1969 dinosaur westernRating: 15/20 (Abbey: 20/20)
Plot: Somewhere just south of the Rio Grande, a cowboy circus manages to procure a special new attraction--a miniature prehistoric horse called an eohippus. Female cowgirl/circus performer T.J., whose act jumping with a horse into a pool of water has become stale, trains the eohippus, despite warnings from the gypsies that this will lead to the deaths of everybody involved. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend/circus colleague turned entrepreneur Tuck Kirby rides back into her life with a business proposition. An archaeologist, a midget, and a Mexican child called Lope also get into the mix as they travel to the Forbidden Valley and find out that there's more there than just itty-bitty horses.
Cowboys fighting dinosaurs? Hell yeah! You can almost imagine the meeting where this idea was pitched to executives. "Wait a second. Did you say it would be cowboys fighting dinosaurs. Let me stop you right there because I don't need to hear another word. Let's roll!" This is the movie for you if you've ever wanted to watch a T-Rex eat a midget. The special effects (Harryhausen again) are great even though the dinosaurs do occasionally change colors. There's an amazingly well-done shot involving the cowboys lassoing the dinosaur, and I have no idea how that was pulled off. The placing of the stop-motion animation within the landscapes amongst the actors is nearly seamless, and there's a couple nifty fights between the T-Rex and another dinosaur and later between the T-Rex and a performing elephant. The music's a bit much at times, but the sound effects are really impressive--lots of great screams, screeches, and dinosaur roars. The story is super-goofy and a little too reminiscent of King Kong except the T-Rex doesn't seem interested in having sex with the leading lady. Writer Willis O'Brien did work on King Kong. This dinosaur movie is superior to Jurassic Park despite the lack of Jeff Goldblum. At least it's more fun.
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