The Valley of Gwangi
| The Valley of Gwangi | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Directed by | Jim O'Connolly |
| Produced by |
Charles H. Schneer Ray Harryhausen |
| Written by |
William Bast Julian More Willis H. O'Brien |
| Starring |
James Franciscus Gila Golan Richard Carlson Laurence Naismith Freda Jackson Gustavo Rojo |
| Music by | Jerome Moross |
| Cinematography | Erwin Hillier |
| Edited by |
Henry Richardson Selwyn Petterson |
|
Production
company |
Morningside Productions
|
| Distributed by | Warner Bros.-Seven Arts |
|
Release date
|
September 3, 1969 (United States) July 19, 1970 (Japan) |
|
Running time
|
96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Valley of Gwangi is a 1969 American western-fantasy film directed by Jim O'Connolly and written by William Bast. It stars James Franciscus and, in their final film appearances, Richard Carlson and Gila Golan. It was filmed with creature effects provided by Ray Harryhausen, the last dinosaur-themed film he animated. Harryhausen had inherited the project from his mentor Willis O'Brien, responsible for the special effects in the original version of King Kong (1933). O'Brien had planned to make The Valley of Gwangi decades earlier but died in 1962, before the project could be realized.
In Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, a cowgirl named T.J. Breckenridge hosts a struggling rodeo. Her former lover, Tuck Kirby, a heroic former stuntman working for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, wants to buy her out. Along the way, he is followed by a Mexican boy named Lope, who intends to join the rodeo on a quest for fame and fortune. T.J. is not interested in Tuck because of this, but Tuck is still attracted to T.J., especially when T.J. jumps off a diving board on her horse. T.J. finally accepts Tuck when he saves Lope from a bull and the two kiss.
T.J. has an ace she hopes will boost attendance at her show - a tiny horse called El Diablo. Tuck meets a British paleontologist named Horace Bromley, who is working in a nearby Mexican desert. Bromley shows Tuck fossilized horse tracks, and Tuck notes their similarity to El Diablo's feet. Tuck sneaks Bromley into the circus for a look at El Diablo, and Bromley declares the horse to be a prehistoric Eohippus.
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