Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



One Million Years B.C. (1966)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

One Million Years B.C. (1966, UK)

In this camp classic, fantasy prehistoric adventure film from director Don Chaffey, a remake of One Million B.C. (1940) by Hal Roach (above), with minimal plot and dialogue (but lots of grunts), about love interests from rival tribes during fictional caveman times (an anachronism since dinosaur creatures and humans never co-existed) - with amazing stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen:

  • the opening post-title credits narrated prologue: "This is a story of long, long ago, when the world was just beginning... A young world, a world early in the morning of time. A hard, unfriendly world. Creatures who sit and wait. Creatures who must kill to live. And man, superior to the creatures only in his cunning. There are not many men yet. Just a few tribes scattered across the wilderness. Never venturing far, unaware that other tribes exist even. Too busy with their own lives to be curious. Too frightened of the unknown to wander. Their laws are simple: the strong take everything. This is Akhoba, leader of the Rock Tribe, and these are his sons, Sakana and Tumak. There is no love lost between them, and that is our story "
  • the main character: Tumak (John Richardson), son of Akhoba (Robert Brown), from a primitive prehistoric tribe - the dark and savage Rock People; after a wild wart-hog hunt, when Tumak demanded ownership rights to the meat, he fought his father, fell from the cave's cliff, and was banished
  • threats to Tumak's life as he fled through a harsh arid desert included a giant iguana, a cave-dwelling ape-man, a Brontosaurus, and a giant spider (or tarantula), before he fell unconscious on a sloping beach by the water
Giant Iguana
Cave-Dwelling Ape-Man
Brontosaurus
(or Apatosaurus)
Large Spider
(Tarantula)
  • the views of half-clad cave women from the fair-haired, pacifist Shell People, wearing tight-fitting animal skins while spear-fishing [Note: the film was promoted with the slogan: "See Raquel Welch In Mankind's First Bikini!" - and it was the basis for a best-selling pin-up poster]; the tribeswomen were cavorting along the shore when one of them, the statuesque Loana (Rachel Welch) found Tumak collapsed and went up to him to revive him
The Shell People - Spear-Fishing
Loana (Raquel Welch)
  • to prevent an attack of an Archelon (giant turtle), Loana signaled with a conch shell and other male Shell People came to the rescue, and diverted the creature into the water
  • the village of the Shell Tribe, with an advanced culture exhibiting colorful cave paintings, some communication skills, cooperative living, shell necklaces and stitched clothing, weapon production, etc., contrasted with the barbaric Tumak who warily gobbled his food
  • the wild, provocative lascivious dance performed by Tumak's former lover Nupondi (Martine Beswick) back among the Rock Tribe, to appease the newly-established leader, Tumak's own brother Sakana (Percy Herbert); her frenzied dance was interrupted by lightning strikes and the sudden and unexpected appearance of a disfigured and injured Akhoba, who had been pushed off a cliff earlier by Sakana during a hunting trip, to assume power [Note: In some versions of the film, the dance was deleted]
Nupondi's Wild Dance
  • after a dispute over a spear with Ahot (Jean Wladon), Tumak was cast out of the Shell tribe, with Loana following after him; Ahot gave Tumak the spear as a peace gesture as he departed
  • the threats to Loana and Tumak from various creatures during their trek, including ape-men in a cave, and when they were caught in an epic battle between a Ceratosaurus and Triceratops
  • their return to the Rock People tribe, when in the cave, Tumak discovered his incapacitated, seriously-ailing father Akhoba, and still expressed feelings of revenge for nearly being killed
  • the 'cat fight' between Loana and wild Nupondi, a competing love interest known as "The Wild One" - although she defeated Nupondi, Loana declined to smash her head with a rock
'Cat Fight' - Loana vs. Nupondi
  • the swimming scene when Loana was attacked by a flying Pteranodon (similar to a pterodactyl) that carried her off to its nest before being attacked by a similar long-tailed Pterosaur; when Tumak attempted rescue, he thought Loana had been eaten when she had actually been dropped into the water and then stumbled back to her Shell People; she would soon be reunited with Tumak
Reunited
Tumak and Loana Battling Sakana
  • the final conflict between Sakana (and his followers) vs. Loana, Ahot, and Tumak, interrupted by an erupting volcano, opening fissures in the earth, tumbling rocks and earthquakes, and gushing lava flows; everything concluded with Tumak's murder of Sakana, and Akhoba's and Nupondi's deaths in a rock-fall and crevasse - the film finished with the remaining members of the two tribes reunited and searching for a new home while walking through the desolate and steamy landscape
  • throughout the film, Ray Harryhausen's remarkable stop-motion animation (termed "Dynamation") and some enlargements of live creatures to realistically portray giant monsters, including an Iguana (giant lizard), a Brontosaurus (or Apatosaurus), a giant Spider (or tarantula), a menacing Turtle (Archelon), an Allosaurus attacking a tree with a child, a fierce battle between a Ceratosaurus (a medium sized predatory horned lizard) and a Triceratops, and a flying Pteranodon
Harryhausen's Various Threatening Prehistoric Creatures
Archelon - a Giant Sea Turtle
Allosaurus
Ceratosaurus vs Triceratops
Pteranodon

Wild Warthog Hunt Among Rock People

Rock People Leader Akhoba (Robert Brown)

Tumak (John Richardson) - Banished From Rock Tribe


The Shell People Noticing Tumak Lying on the Beach - Loana Revived Him


Attack of an Archelon

Barbaric Tumak Among Civilized Shell People


Allosaurus Attacking Shell Child - Saved by Tumak

Tumak Cast Out of Shell Tribe (with Loana) - Ahot's Spear Offered to Tumak

Struggling to Stay Alive



Loana Swimming - Carried Away to Nest - Attacked by a Second Creature, and Dropped Into Water



Exploding Volcano, Earthquakes, Crumbling Rocks, Fiery Fissures

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