100% the fault of the firearms supervisor. Why was live ammunition even on site? Why wasn't it locked up? Who's job was it to make certain it wasn't in the weapon? And so on... It wasn't Baldwin's fault.
@thacobell4700 not untrue, but it still doesn't explain why live ammunition was on set. I digress and agree. It was a string of errors that resulted in tragedy.
@@timtheskeptic1147He fired the gun. His fault. Any responsible person would always, regardless of what anyone else says, check the weapon for ammo and safety. Also, the firearms supervisor had no idea what they were doing. Everything would've been prevented if Baldwin was properly trained in firearms.
its crazy how there are movies made 20-30 years later with worse effects than Harryhausen. Every movie he made was like the Avatar or Phantom Menace of its time.
Gwangi's death has always been hard to watch for me. He's trapped in the burning cathedral as he's screaming in agony and fear, and the scene just goes on for so long. It's also sad because the humans took him from his habitat, similar to King Kong.
The 'Cowboys vs. (Fill in the creature)' movie genre goes all the way back to the 1935 serial "The Phantom Empire" where western icon Gene Autry plays a singing cowboy who discovers a lost subterranean civilization descended from Atlantis existing under his ranch.
@@randybarnett2308 Lucas even explicitly described Han as a cowboy. Part of why he's first encountered in a cantina, not a bar or a tavern or something.
@@ExtremeMadnessX Some did, some didn’t. And some of the ones that had feathers didn’t have a full coating of feathers, and instead had sparse coverings, similar to the fur covering of an elephant.
This was Ray Harryhausen's last and final dinosaur movie he had made, as he knew that people weren't interested in dinosaurs anymore, and that western movies were making monet at the box office.
@@rextexan4727 He said in an interview that he saw the film and it was well done and said that the Dinosaurs were so real and scary, little kids would have nightmares for years.
I'm always in awe of Ray Harryhausen's artistic skills. I was 6 when I first saw this. "The Valley of Gwangi" will always hold a special place in my heart of nostalgic love from me.
I learned recently that one of the people involved in the earliest pitch meetings for Doctor Who shot down the idea of giving the Doctor child sidekicks because he reasoned that children don't strongly identify with child characters who aren't the actual protagonist of the story, and even when they do, they don't identify with children significantly older or younger than themselves. I immediately thought of Brandon's thoughts about Kennies when that came up. And the reasoning makes perfect sense when you remember that a lot of kids are in a hurry to be seen as grown up.
@@TheBrandonTenold it's mainly because the kids are never well-written characters. In Jurassic Park the kids are well-written and have good interactions with the adult characters because they're treated like humans and not vessels for the audience to feel extra tension.
This movie just feels so unique. I don't think there aren't any westerns and dinosaur sci-fi films that came close to Gwanji or even Beast of Hollow Mountain
I'll always remember being a young kid in the late 70's (before VCR's) and they were playing this on TV as a late night movie at 1am. My father woke me up and we watched it together. It was a real treat and we absolutely loved it. I bought it for him on DVD just last year and we watched it with my kids. This movie will always have a special place in my heart.
I always loved the church setting in the finale. It is unique, dramatic, and shows how out of his element Gwangi is. The scene where he reacts to the pipe organ, a sudden and overwhelming sound like nothing he has ever heard before, is perfectly done.
Brandon doing all the classics. I remember my father having this on super 8mm. We would watch it projected on my bedroom wall. This was even before we bought our furst VHS player, which was a top-loader.
Never had a projector to watch those 8mm clip reels, but I'm old enough to know about them. For those unclear, during the early to late 70s, I recall visiting stores like K-Mart and in either the phonographic record depart or either the camera section, the stores had display racks offering 8mm celluloid film reels. These items either contained highlights of movies, some pivotal or iconic scenes or a severely truncated cut of the overall movie, usually condensed to 15 minutes or less. This was an era before "affordable" video playback and recording devices like BetaMax, VHS, and a plethora of abandoned technologies. If one wanted yo watch a "movie" at the time of one's choosing (not dependent upon the whims of the local station's programming scheduler), this was one's primary option. And one had to be a bit more fiscally affluent if one wanted audio. Sound for these reels, and the projectors with the hardware to play it, cost considerably extra. While my father was not poor by any means, he was prudent with finances, so we never owned these entertainment "frivolities". We made do with "rabbit ear" color TV in the den. But I do remember "drooling" over the reels offered in the store. Of course, once the video industry started to offer movies upon tape, full length with audio (and color if the it was filmed that way), the 8mm reel market died hard.
Fun Fact: Professor Bromley was played by Laurence Naismith, who's best known as Captain Edward J. Smith from the 1958 docudrama film: *"A Night to* *Remember"* and the minor role of Sir Donald Munger in Sean Connery's last EON film: *"Diamonds Are Forever"* in 1971.
I love a night to remember, I much prefer it over '97 Titanic with Jack and Rose. I'm so glad he was both on the Titanic and wrangling dinos in the old west.
I always associate Laurence Naismith most with the original "Village Of The Damned" and especially his Merlin in the 1967 film of Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot".
@@thenumbah1birdman *"Sink the Bismarck!"* also starred Michael Goodliffe (Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews), Russell Napier (Californian's Captain Stanley Lord), and Jack Watling (4th Officer Joseph Boxhall) from *"A Night to Remember".* As well as featured other Bond actors that co-starred in the film: the aforemetioned Michael Goodliffe (MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner), Geoffrey Keen (Minister of Defense Frederick "Freddy" Grey) and Walter Gotell (SPECTRE agent Morzeny in *"From Russia With Love"* & KGB General Anatol "Alexis" Gogol from 1977-1987).
One of my childhood faves. First time seeing it: Trapped at home with the flu during summer vacation, watching a week's worth of daytime TV and then.... THIS came on!
James Franciscus. The discount Charlton Heston. Too bad Franciscus lit up his health, ruined his career, and foreshortened his life. With smoking and alcohol. Relegated to B movies and died from emphysema. Like Doug McClure.
Truth! Before my time. Although, my Planet of the Apes DVD with commentary supports your statement. Linda Harrison played Nova. During the interview she said James Franciscus was a smaller version of Charlton Heston.
@@markrowlett6921on the nose: 60s film producer type: Let's get Heston! 60s film producer type 2: He does come with an asking price....and he's penciled in for....(big name title 1)... and...(big name title 2) 60s film producer type: Let's then get...Franciscus
Regarding that Turok reference, the character's older then the film. Turok's first appearance was in Four Color Comics #596, published in 1954. 15 years before The Valley of Gwangi premiered in theatres.
That scene where Gwangi comes out from behind that rock formation and eats that Ornithomimid was definitely referenced in the first Jurassic Park - that scene where Rexy charges out of the trees and kills a Gallimimus. The scene where Rexy eats the goat was a reference to the rancor in Return of the Jedi, so it's all intentional.
7:50 OK, the animation on the little horse is absolutely stunning. It's almost perfect. And how in the world did he keep its hair from going all wonky from being moved around?
Same way Willis O'Brien did with Kong, carefully brushed it back into place between each frame. This is a big part of why stop motion was mostly used to depict reptiles instead of mammals.
I giggled at the Buffalo Bill “Silence” jokes, and I truly agree with your comparison between Harryhausen and contemporary period art direction. Well done as always!
My dad showed this movie to me as a kid, and it’s still my favorite Ray Harryhausen films. The action, the dialogue, the animals. I love how you kinda feel bad for Gwangi, he aggressive, but only because he’s a territorial animal captured and forcibly brought to an unfamiliar place. Also, the bit where he says something along the lines of, “On one hand I love her and don’t wanna hurt her. On the other hand I love money”, ALWAYS makes me laugh
As a dinosaur aficionado who's also really into classic pulp. I feel this little nugget is on topic: Porter Emerson Browne's "The Diplodocus" (published in 1908) is a humorous western tall tale where the narrator & his long-sufferings mule meet an eccentric coot who makes "eggsperiments" similar to plant grafting, but using animal material. His ultimate goal is to recreates a dinosaur using the genetic material of other animals, specifically in order to display to the public for big bucks. It doesn't go to plan, & hilarity ensues. What's fascinating is that not only is it one if the earliest entries in the Cowboys & Dinosaurs genre, it also kind of anticipates Jurassic Park in the wackiest possible way. I love that story.
Fun Fact #2: The Ornithomimus' death scream can also be heard in *"ORCA"* (1977) and Richard Williams' unfinished animated film: *"The Thief and The Cobbler".*
My friend David, who sadly passed away last year, was a big fan of your channel. He loved classic monster movies, and had a wicked sense of humor. I know he's laughing in heaven at your Alec Baldwin crack.
Valley of Gwangi will always hold a special place in my heart, because I got to watch it for the first time on the big screen at the NIFFF festival when Ray Harryhausen was a guest that year. After the show I got to meet the man. At the time my English really wasn't adequate so we had a translator and I was so starstruck, I could barely say anything in front of Mr. Harryhausen. Yet, he mentioned me later on, at a Q&A, happy to see the young generation was still getting inspired by his work.
5:12 Dropping a horse and rider from a tower into some water, was a real carnival/circus trick, however a trap door was used as the horse wouldn't jump (rightly so!).
I am always a fan of Ray Harryhausen's work. I had already seen "The Valley of Gwangi" and loved it. But I remember when my dad and I went to an all-night drive in romp, where they played this and several others of Ray's, with some Godzilla films of the 60s. I remember when we drove home, the sun was just about to rise. It was one of my fondest memories with my father.
Cheers for reviewing Gwangi! If under interrogation, I'd have to tell the truth and say that Blazing Saddles and Valley of Gwangi are the best westerns ever made! The theme tune is unforgettable.
"Guy goes down to Mexico to try and get some from an Ex, gets mixed up with dinosaurs. Truly a tale as old as time..." Suddenly I feel Brandon has had a way more interesting life than I have.
I saw this film at the movies when it first came out. I recall my sister being astonished at the pteranodon scene. "It looks so real! How did they do that?" Love Harryhausen.
Hi Brandon! Thanks for reviewing this movie. It should be noted that one of the co-stars of Gwangi is Richard Carlson, who also starred in "It Came from Outer Space", The Creature from the Black Lagoon", and other movies.
The eohippus (the prehistoric mini horse) is absolutely stunning. It might be my favourite model of his because it looks genuinely like he went back in time and got an early horse, its insanely lifelike, even to this day. Has to be one of my favourite depictions of an extinct animal.
I can think of two versions I'd want to see: 1) Steven Segal doing his slapfighting thing with a T-Rex. 2) The carnivorous dinosaur wins the fight and kills Segal (character or actor, either way is a win). Best thing is, they could do both in the same fight.
Fun fact: James Cameron was thinking of offering to direct Jurassic Park before Spielberg got the job. Cameron wanted to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlton Heston.
I remember seeing this movie! At a drive-in! In my PJs! Most I cannot remember, too much time and recreational chemicals, but I do remember the cage bars falling on the professor and then the dinosaur jumping on it! Now get off my lawn, I have a cloud to yell at!
ABOUT TIME!!! WSuch an Awesome concept was waiting for you to cover this one. I remember telling people that if red dead 2 ever got an expansion it should be something along the lines of this and not an Undead Nightmare 2
This movie has to be the main inspiration for the classic 2000AD series 'Flesh', which isn't just cowboys versus dinosaurs... it's time-travelling cowboys rounding up dinos to be slaughtered to feed future Earth society!
There's also "The Ship Of Monsters," a Mexican film where a wisecracking ranch-hand battles alien monsters AND vampires... and there's a robot that falls in love with a jukebox.
Just stumbled across your video and really enjoyed it.. So I thought I'd throw my two cents in.. I was fortunate enough to speak with Mr. Harryhausen at a convention in Chicago once. As Gwangi is one of my favorite movies of his. He told me a couple things I thought I'd share...I think it was after he had finished the film he gave Gwangi to his daughter who would put it in a baby carriage and play with it like a doll. He said she got some funny looks from some of the mothers at the park...Also I actually asked him if the elephants in Gwangi and 20 million miles to earth were the same model and he said no. He usually tore the models apart after he was finished with them in order to use the armatures on other projects. So both elephants were built for their individual movies.
I think I remember seeing some clips of this movie on a "Sci-Fi Channel" special about the legendary Ray Harryhausen. I sadly forgot the title always assumed the movie was called "Cowboys & Dinosaurs". Seeing it here, it does make me curious to check it out if it ever airs on TV or I run into it on DVD. Great episode man!
This is one of the few films where I wish it got a remake. Not because I don’t love this film, far from it, it’s one of my favorites, but could you imagine the kind of visuals they could create using modern technology? Imagine a dust cloud in the distance on an old western arid frontier. You think it’s a stampede of cattle, but then BAM it’s a herd of triceratops!
16:18 funny you should say that. Once the film was made, Harryhausen gave that solid rubber Gwangi model to his daughter, who loved it and treated it like how any girl treats a dolly. To the point she'd wrap it up in blankets and take it out shopping with her parents. According to Ray, there was at least one instance of an elderly lady asking to see her doll and getting a nasty shock when she saw a dinosaur's face staring from inside a bundle. (Note, Harryhausen's books are really dang good, give them a look if you can find them!)
This has been my favorite movie since I was a little boy and I remember I love renting this from Blockbuster on vhs It’s my favorite movie. What good mix Cowboys and dinosaurs you got this awesome flick and I never trusted that old gypsy witch lady
The young cowboy actually says "it looks like a plucked ostrich", an accurate description of Ornithomimosaurs back when we didn't know they too were covered in feathers.
Before "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs" there were "Cowboys and Dinosaurs".
Great work as usual after all these years you're still my favorite snarky Canadian/movie reviewer
I have a movie for you to review. "Triassic Attack"
Please review Triassic Attack
That, or do another godzilla movie.
It would be great to see Xenozoic get adapted one of these days.
Look. About that Alec Baldwin joke, I'm one of the people who stand behind him. ........ because I'll be damned if I'm gonna stand in front of him..
100% the fault of the firearms supervisor.
Why was live ammunition even on site?
Why wasn't it locked up?
Who's job was it to make certain it wasn't in the weapon?
And so on...
It wasn't Baldwin's fault.
@@timtheskeptic1147 Still preventable on Baldwin's end by double checking. It was a string of errors.
@thacobell4700 not untrue, but it still doesn't explain why live ammunition was on set.
I digress and agree. It was a string of errors that resulted in tragedy.
@@timtheskeptic1147He fired the gun. His fault. Any responsible person would always, regardless of what anyone else says, check the weapon for ammo and safety. Also, the firearms supervisor had no idea what they were doing. Everything would've been prevented if Baldwin was properly trained in firearms.
@@Mister-Six I agree! But it all starts with the person in charge of the weapons on set.
"Where did this tiny horse come from?" Well, when two horses really like each other.......
They adopt a small horse since they are virgins and their master wouldn't allow it
Ray Harryhausen, a legend who will never be forgotten of his work
Like god he is immortal on his impact
its crazy how there are movies made 20-30 years later with worse effects than Harryhausen. Every movie he made was like the Avatar or Phantom Menace of its time.
for the record, "-hippus" _means_ "horse" and is where "hippopotamus" comes from--it's Greek and means "river horse" ;)
I seem to remember eo hippus is equally boring and means something like tiny horse or first horse....
@@marhawkman303dawn horse.
@@iapetusmccool ah, ok, TY
@@iapetusmccool beat me to it ;)
the little horse! my dream animal
Gwangi's death has always been hard to watch for me. He's trapped in the burning cathedral as he's screaming in agony and fear, and the scene just goes on for so long. It's also sad because the humans took him from his habitat, similar to King Kong.
It was sad, but I always wondered did the villagers have a BBQ later?😂🍖🍖🍗🍗😂
@@randybarnett2308 LOOKS LIKE MEAT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS!
@@randybarnett2308mmm...grilled allosaurus sounds tasty...🤤
You’re quite right.
@@IndominusGojira pass the BBQ sauce!😛😀🍖🍖🍗
The 'Cowboys vs. (Fill in the creature)' movie genre goes all the way back to the 1935 serial "The Phantom Empire" where western icon Gene Autry plays a singing cowboy who discovers a lost subterranean civilization descended from Atlantis existing under his ranch.
Cowboys never go out of style they even had them in Star Trek,and in Star Wars -- Han Solo was sorta a cowboy,anyway Cowboys rule!👍💪🤠
That actually sound really cool as a concept
@@randybarnett2308 Lucas even explicitly described Han as a cowboy. Part of why he's first encountered in a cantina, not a bar or a tavern or something.
It was even the basis for The Secret Empire segments of the TV series Cliffhangers.
@@Wanttowrite I remember that show. I liked the "Dracula" segments, and I recall that there was a Brenda Starr-like female reporter.
11:15 "plucked ostrich" which IS a pretty accurate description for a donosaur with no feathers
Except, they actually have feathers and look like ostriches with hands and long tails.
@@ExtremeMadnessX
Some did, some didn’t.
And some of the ones that had feathers didn’t have a full coating of feathers, and instead had sparse coverings, similar to the fur covering of an elephant.
Proctolostrich
Tho I would say reptilian ostrich sound nicer
@@beastmaster0934 That's true, but I'm specifically talking about ornithomimosaurs here.
This was Ray Harryhausen's last and final dinosaur movie he had made, as he knew that people weren't interested in dinosaurs anymore, and that western movies were making monet at the box office.
I guess he was a little too late to see Jurassic Park then
@@rextexan4727 He said in an interview that he saw the film and it was well done and said that the Dinosaurs were so real and scary, little kids would have nightmares for years.
I always wonder what he would've thought of Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal had he still lived.
Too bad they couldn't do a spaghetti western cowboys and dinosaurs movie.
@@winternow2242I Don't Think Clint Eastwood would Want to be in That Movie.
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
Still a masterclass work of art by Ray Harryhausen love this movie
I'm always in awe of Ray Harryhausen's artistic skills. I was 6 when I first saw this. "The Valley of Gwangi" will always hold a special place in my heart of nostalgic love from me.
I learned recently that one of the people involved in the earliest pitch meetings for Doctor Who shot down the idea of giving the Doctor child sidekicks because he reasoned that children don't strongly identify with child characters who aren't the actual protagonist of the story, and even when they do, they don't identify with children significantly older or younger than themselves.
I immediately thought of Brandon's thoughts about Kennies when that came up. And the reasoning makes perfect sense when you remember that a lot of kids are in a hurry to be seen as grown up.
It took time for the comic book industry to realize similar.
It's fine if kids are the main focus of the story, but whenever they're shoehorned in as side characters it almost always feels superfluous.
@@TheBrandonTenold it's mainly because the kids are never well-written characters. In Jurassic Park the kids are well-written and have good interactions with the adult characters because they're treated like humans and not vessels for the audience to feel extra tension.
@@TheBrandonTenold There are exceptions. "Short Round" from Temple of Doom was great.
@fakshen1973 Short Round was decent, but as a kid I was still more engaged by Indy.
The Valley of Gwangi is easily one of my favorite Harryhausen movies, and one of the my favorite Dinosaur movies of all time.
This movie just feels so unique. I don't think there aren't any westerns and dinosaur sci-fi films that came close to Gwanji or even Beast of Hollow Mountain
We need a new one starring Jason Momoa and Chris Evans.
Nice timing doing this review because this past Tuesday was the 55th Anniversary of The Valley of Gwangi.
Love Brandon's thumbnail pics.
I'll always remember being a young kid in the late 70's (before VCR's) and they were playing this on TV as a late night movie at 1am. My father woke me up and we watched it together. It was a real treat and we absolutely loved it. I bought it for him on DVD just last year and we watched it with my kids. This movie will always have a special place in my heart.
I always loved the church setting in the finale. It is unique, dramatic, and shows how out of his element Gwangi is. The scene where he reacts to the pipe organ, a sudden and overwhelming sound like nothing he has ever heard before, is perfectly done.
Brandon doing all the classics. I remember my father having this on super 8mm. We would watch it projected on my bedroom wall. This was even before we bought our furst VHS player, which was a top-loader.
Never had a projector to watch those 8mm clip reels, but I'm old enough to know about them. For those unclear, during the early to late 70s, I recall visiting stores like K-Mart and in either the phonographic record depart or either the camera section, the stores had display racks offering 8mm celluloid film reels. These items either contained highlights of movies, some pivotal or iconic scenes or a severely truncated cut of the overall movie, usually condensed to 15 minutes or less. This was an era before "affordable" video playback and recording devices like BetaMax, VHS, and a plethora of abandoned technologies. If one wanted yo watch a "movie" at the time of one's choosing (not dependent upon the whims of the local station's programming scheduler), this was one's primary option. And one had to be a bit more fiscally affluent if one wanted audio. Sound for these reels, and the projectors with the hardware to play it, cost considerably extra. While my father was not poor by any means, he was prudent with finances, so we never owned these entertainment "frivolities". We made do with "rabbit ear" color TV in the den. But I do remember "drooling" over the reels offered in the store. Of course, once the video industry started to offer movies upon tape, full length with audio (and color if the it was filmed that way), the 8mm reel market died hard.
Fun Fact:
Professor Bromley was played by
Laurence Naismith, who's best known
as Captain Edward J. Smith from
the 1958 docudrama film: *"A Night to*
*Remember"* and the minor role of
Sir Donald Munger in Sean Connery's
last EON film: *"Diamonds Are Forever"*
in 1971.
I love a night to remember, I much prefer it over '97 Titanic with Jack and Rose. I'm so glad he was both on the Titanic and wrangling dinos in the old west.
He was also in another Harryhausen film: Jason and the Argonauts, as Argus, the man who built the Argo.
Also in the classic war movie "Sink the Bismarck!" as Sea Lord Dudley Pound along with fellow "Night to Remember" co-star Kenneth More.
I always associate Laurence Naismith most with the original "Village Of The Damned" and especially his Merlin in the 1967 film of Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot".
@@thenumbah1birdman
*"Sink the Bismarck!"* also
starred Michael Goodliffe (Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews), Russell Napier (Californian's Captain Stanley Lord), and Jack Watling
(4th Officer Joseph Boxhall)
from *"A Night to Remember".*
As well as featured other
Bond actors that co-starred
in the film: the aforemetioned
Michael Goodliffe (MI6 Chief of
Staff Bill Tanner), Geoffrey Keen (Minister of Defense Frederick "Freddy" Grey) and Walter Gotell (SPECTRE agent Morzeny in *"From Russia With Love"* & KGB General Anatol "Alexis" Gogol from 1977-1987).
One of my childhood faves. First time seeing it: Trapped at home with the flu during summer vacation, watching a week's worth of daytime TV and then.... THIS came on!
I look forward to these uploads more than any other channel I subscribe to.
James Franciscus. The discount Charlton Heston. Too bad Franciscus lit up his health, ruined his career, and foreshortened his life. With smoking and alcohol. Relegated to B movies and died from emphysema. Like Doug McClure.
Franciscus co-starred with Heston in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. They looked like twin brothers.
Truth! Before my time. Although, my Planet of the Apes DVD with commentary supports your statement. Linda Harrison played Nova. During the interview she said James Franciscus was a smaller version of Charlton Heston.
@@markrowlett6921on the nose:
60s film producer type: Let's get Heston!
60s film producer type 2: He does come with an asking price....and he's penciled in for....(big name title 1)...
and...(big name title 2)
60s film producer type: Let's then get...Franciscus
Looked great shirtless, tho, and that smooth look was overtaking Heston's hairy-chested manliness by this time.
He was also the star on LONGSTREET where Bruce Lee was often the guest star.
Regarding that Turok reference, the character's older then the film. Turok's first appearance was in Four Color Comics #596, published in 1954. 15 years before The Valley of Gwangi premiered in theatres.
When the purple T-Rex scratched his head with his claw, this was a Ray Haryhausen's nod to Willis O'Brian's T-Rex from King Kong.
I'm pretty sure Gwangi is an Allosaurus.
That scene where Gwangi comes out from behind that rock formation and eats that Ornithomimid was definitely referenced in the first Jurassic Park - that scene where Rexy charges out of the trees and kills a Gallimimus. The scene where Rexy eats the goat was a reference to the rancor in Return of the Jedi, so it's all intentional.
@@ggrarl Referenced? I'd say inspired from.
He's an Allosaurus/T-rex hybrid (I call Gwangi an "Allotyrannus")
@@ggrarlThis movie also has quite the parallels to The Lost World.
7:50 OK, the animation on the little horse is absolutely stunning. It's almost perfect. And how in the world did he keep its hair from going all wonky from being moved around?
Glue
Same way Willis O'Brien did with Kong, carefully brushed it back into place between each frame. This is a big part of why stop motion was mostly used to depict reptiles instead of mammals.
@@davidvanhorn3340 better hair kept it from ruffling like you can still see in Kong and Mighty Joe Young.
Actually, the word “hippus” is latin for horse. Hippopotamus means “River Horse”. Eohippus means Dawn Horse.
That's what I would have named my daughter. Luckily for her, I didn't have one.
I giggled at the Buffalo Bill “Silence” jokes, and I truly agree with your comparison between Harryhausen and contemporary period art direction. Well done as always!
18:45 “Damn! I knew we should have kept running out of the arena instead stopping right here and facing in the direction of the dinosaur!”
My dad showed this movie to me as a kid, and it’s still my favorite Ray Harryhausen films. The action, the dialogue, the animals. I love how you kinda feel bad for Gwangi, he aggressive, but only because he’s a territorial animal captured and forcibly brought to an unfamiliar place.
Also, the bit where he says something along the lines of, “On one hand I love her and don’t wanna hurt her. On the other hand I love money”, ALWAYS makes me laugh
Yeah, same, my dad showed this and some other monster movies recorded from TV on a VHS, including Reptilicus, which that movie traumatized me.
FINALLY! One of my favs since childhood.
That's the most flamable stone church I've ever seen!
I agree that it takes a while to get going, but Harryhausen's dinosaur effects are always fun to witness!
"Meet Diablo."
Cue ad for Diablo IV.
"Dammit, Google. Stop linking ads to the video!"
Saw it on TV as a kid and just loved it. Cowboys vs dinosaurs...what's not to love?
This one hits me right in the childhood. I watched this on TV - the old school, three channels, big dial, no remote - when I was about six or so.
Forbidden Valley Ranch Dressing
😆
Just opening a bottle of that and you could suffer the Gypsy's Curse of Gwangi!
As a dinosaur aficionado who's also really into classic pulp. I feel this little nugget is on topic:
Porter Emerson Browne's "The Diplodocus" (published in 1908) is a humorous western tall tale where the narrator & his long-sufferings mule meet an eccentric coot who makes "eggsperiments" similar to plant grafting, but using animal material. His ultimate goal is to recreates a dinosaur using the genetic material of other animals, specifically in order to display to the public for big bucks. It doesn't go to plan, & hilarity ensues.
What's fascinating is that not only is it one if the earliest entries in the Cowboys & Dinosaurs genre, it also kind of anticipates Jurassic Park in the wackiest possible way.
I love that story.
That sounds interesting
That sounds amazing, I'll have to look it up sometime
11:29 to 11:36
They show a side by side comparison on the Jurassic Park DVD. The special effects crew included that as a tribute.
The Valley of Gwangi is my favorite Ray Harryhausen movie of all time Cowboys and Dinosaurs sounds like a fitting match. 🏜 🤠 🦖 🦕
4:50 Truly a tale as old as The Land Before Time.
Fun Fact #2:
The Ornithomimus' death scream can also be heard in *"ORCA"* (1977) and Richard Williams' unfinished animated film: *"The Thief and The Cobbler".*
OMG You are absolutely right.
And The Dark Crystal (specifically in the scene where the Garthim kill the Landstriders).
My friend David, who sadly passed away last year, was a big fan of your channel. He loved classic monster movies, and had a wicked sense of humor. I know he's laughing in heaven at your Alec Baldwin crack.
Thank you Mr Tenold! Always a pleasure to watch you sir! Love this movie!
Valley of Gwangi will always hold a special place in my heart, because I got to watch it for the first time on the big screen at the NIFFF festival when Ray Harryhausen was a guest that year. After the show I got to meet the man. At the time my English really wasn't adequate so we had a translator and I was so starstruck, I could barely say anything in front of Mr. Harryhausen. Yet, he mentioned me later on, at a Q&A, happy to see the young generation was still getting inspired by his work.
5:12 Dropping a horse and rider from a tower into some water, was a real carnival/circus trick, however a trap door was used as the horse wouldn't jump (rightly so!).
I am always a fan of Ray Harryhausen's work. I had already seen "The Valley of Gwangi" and loved it. But I remember when my dad and I went to an all-night drive in romp, where they played this and several others of Ray's, with some Godzilla films of the 60s.
I remember when we drove home, the sun was just about to rise. It was one of my fondest memories with my father.
Damn, that sounds epic!
Wow! My father and I went to the same thing when we lived in Florida! Awesome!!!
I didn't even realize this wasn't an old-ass video.
Cheers for reviewing Gwangi! If under interrogation, I'd have to tell the truth and say that Blazing Saddles and Valley of Gwangi are the best westerns ever made!
The theme tune is unforgettable.
"Guy goes down to Mexico to try and get some from an Ex, gets mixed up with dinosaurs. Truly a tale as old as time..." Suddenly I feel Brandon has had a way more interesting life than I have.
I saw this film at the movies when it first came out. I recall my sister being astonished at the pteranodon scene. "It looks so real! How did they do that?" Love Harryhausen.
I saw this at the movies with my dad, possibly the Portage in Chicago.
"The human leads"
This will be how I describe all starring actors from now on. Thanks, Brandon!
Hi Brandon! Thanks for reviewing this movie. It should be noted that one of the co-stars of Gwangi is Richard Carlson, who also starred in "It Came from Outer Space", The Creature from the Black Lagoon", and other movies.
The eohippus (the prehistoric mini horse) is absolutely stunning. It might be my favourite model of his because it looks genuinely like he went back in time and got an early horse, its insanely lifelike, even to this day. Has to be one of my favourite depictions of an extinct animal.
Hell yeah, my favorite Harryhausen movie!
I don't think anyone wants to see Segal fight a dinosaur, he doesn't get out of a chair in films, not even for action scenes.
I can think of two versions I'd want to see:
1) Steven Segal doing his slapfighting thing with a T-Rex.
2) The carnivorous dinosaur wins the fight and kills Segal (character or actor, either way is a win).
Best thing is, they could do both in the same fight.
Seagal could also play the dinosaur. He's fat enough now.
Fun fact: James Cameron was thinking of offering to direct Jurassic Park before Spielberg got the job. Cameron wanted to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger and Charlton Heston.
I wanna see Seagal play Older Cameron Mitchell in the biopic.
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I remember seeing this movie!
At a drive-in!
In my PJs!
Most I cannot remember, too much time and recreational chemicals, but I do remember the cage bars falling on the professor and then the dinosaur jumping on it!
Now get off my lawn, I have a cloud to yell at!
Excellent Brandon!!!! One of my all time favorites since it combines two things in my life; cowboys and dinosaurs!!!!!
_in your life_ ?
@@M2Mil7er I work in ranching in Nevada and rodeo, and I have a masters in geology because of my love of dinosaurs
The Wild Wild West tv show was an attempt to mix cowboys with James Bond.
And started steam punk.
That last other dinosaurs just had me expecting Doug McClure to leap out and save the day 🤣🤣🤣
ABOUT TIME!!! WSuch an Awesome concept was waiting for you to cover this one. I remember telling people that if red dead 2 ever got an expansion it should be something along the lines of this and not an Undead Nightmare 2
This movie has to be the main inspiration for the classic 2000AD series 'Flesh', which isn't just cowboys versus dinosaurs... it's time-travelling cowboys rounding up dinos to be slaughtered to feed future Earth society!
You've made me very happy. One of my favourite movies as a kid. Going to watch it again now...
Brandon doing ‘Valley of Gwangi’??
How COOL is THAT??
Its nice to see this classic again.
Great video 📼
I hope you get around to reviewing one of my favorite Ray Harryhausen's Classics, The Mysterious Island (1961) 🏝 🦀
He said a plucked ostrich.
As in someone plucked all the feathers off an ostrich.
18:51
Gwangi: Rawr I'm a dinosa- AHH A BEE!
There's also "The Ship Of Monsters," a Mexican film where a wisecracking ranch-hand battles alien monsters AND vampires... and there's a robot that falls in love with a jukebox.
Sounds weird.
@@anubusx Mexico gave us a professional wrestler who was also a superhero who fought vampires. Trust me, it's our kind of weird.
@@thetribunaloftheimaginatio5247
Reminds me that 2019 Hellboy film.
@@anubusx Except that movie sucks.
@@thetribunaloftheimaginatio5247
It felt like a parody of the comics.
I will watch The Crooked Man.
I was absolutely obsessed with this as a kid!
Sweet! One of my favorite dinosaur movies!
OMG old school movie dino's + cowboys... Loved this one as a kid, stop motion pictures like this one are great fun.
Looks like Brandon’s about to escape from his vault.
But before that? He made this awesome video. Love Gwangi!
The tuck reference flew over my head but the good bye horse had me on the floor !
Bit of trivia since I haven't seen it mentioned: apparently the elephant in this was actually modelled on a mammoth, just with the hair removed
Definitely an underrated movie.
Just stumbled across your video and really enjoyed it.. So I thought I'd throw my two cents in.. I was fortunate enough to speak with Mr. Harryhausen at a convention in Chicago once. As Gwangi is one of my favorite movies of his. He told me a couple things I thought I'd share...I think it was after he had finished the film he gave Gwangi to his daughter who would put it in a baby carriage and play with it like a doll. He said she got some funny looks from some of the mothers at the park...Also I actually asked him if the elephants in Gwangi and 20 million miles to earth were the same model and he said no. He usually tore the models apart after he was finished with them in order to use the armatures on other projects. So both elephants were built for their individual movies.
That whole bit about silence of the lambs and working in “goodbye horses” was CLEVER AS HELL! Well played mate
Awesome I been waiting for you update video ❤❤❤
Warner Brothers issued THE VALLEY OF GWANGI as part of a double feature; it was paired with WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH (1971).
I love this movie. I have the theater poster hanging in my office.
NICE!!
Thanks Brandon Tenold!
from a fellow Canuck!!!!
@TheBrandonTenold "TJ's not ready to say 'goodbye horses' just yet". Very subtle, nicely done!
Brandon's killing it today.
I just realized Night of the Living Dead was made BEFORE this movie!
That Alec Baldwin gag took me off guard😂😂
I think I got a name for Gwangi:
Tyrallosaurus Rex
I really need to see this movie - thanks for the review Brandon!
Always enjoy your channel
8:18 fun fact: eohippus means "dawn horse"
I would love to see a Ray Harryhausen-themed month on this channel.
Stephen King's magnum opus The Dark Tower is a great example of a paranormal Western
I think I remember seeing some clips of this movie on a "Sci-Fi Channel" special about the legendary Ray Harryhausen. I sadly forgot the title always assumed the movie was called "Cowboys & Dinosaurs". Seeing it here, it does make me curious to check it out if it ever airs on TV or I run into it on DVD. Great episode man!
10:18 "This movie is really picking up" Well played, Brandon
A classic that NEEDS A MODERN REMAKE.
That movie was shot in Spain, in Cuenca, and my father played as an extra in the movie.
This is one of the few films where I wish it got a remake.
Not because I don’t love this film, far from it, it’s one of my favorites, but could you imagine the kind of visuals they could create using modern technology?
Imagine a dust cloud in the distance on an old western arid frontier. You think it’s a stampede of cattle, but then BAM it’s a herd of triceratops!
Ray Harryhausen’s movies are nostalgic, that no one could ever replace his work.
16:18 funny you should say that. Once the film was made, Harryhausen gave that solid rubber Gwangi model to his daughter, who loved it and treated it like how any girl treats a dolly. To the point she'd wrap it up in blankets and take it out shopping with her parents. According to Ray, there was at least one instance of an elderly lady asking to see her doll and getting a nasty shock when she saw a dinosaur's face staring from inside a bundle. (Note, Harryhausen's books are really dang good, give them a look if you can find them!)
This has been my favorite movie since I was a little boy and I remember
I love renting this from Blockbuster on vhs It’s my favorite movie. What good mix Cowboys and dinosaurs you got this awesome flick and I never trusted that old gypsy witch lady
The young cowboy actually says "it looks like a plucked ostrich", an accurate description of Ornithomimosaurs back when we didn't know they too were covered in feathers.
YEEHHHHAAAAAWWWWW THE GREATEST FILM OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!