It has been some time since I watched this wonderful film and watching it a few nights ago was sheer joy. James Franciscus is Tuck, a man who comes to a small Mexican town and finds the woman who was once the love of his life working in a small time circus.
T.J. (Gila Golan) has bigger plans than Tuck knows. they rekindle their relationship only to have trouble strike almost immediately. That trouble is in the form of a theft by some gypsies of a small prehistoric horse that T.J. has trained to appear in her new show. The horse is taken to a mysterious "Forbidden Valley" with everyone else in hot pursuit.
The cowboys soon discover, along with Prof. Bromley (Laurence Naismith) that the valley is over run with prehistoric life. they try and capture some of the animals for the circus but fail. Finally they meet Gwangi (a named given to him by the gypsies). This beast is more trouble than they realize, but they do finally manage to capture him and bring him back for the circus.
Gwangi escapes and goes on a rampage until he is trapped in a huge church and dies in a fire. The Harryhausen effects are some of the best work he ever did and if far out-shadows the real actors, which it is supposed to do. I love the scene with the huge Pterodactyl that attempts to snatch a young boy who is with Tuck. A simply great scene that has NEVER been matched in my opinion.
I recommend this film to ANYONE who likes Harryhausen film as well as a combo of western and sci-fi. EXCELLENT!!
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