ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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This was the silly comedy version of Quest For Fire (also 1981), about a small tribe of cavemen dominated by the biggest brute (football star John Matuszak) in "One Zillion BC" (a take off on One Million Years BC-1966).

Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr stars as the loser of the bunch, pitiful even for a dopey caveman and picked on by the big one.

Ringo's wife, ex-Bond girl Barbara Bach, is the resident spoiled sexpot. Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long are in early roles as Ringo's buddies.

As expected, the characters speak a limited prehistoric language, or they grunt a lot. This gets by mostly on sight gags but there are also moments of clever humor as the tribe experience various discoveries, such as learning how to stand up straight.

Since this is a comedy-fantasy, the pic also throws in comical dinosaurs, suggesting that this might take place in some alternate universe or another planet. The FX, a form of stop motion animation, are pretty good, sort of half-baked Harryhausen.

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The theme, not too shabby for a silly comedy, turns out to be non-conformity and excelling based on your differences or quirks. Ringo and a few others become outcasts, forming their own smaller tribe, but they end up succeeding at life due to their idiosyncrasies.

This also reminded me of some Mel Brooks comedies; Brooks tackled similar material in his later History of the World Part 1. Small roles for Evan Kim ("A Fistful of Yen" in Kentucky Fried Movie-77) and Richard Moll as an abominable snowman.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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Caveman (1981) is a wonderful comedy, complete with a consistent caveman language we actually learn during the movie. Before the film is twenty minutes over we know what the cave folks are talking about!

I even like the stop motion in Caveman better than Harryhausen's unfortunate attempt at a prehistoric epic!

_______ Caveman (1981): Drunken-Dinos, Oh My


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

When I saw the movie, they handed out a sheet with the language, which consists of fifteen words.

"alunda" – love
"bobo" – friend
"haraka" – fire
"macha" – monster
"aiyee" – help
"ya" – yes
"nya" – no/not
"ool" – food
"pooka" – broken/pain
"ugh" – like
"zug zug" – sex/mate
"kuda" – come
"caca" – shit
"guwi" – out to get
"gluglug" – drowned

The horned lizard was a mistake, stemming from a miscummunication. The producers wanted a Triceratops, but wrote "horned lizard", and that's what the effects people gave them. A horned lizard.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

___________________ Caveman Movie Trailer


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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Sir Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach began their long relationship after meeting on the set of this movie. They were married ten months after they met.

Note from me: Only in American can a young man like Ringo marry a gorgeous lady like Barbara Bach . . . unless it was one zillion B.C., in which case it was quite common.

~ In an interview, Shelley Long said that at her audition, she didn't speak any English. She responded to everything with an ad-libbed series of grunts. It obviously worked.

Note from me: Clever tactic. The producers "alunda" Shelly for doing this!

~ When showing at the old drive-in theaters in Australia every ticket holder was given a pamphlet with approximately thirty "caveman words" and an English translation for each word to listen for through the movie.

Note from me: That must have been fun for the drive-in patrons, and it illustrates the fact that the script writers made a complete language and used words consistently until the audience actually learned the language — unlike When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth]/i] and [i]On Million Years B.C.

The only problem with the idea is that people kept turning on their dome lights to read the pamphlets! I wonder if they're were many dead batteries at the end of the night.

~ Jim Danforth, special effects designer of the stop-motion animated dinosaurs (the dinosaur and effects designer), apparently left the production of this movie about two-thirds of the way through because the Directors Guild of America allegedly disallowed his already contracted co-director credit alongside director Carl Gottlieb. Therefore, Danforth is not credited as a director on this movie, only for special effects and second unit director.

Note from me: Danforth is sort of the "Val Kilmer" of special effects artists — extremely temperamental.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Jim Danforth showed Ray Harryhausen the model of the old, fat Tyrannosaurus and his comment was that the Tyrannosaurus looked pregnant. Danforth was disappointed and hurt by his idol's comment.*

David.

* Corrected, because sometimes I don't pay attention to what I write.

[Bud Brewster]

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Since it WAS fat — and on purpose — David's reaction seems unreasonable. I suspect there's more to the story . . . or it's just not true.

However, in 1981 Harryhausen gave a lecture at Georgia State University to a small audience and presented his models from his upcoming movie, Clash of Titans, along with a clip of the Medusa scene.

It was wonderful . . . and I sat in the front row.

Afterwards, a dozen of so folks gathered around the table with the models while ray answered question. I managed to ask him one myself.

"Sir, what did you think of Caveman?"

He gave a four-word answer.

"I don't like send-ups."

The definition of "send-up" is as follows.
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To give an exaggerated imitation of someone or something in order to ridicule them.
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Ray assumed that this movie was a direct criticism of One Million Years BC.

Admittedly the strong points of this movie are inspired by the weak points in both his film and When Dinosaurs Rules the Earth. It's unfortunate that Ray dismissed this movie as nothing more than a personal attack on his own film.

Admittedly he was just giving a quick answer to one person's question after an enjoyable lecture to a group of devoted fans who were showing him much more respect than my somewhat embarrassing query!

With that in mind, Ray undoubtedly knew that Caveman was intended to be a spoof of One Million Years BC, so his comment to Jim Danforth on the T-Rex's design was consistent with his short dismissal of this movie!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Re-rereading my comment, I see that I wrote it wrong. What Ray Harryhausen said when shown the old fat Tyrannosaurus was that it looked pregnant. Completely different.

I'm going to have to correct my first comment.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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A wise man once said, "There's a thin line between looking pregnant and having a beer belly."

Admittedly he was drunk when he said it.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)