The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Director: Jim O'Connolly

Starring: James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Richard Carlson, Laurence Naismith, Freda Jackson, Gustavo Rojo, Dennis Kilbane, Mario De Barros, Curtis Arden

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Cowboys Battle Monsters in the Lost World of Forbidden Valley.

Plot: It's 1900 and Cowboy James Franciscus seeks fame and fortune by capturing a Tyrannosaurus Rex living in the Forbidden Valley and putting it in a Mexican circus. His victim, called the Gwangi, turns out to have an aversion to being shown in public.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Hells, yeah, Pardner!

To get myself ready for COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011), I had a Cowboys & Dinosaurs double feature one night with a bunch of friends. There was this one and then it was the Awesome (!!!) THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977). Gwangi was one of those pictures I'd been wanting to see ever since I saw the balls-out, jaw-dropping trailer. Surly the movie can't be as good as that? It is!


You have to wait till about halfway in to get to the dinosaurs and that's when it gets REALLY fun. This movie rocks. The pacing is brisk, the location shooting of Almeria, Spain is fun for us Spaghetti Western freaks and Ray Harryhausen's special effects steal the show. His stop motion work is ALWAYS worth watching no matter what movie he did. I've enjoyed every film of his so far and that's quite a few.


When the shit hits the fan with a rampaging dinosaur on the loose, it's off the charts. People getting eaten, shit being destroyed, kids in peril, the works! The ONLY thing that would have made this movie better? Stop motion titties. There's got to be some lost Harryhausen footage out there with some stop motion titties. I'm pitching in ten bucks, American, into the kitty to pay someone to find it. As a huge fan of both Ray Harryhausen, stop motion animation and boobs, it's the trifecta in entertainment.