One Million Years B.C.

Raquel Welch became a sex symbol playing a cavewoman pin-up clothed in an animal skin bikini in what is surely the most famous caveman movie ever made. Produced by Britain's Hammer Films, a specialist in horror flicks, this is a 1966 remake of Hal Roach's campy One Million B.C. (1940), with John Richardson in the Victor Mature role of Tumak, a young warrior driven from his tribe of hunters by a brutal leader, and Welch as Loana, a woman in a peaceful coastal tribe of fisher-gatherers. This is pure fantasy, with primitive man in fur togas battling dinosaurs that died out millions of years before the arrival of the earliest human ancestors, and communicating in broad gestures and single-word exclamations in a grunting proto-language. But it is also very entertaining and features stop-motion dinosaurs created and animated by the great Ray Harryhausen. Director Don Chaffey plays it all seriously and delivers a fine looking film shot against dramatic landscapes on the Canary Island off of Spain, including a primordial volcanic desert. As the old joke goes, if you only have room for one caveman movie in your collection, this lively cult film should be it. This Blu-ray debut features both the American cut and the longer international version (each on a separate disc), with extras including audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas (on the longer edition) and video interviews with actresses Welch and Martine Beswick and animator Ray Harryhausen from 2002. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)