Like many of my generation, I was introduced to `the Valley of Gwangi' on television, having been born just a tad late to see it in the theater, and much too early to see it on video. To me as a kid, it was the very best dinosaur film ever made. Effects may have improved since then, but for my money, there is still nothing to compare to the loving hand-wrought artistry of Ray Harryhausen.
Most video guides and many of the imdb's commentators note that this was originally based upon a Willis O'Brien story. What few seem to notice is that O'Brien himself made a similar film called `The Beast of Hollow Mountain' in 1956. The film is inferior in terms of story and (surprisingly) effects, but it does hold the title of `the first cowboy western.'
As far as Gwangi is concerned, however, it follows the familiar psychotronic-era theme of a monster as catalyst for resolving a romance on the rocks. Tuck Kirby requires the help of the big lizard to prove himself to TJ Breckinridge and rekindle their love. This is a fairly familiar dramatic tension: the problem to be overcome is that of the hero's impotence, and he does so by invoking the dread demons of femininity. The location of the `forbidden valley' accessible only via a tight cave (which must be blasted with dynamite to enter) only takes the Freudian theme to extreme excesses. What is interesting, in this context, is the centrality of `Lope' the Mexican orphan child. For Lope, the tension appears to be whom to accept in the father-role: the heroic (but impotent) Tuck, the knowledgeable (if foolish and at times seemingly pedophilic) Professor or, as all us young boys truly craved , Gwangi himself. The resolution of James/Gila's romance appears to imply a resolution to Lope's situation as well: he is to be adopted into a newly formed family-unit, returned to normalcy and rescued from the streets. The fact that the movie closes with the image of Lope crying at the monster's death, tells what a tragedy this `happy ending' really is.
Most video guides and many of the imdb's commentators note that this was originally based upon a Willis O'Brien story. What few seem to notice is that O'Brien himself made a similar film called `The Beast of Hollow Mountain' in 1956. The film is inferior in terms of story and (surprisingly) effects, but it does hold the title of `the first cowboy western.'
As far as Gwangi is concerned, however, it follows the familiar psychotronic-era theme of a monster as catalyst for resolving a romance on the rocks. Tuck Kirby requires the help of the big lizard to prove himself to TJ Breckinridge and rekindle their love. This is a fairly familiar dramatic tension: the problem to be overcome is that of the hero's impotence, and he does so by invoking the dread demons of femininity. The location of the `forbidden valley' accessible only via a tight cave (which must be blasted with dynamite to enter) only takes the Freudian theme to extreme excesses. What is interesting, in this context, is the centrality of `Lope' the Mexican orphan child. For Lope, the tension appears to be whom to accept in the father-role: the heroic (but impotent) Tuck, the knowledgeable (if foolish and at times seemingly pedophilic) Professor or, as all us young boys truly craved , Gwangi himself. The resolution of James/Gila's romance appears to imply a resolution to Lope's situation as well: he is to be adopted into a newly formed family-unit, returned to normalcy and rescued from the streets. The fact that the movie closes with the image of Lope crying at the monster's death, tells what a tragedy this `happy ending' really is.