gonna count Jurassic World Dominion in the list of westerns with dinosaurs not only for the Scene with Owen and the Parasaurolophus, but also for the scene with the rescue of the ceratopsid. Maybe some future instalment would give us finally the propper dino western we need.
Actually, THE VALLEY OF GWANGI was based on a 1942 O'Brien project titled GWANGI.
Valley of gwangi, the movie I love so much I named my lizard after it
Epic momen
I greatly enjoyed "The Valley Of Gwangi." I didn't know it existed before seeing it on television.
DUUUUTCH! WHY IS THERE A BIG BOAH WITH SOME BANANA TEETH
Have you heard of the comics called “dinosaurs and Cadillacs?
I remember it being a game...
@@aebhosor4835 the comic sparked a game and animated series. Originally named xenoic tales apparently. Ran into a set of 4 comics at the shop and picked them up a couple of years ago lol
Yeah, Ive heard about Dinosaurs and Cadillacs before. Never really saw or played anything about it, tho
@@DinoDiego16 just tryna throw out a video idea, definitely seems up your alley. Only have the comics hahaha
@@JoshuaGrin Nice! I'll definitely keep the idea in mind for a possible future project on the channel.
Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls is AMAZING. I think it's more enjoyable than Beast of Hollow Mountain
Dinosaurs and cowboys might’ve not worked out but maybe dinosaurs and knights will. The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán and it’s sequels have been labeled Game of Thrones with dinosaurs by Martin himself. So maybe that might tickle your fancy
I need to find this books!
MENTIONS DINOSAUR WESTERN*
ME: you mean ark survival evolved scorched earth
I think this movie sub-genera is an example of "Too much of a good thing".
Perhaps an analogy can be drawn between dinosaurs and cowboys, once wild ideas that flooded the imaginations of youth everywhere now largely fallen out of the cultural spotlight. Hell they even made westworld which is sort of like a cowboy jurassic park
Beast of Hollow Mountain does have certain elements that, in my opinion, would actually work if you'd switch them around a bit. Given the chance, I'd pitch a modern remake where our Mexican hero is trying to navigate rising tensions between migrant workers and American townsfolk, when the titular Hollow Mountain is opened and a horde of subterranean-adapted dinosaurs is unleashed onto both groups.
Ah yes! My favourite western!!!
Steel Ball Run.
Both the beast of hollow mountain and Valley of Gwangi has good animation in terms of the animals IMO. Although I've never seen both I never knew Gwangi had a predecessor. Would you recommend a watch for both or just Gwangi?
I'd say its good enough for a single watch. Just so you can see a piece of history when it comes to Gwangi's story.
@@DinoDiego16 Dope gonna have to look it up
î love how they have gwangi in a flimsy wodden cage.
I want a Cadillacs & Dinosaurs / XenozoicTales movie.
Why haven't they made that already?
It would be amazing!
I wish there were more western dinosaur-themed media because I feel the two mix quite well together
I really like this video and these are one my favorites of the paleo media movies so that's nice
Also hope y'all had a nice day
Gosh is this video a coincidence. I've been trying to write a cowboy-dinosaur story for a few months now.
I would recommend checking out the movie dinosaurus! I would argue it has western elements in it.
One of my planned future projects is a trilogy of novels called Titan ranch which are neo westerns taking place in a universe where dinosaurs somewhat still live alongside humans
It's an intriguing concept but I have to admit I'm having difficulty imagining a compelling story.
Which is odd because usually that just comes naturally
cowboys vs dinosaurs but never cowboy dinosaurs 😥
The Good Dinosaur is the closet we get to western starring Dinosaurs
Absolutely would be a good time to make a modern remake of Gwangi
Not really how about a new film with a new story and title?
Fascinating video! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Seems a bit redundant to call it "Lost Atlantis", like, being lost it Atlantis' whole shtick, if it wasn't lost it'd just be a plain old island.
Now, "FOUND Atlantis", that'd be something.
I actually consider Gwangi a Tyrannosaurus.
Cowboy are cool...Dinosaurs are cool...so just...yknow. 🤜🤛
moment
The last movie that had stop motion movement that worked on with Ray Harryhausen did was the Clash of the Titans 1981 with Sir Lawrence Oliver and Harry Hamlin
I've said this many times on RUclips. The Valley of Gwangi needs to be remade. It still has to be set in the same era with cowboys in Mexico. The basis of the story is sound. It just needs to have a big budget and needs to be expanded to include more of the hidden valley and thus more dinosaurs, but Gwangi must still be an Allosaurus and not become another T-Rex !
Surely there has to be a way that people can let the film companies know what they want.
Montana is part of the American west hell creek formation along with the Morrison formation
nows the time to make a full fledged dino western. imagine christopher nolan directing it.
Makes me want to see Turok adapted into some kind of movie, which was western adjacent before it went more scifi later. Im aware of the animated film which is fun, but i just think it'd be cool to have something live action or maybe make a new game that has more western influences
just dropped in to tell you: I have never heard the word/name Lengyel said by an English speaking person this relatively clear. So no, you didn1t butcher it. Also... great video and a great topic I didn1t know about. Learned something.
the way he sounds so god damn tired of the 2015 movie is hilarious lol
I hope one of the Nassour brothers called their offspring Dino.
Dude that's genius
The Valley of Gwangi it's a ADVENTURE movie in a Western scenario, i remember reading a Robert E Howard 's short story , Valley of The Lost, two ranchers with a feud ended in a cavern inhabitted ni humanoid reptilians From a secret civilization
Still expecting the Steel Ball Run anime featuring Diego Brando turning into a dinosaur
Yes, a mega tribute to Ray Harryhausen should be in order
The Valley of Gwangi the best dinosaur Western of all time 🦖
Thanks you for this video ☺️
I’m in the Isle of Man today
Valley of Gwangi is an excellent movie! Don't feel bad about using the term Gypsy. It's only been a few years since I also learned that the term Gypsy was incorrect and the proper terms are Roma or Romani. Valley of Gwangi was very popular at late night and weekend TV shows. Valley of Gwangi, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, and Green Slime were all shown every month on TV during the 1970s!
Hear me out: Lewis and Clark Vs Dinosaurs. Thomas Jefferson was actually jealous of the megafauna of the old world so part of the Lewis and Clarke expedition's mission was trying to find zoological bragging rights for the country.
Another idea: Colter's Hell, After John Colter's famous escape into the region that would be known as Yellowstone he discovers the caldera is harboring strange prehistoric beasts.
Or maybe do something set during the bone wars where rival paleontologists and their hired "cowboys" are racing to catch a specimen of a rumored still living dinosaur.
Being a huge comic book fan
Im the 50s there was a comic called space western mixed western and space Sci fi together and then the modern film from not long ago
Called cowboys and aliens but I really liked the valley of gwangi when I was a kid because I love dinosaurs also
A lost world in Mexico
Why not??
I knew it!
I can forgive the stop-motion, considering how freaking long it takes to shoot five seconds of animation, and how expensive it it, with regards to Cowgirls and Pterodactyls. As a professional horse person I cracked up when you cut to, "There's also the western side of it as well." Ah, that's sure some... riding, all right.
Completely unsurprising that brothers named "nosaur" were interested in making paleo movies
(Arguably) The best Jojo part is 1/4 Cowboy vs Dinosaurs
My other favorite horror movie was the Black scorpion it was inB/W it was about exposed Black scorpion's from a volcano that made they're way up to the surface from Mexico towards the border town of Texas.
You could have put tremors in there. They don’t know the name of the graboids but they’re basically dinos
The Cowboys vs Dinosaurs T. rex looks familiar like from dino dan and another movie from a while ago
Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls is so horrible, I had to get it. So cheesy I found it hilarious!
I've been wanting to see it too! Will definitely check it out.
It's bad. But I still found it funny because it is so horrible! A first year Film student with toy Dinosaurs could have done better! 😁
Turok deserves a live action version.
HOLY SHIT COWBOYS VS DINOSAURS OMG
You opened a dinosaur video with clips from Red River. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you. I LOVE YOU. WHY HAVEN'T YOU MARRIED ME YET?!
Cowbows V dinos is stink but I liked how the raptors hopped out of the hole
Much better acting than anyone who was shooting guns
BUUUUUUT it was nice seeing a PKM in a movie
Love the spaghetti westerns
You say "Harryhausen" like that's a bad thing.
The thing is. Cowboys was never the right way.
The inspiring scenario is Indians, the Turok kind of story.
But the Lost Continent is a movie by the Hammer Studio in the United Kingdom it's a horror movie and I've seen it and I don't want to watch it again it's very scary even though it was made in the 70's by the censors but I still don't want to watch it also it's very sad at the end.
Idk of u should use “indian” as a term for indigenous
Steel Ball Run
lopho
waow
Ray Harryhaussen died in 2013
Cowboys vs dinosaur is just a ripoff of Cowboys vs aliens
Please don't use the word "G*psy" It's a slur against Roma/Romani people. Even if the term is used IN the movie, then YOU should still know better. Make your channel a safe place for everyone, no matter where they come from.
My mistake. Obviously, that wasn't my intention. I didn't actually know it was supposed to be a slur in the context of the movie, but I'll keep that in mind should it ever come up again.
@@DinoDiego16 In the past it was more of an accepted term. In the modern day it's seen as a slur with a lot of not nice implications. There's been damn near no education on it so I don't blame you for not know. We all get a little better every day right? I just want everyone to be able to enjoy how cool dinosaurs are together.
@@samwill7259 I should hope we get better everyday. Appreciate you being so understanding
Gypsy is not a slang term
@@Aerostarm in some contexts, it actually is apparently. I didnt think it was a slang term at first either.
despite the age of the media, I think you should at the very least hesitate before referring to a stereotyped version of a racial group with a slur
You're right though he probably should've paused for a few second before saying gypsy
in the pinned comment he said he did not know it was a slur
@@WhatDillionYT that comment was not there at the time I wrote this, but thank you for directing me to it now
@@thewingedporpoise ur welcome
imo cowgirls vs pterodactyls has better special effects than She-Hulk lmao 🤣