Rating: 
Summary: Get in touch with your inner forbidden valley.
Review: The Valley of Gwangi is not a good "A" grade movie. It's not even a good "B" grade movie. But it is a fantastic "C" grade movie (the cinematic province of directors such as Ed Wood). Come to it with the right expectations and you'll not be dissappointed in this tale of Cowboys battling Dinosaurs in a turn of the century Mexico crawling with Spanish, Flamenco playing Gypsies (How did the Gypsies get here? Originally the story was supposed to be located in Spain, and they survived the rewrites that relocated it to Mexico.) The film is also significant in that it forms part of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhousen's body of stop-motion animated features.
Rating:
Summary: Get in touch with your inner forbidden valley.
Review: The Valley of Gwangi is not a good "A" grade movie. It's not even a good "B" grade movie. But it is a fantastic "C" grade movie (the cinematic province of directors such as Ed Wood). Come to it with the right expectations and you'll not be dissappointed in this tale of Cowboys battling Dinosaurs in a turn of the century Mexico crawling with Spanish, Flamenco playing Gypsies (How did the Gypsies get here? Originally the story was supposed to be located in Spain, and they survived the rewrites that relocated it to Mexico.) The film is also significant in that it forms part of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhousen's body of stop-motion animated features.
Rating: 
Summary: Harryhausen And Moross Shine in Splendid Fantasy Film
Review: The Valley Of Gwangi was a script prepared in 1940 by Willis O'Brien, the SFX technician responsible for King Kong. His apprentice, Ray Harryhausen, acquired a copy of the script, but when O'Brien's project was aborted, Harryhausen forgot about it until in 1966, having wrapped up work on One Million Years B.C., Harryhausen and producer-friend Charles Schneer found the script in Harryhausen's garage, and decided to film it. William Bast was brought it to make changes; originally set in 1940, the story was pushed back to circa 1900.The film's genesis proved to be most troubling. Schneer and Harryhausen's primary distributor, Columbia Pictures, felt the film would be too expensive (it called for much more in the way of stop-motion animation and film-splicing FX than previous Harryhausen projects), but Ken Myler of Seven Arts (which had financed One Million Years B.C.) liked the project and took it to Warner Brothers when Seven Arts bought into the film company. Filming took two years and was plagued with problems. There were reports of controversies with director James O'Connelly (Harryhausen wound up directing the majority of the film, though it was mostly because of the sheer quantity of stop-motion/splitscreen effects work needed) and also spats between Schneer and the film's musical composer, Jerome Moross. There was also the matter of Israeli actress Gina Golan, cast as the film's heroine, T.J. Breckenridge; Golan could not speak fluent English, so her voice had to be dubbed for the entire film. Then, when the film was finished, Ken Myler left Warner Brothers-Seven Arts, and the new management wanted nothing to do with the film, so they dumped it on the market with little more than a poster and a coming attractions trailer as publicity. The bitter experience almost drove Harryhausen out of movies. The film could have been a huge hit, because it is very entertaining, highlighted by Jerome Moross' thrilling score (Moross used a large orchestra, a luxury becoming extinct in the budget-crunched movie industry of 1968-9), great performances by James Franciscus, Richard Carlson, and company, and animation by Harryhausen that is among his finest. The allosaur Gwangi is quite an energetic beast, and his battles with a belligerent styracosaur and later a circus elephant (this scene has been unfairly criticized because the elephant is depicted as too large and moving a bit too smoothly) are thrilling and at times a bit overpowering. Contributing mightily to the film's adrenaline rush is awe-inspiring sound editing and FX; the growling voices of Gwangi and the styracosaur are far deeper and more menacing than monster voices in previous Harryhausen films; even when the beasts simply breathe, the menace is unmistakable; the echo effect when Gwangi prowls through a huge church late in the film is brilliantly realized. The human characters are often overlooked in reviews of the film, for they succeed in holding it all together. Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus) and T.J. Breckenridge are sparring over ownership of a struggling wild west show, but bite of more than they can chew when the discovery of a tiny horse - a prehistoric Eohippus, tenderly animated by Harryhausen - leads to The Forbidden Valley. The human characters are put through the emotional wringer as they fight, reconcile, fight again, team up to battle the dinosaurs, and succeed in bringing Gwangi to captivity. But Tuck has had his fill, and wants no part of T.J's scheme to use Gwangi as part of the show. When Gwangi is freed by gypsies, he kills the elephant (a battle that is quite gory for a G-rated film) and traps Tuck and T.J. in a church, where he is killed when a flaming brazier sets the place afire. The climatic fire rips at the audience as Gwangi wails in its death throes, and we are left feeling guilty at the creature's death. The film's extremely unhappy ending is uncharacteristic of a Ray Harryhausen film, and may be why Harryhausen has admitted that the film is not one of the favorites he has done. He should feel more pride in it, though, for it is a true masterpiece of his.
Rating:
Summary: One day he will learn to obey the law of Gwangi...
Review: The Valley of Gwangi, aka Gwangi, aka The Lost Valley, aka The Valley Time Forgot, aka The Valley Where Time Stood Still, (whew!) stars James Franciscus (Beneath the Planet of the Apes) and Richard Carlson (It Came From Outer Space) and while they were decent, the real star of this movie is special effects creator and legend Ray Harryhausen. Franciscus plays Tuck Kirby, a cowboy looking to make a quick buck by brokering a deal for the sale of a horse that's being used in his ex-girlfriend's Wild West circus show that is located 'just south of the Rio Grande'. Gila Golan plays T.J. Breckenridge, owner of the circus, with Carlson as Champ Connors, the protective fatherly figure/manager of the circus. Anyway, a discovery is made of some sort of prehistoric animal, a wee little horse, and we soon find out the animal came from an area called the 'forbidden valley'...or at least that's what it is called by the gypsy-like tribe that seems to live near it, which, by the way, are inclined to believe that the rather wee horse needs to be returned to the valley whence it came of dire consequences involving a curse or some such hooey will follow. Now, getting off on a slight tangent, if I were these gypsies and I wanted to keep people out of the valley, I would have probably called it something else, like valley of the happy flowers, or valley of the nothing to see here, as the forbidden valley just sounds too tempting to strangers and such to not be explored. The gypsies also refer to it at times as the valley of the Gwangi, but they never really get specific as to the exact nature of the Gwangi. So these gypsies end up stealing the wee, small horse and returning it to the 'forbidden' valley, with members of the Wild West circus in hot pursuit. Also along for the ride is some elderly anthropologist who happens to be in the area studying fossils and various junk who seems to just get in the way more than anything else. This pursuit ultimately leads the group into the forbidden valley, where they encounter various prehistoric creatures, including a voracious and persistent tyrannosaurus rex. We are now about an hour into the movie, so if it's dinosaurs ye be looking for, keep this in mind, as you will probably be bored silly with the movie leading up to this point. Cowboys and dinosaurs? Sounds pretty cool...and it is. Harryhausen really outdid himself in this movie not only bringing these various creatures to life, but managing to instill personality into them, and adding all kinds of nuances to the stop motion animation. Keep in mind there were no high tech hoity toity computer gizmatronics back when this movie was made, so special effects creators had to be, well, creative. Harryhausen, shows in this film why he's considered one of the greatest effects artists in motion pictures. The man must have truly loved his work as it shows here. So what happens next? Well, the cowboys manage to capture one of the bigger, wily, creatures (hint, it's a real big one with sharp, pointy teeth) and bring it back to put in the Wild West show but things go badly as the creature escapes and wreaks havoc in a heavily populated area. Think of Godzilla attacking Tokyo except instead of Godzilla it's a prehistoric beast, instead of Tokyo it's Mexico City and instead of frightened Japanese people fleeing in terror, it's frightened Mexican people in sombreros fleeing in terror. Oh the carnage...who lives? Who dies? Who get horribly ate up? Well, you'll just have to see the movie. The picture provided on this disc is wide screen anamorphic, and special features include an eight minute tribute to Ray Harryhausen entitled 'Return to the Valley' where contemporary special effects artists gush over Harryhausen and tell how he influenced them and the various films they've worked on, most notably Jurassic Park. There is also like four or five trailers for other films Harryhausen worked on, including The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. I thoroughly enjoy The Valley of the Gwangi, even though I understand others have thought the movie to be bit slow, in the beginning, at least. I understand this, as the really cool dinosaurs don't appear until about halfway into this 95-minute feature. Fans of Ray Harryhausen will not be disappointed, but others may find themselves looking for the chapter stop where the dinosaurs are...all in all a nifty western adventure with a good helping of thrilling science fiction provided by a true pioneer of special effects. By the way, where did they find this actress who played the love interest to James Franciscus? She was somewhat attractive, but her wooden acting skills certainly made me root for a big, hungry, salivating primal beastie to gobble her up quickly. Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: Harryhausen's neglected gem shines!
Review: This 1969 release by Ray Harryhausen and Charles Schneer was a flop upon it's initial release. A change of studio heads at Warner Bros. caused the film to be ignored in terms of advertising and publicity. Now you can see it in all it's glory. Widescreen, digitally remastered, with a documentary featuring praise by the ILM team. The stop motion animation is superb. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following due to video and cable. It's strange mix of cowboys and dinosaurs (with a stronger emphasis on the dinosaurs) is charming, and the film can be viewed by all ages. A must for Harryhausen fans, even if you own the video
Rating:
Summary: Harryhausen's neglected gem shines!
Review: This 1969 release by Ray Harryhausen and Charles Schneer was a flop upon it's initial release. A change of studio heads at Warner Bros. caused the film to be ignored in terms of advertising and publicity. Now you can see it in all it's glory. Widescreen, digitally remastered, with a documentary featuring praise by the ILM team. The stop motion animation is superb. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following due to video and cable. It's strange mix of cowboys and dinosaurs (with a stronger emphasis on the dinosaurs) is charming, and the film can be viewed by all ages. A must for Harryhausen fans, even if you own the video
Rating:
Summary: Harryhausen's Sleeper
Review: This is the best Cowboys and Dinosaurs film out there.The story was one Wllis O'Brien tried to get produced in the 30's without succes.Three and half decades later his protegee Harryhausen finally gets it made.In addition to the lovely Gila Golan it stared James Fransicus (TV's Mr. Novak) but upon it's initial release it was paired with an incompatable co-feature and released during the hieght of the 60's student protests.It's audience either failed to find it or was more interested in protesting than going to the movies.It was quickly pulled from theaters and considered a failure.Luckily it went quickly to television.The segment where the Cowboys rope Gwangi is particularly memerable.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic!
Review: This movie, produced almost 30 years before Jurassic Park, still evokes the "dinosaur feeling" much more than any other older film. If not for JP, it would still be the model to emulate. Cowboys and Dinosaurs? Try it, you'll like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Dino Valley
Review: This was a fun movie to watch when it came out and it still is...Once again Harryhausen comes through with flying colors on the dinosaur stop motion effects. The cast and music are pretty decent as well. James Franciscus turns in a good performance. The music is a catchy tune and although it is not as good as a western like Magnificent Seven it is done well... I hope they put this on DVD because I will get it along with anything else Harryhausen worked on.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated Harryhausen Classic Mister Kirby?
Review: This was always one of my favorite Ray Harryhausen films. The Jerome Moross score elevates this film from being just another standard fantasy motion picture and transforms it into a Western dinosaur roundup. The setting enhanced by the score and Harryhausen's convincing stop motion creatures really dupes the viewer very subtly into thinking that this Western could have happened. Or almost! The actual valley when first seen by the cowboys has a very unsettling look about it, somewhere between prehistoric and surrealistic. The Jerome Moross score is very reminiscent of his "THE BIG COUNTRY," "THE PROUD REBEL" and "THE JAYHAWKERS." The dinosaur work here by Harryhausen ranks among his best. "I see what you mean Mister Kirby."
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