The Valley of Gwangi

Infobox Film
name = The Valley of Gwangi


caption = Theatrical poster to "The Valley of Gwangi" (1969)
director = Jim O'Connolly
Writer = William Bast
producer = Charles H. Schneer
Ray Harryhausen
actors = James Franciscus
Gila Golan
Richard Carlson
Laurence Naismith
Freda Jackson
Gustavo Rojo
writing credits = William Bast, Julian More, Willis H. O'Brien
music = Jerome Moross
cinematography = Erwin Hillier
editing = Henry Richardson, Selwyn Petterson
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = September 3, 1969
runtime = 96 min.
imdb_id = 0065163
amg_id = 1:52145
language = English
budget =

"The Valley of Gwangi" is a 1969 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.

Creatures effect 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 finance 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 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 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 himself out while trying to exit the valley in pursuit of the rest of the group. Securing him, they take him back to town where he 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 him. Instead the unfortunate man ends up on the menu and Gwangi breaks free, killing Bromley and a circus elephant 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 him.

Gwangi dies in the fiery holocaust 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 a horrible death and by the loss of life due to the "Allosaurus"' rampage.

Trivia

* During the 1980's hit series, "Scarecrow and Mrs. King", anytime the television was on, this movie was showing. It is said to be an inside joke.

*Although Harryhausen intended Gwangi to be an "Allosaurus", he based the model of the creature 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 then 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 "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. The film would have been done in 1942 had O'Brien got the finance to do it. Fact|date=February 2007

*Actress Gila Golan's accent was so strong, all her lines were redubbed on the movie 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.

* It was filmed in Cuenca, Spain.

*Gwangi is actually a Native American name that means "lizard". Fact|date=February 2007

ee also

*List of stop-motion films
*Weird West

External links

*
* http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/valley-of-gwangi.html