''Dinosaurus!'' is a 1960

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

directed by

Irvin Yeaworth __NOTOC__ Irvin Shortess "Shorty" Yeaworth Jr. (February 14, 1926 – July 19, 2004) was a German-born American film director, producer, screenwriter and theme park building, builder. He began his career singing at age 10 at KDKA (AM), KDKA in P ...

and produced by

Jack H. Harris Jack Henry Harris (November 28, 1918 – March 14, 2017) was an American film producer and distributor. He produced ''The Blob'' (1958), ''4D Man'' (1959), and ''Equinox (1970 film), Equinox'' (1970). Biography Harris was born to a Jewish famil ...

Plot

The film is about an American engineering team led by Bart (Ward Ramsey) building a harbor on a

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island when they accidentally uncover two dinosaurs that have been frozen in suspended animation for millions of years. They are a ''

Brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ''A ...

'' and a ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

''. That night, during a storm, the beasts are struck by lightning and come back to life. The islanders have no idea that the dinosaurs are alive because of the storm and are now roaming the island. Also awakened is a

caveman The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin ...

(Gregg Martell), whom initially is unknown to the islanders as he was buried some distance away. The ''Tyrannosaurus'' hunts across the island, attacking a beach guard and trolley cart. The caveman meanwhile stumbles into, and is bewildered, by a modern house. There he meets and befriends an island boy with a love of dinosaurs, Julio. The caveman introduces Julio to the ''Brontosaurus'', whom he is friendly to, and they go on a ride across the island. The ''Tyrannosaurus'' catches up to them and menaces Julio and the caveman, leading to it battling the ''Brontosaurus'' as the others hide in an abandoned mine shaft. After the ''Tyrannosaurus'' seemingly kills the ''Brontosaurus'' by biting its neck, it noticed the humans hiding in the mine and begins furiously kicking and clawing at it. The engineers briefly drive the ''Tyrannosaurus'' back by lobbing a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

into its mouth. As Bart goes in to save Julio and the others, the cavemman sacrifices himself holding up a collapsing beam to keep the mine shaft from caving in entirely, allowing others to escape. The ''Brontosaurus'', still alive, accidentally stumbles away and into a quicksand pit that swallows it up. Meanwhile, the islanders have found refuge from the ''Tyrannosaurus'' by hiding in the old fortress, which is protected by a ring of burning fuel. To ensure the ''Tyrannosaurus'' does not get in, Bart drives out to face the beast in a mechanical digger. They duel on the edge of an island cliff and, after a tense fight, the ''Tyrannosaurus'' is knocked into water, ending the island terror. The film ends with a picture of the apparently dead ''Tyrannosaurus'' on the sea bed. In an ending similar to his previous films ''

The Blob ''The Blob'' is a 1958 American science fiction horror film directed by Irvin Yeaworth, and written by Kay Linaker and Theodore Simonson. It stars Steve McQueen (in his first feature film leading role) and Aneta Corsaut and co-stars Earl Rowe a ...

'' and ''

4D Man ''4D Man'' (also known as ''The Evil Force'' in the UK; reissued as ''Master of Terror'' in the US) is a 1959 independent American science fiction film in color by De Luxe, produced by Jack H. Harris (from his original screenplay), directed by ...

'', the words "THE END" are shown, followed by a question mark.

Production

Parts of the film were shot on location. Some location shooting took place on the Island of

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The dinosaurs were filmed using the technique of

stop-motion animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

as well as

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s for close-ups. During special-effects work on this picture, the crew used their ''Brontosaurus'' model and miniature jungle set to film a shot for an episode of TV's ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

'' (1959) called "

The Odyssey of Flight 33 "The Odyssey of Flight 33" is episode 54 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone'', the 18th episode of the second season. An unlikely break of the time barrier finds a commercial airliner sent back into the prehistoric age ...

". A shot of the ''Tyrannosaurus'' was also borrowed for "The Secret of Gilligan's Island", a third-season episode of ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...

'' in which Gilligan dreams the castaways are all cave dwellers living on the island in the Stone Age. The roars and growls of the ''Tyrannosaurus'' were used numerous times for creatures in ''The Outer Limits'' (1963 TV series) in episodes such as

The Invisibles ''The Invisibles'' is a comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics from 1994 to 2000. It was created and scripted by Scottish writer Grant Morrison, and drawn by various artists throughout its publication. The series loosel ...

, and can also be heard from various other film monsters. The toy dinosaurs Julio shows everyone at the cantina were ''Brontosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' plastic figures made by

Marx Toys Louis Marx and Company was an American toy manufacturer in business from 1919 to 1980. They made many types of toys including tin toys, toy soldiers, toy guns, action figures, dolls, toy cars and model trains. Some of their notable toys are Rock' ...

. The leading role was intended for

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

, who starred in ''

'' two years earlier, also produced by Harris and directed by Yeaworth. McQueen passed on the film to make ''

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

'' instead.

Release

The film had its premiere on June 24, 1960, at the

Joy Theater The Joy Theater, named after owner Joy Houck, is a theater and historic landmark built in 1947 on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. Renovations in 2011 transformed the former movie palace into a multi-purpose theater for live mus ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and then opened in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio;

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

;

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

;

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

and

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

;

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

;

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

and

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

Reception and legacy

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "If ever there was a tired, synthetic, plodding sample of movie junk, it's this 'epic' about two prehistoric animals hauled from an underwater deep-freeze by some island engineers." The film was adapted into a comic book of the same name. It was parodied by

RiffTrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

on August 28, 2014.Dinosaurus Sample - RiffTrax on YouTube
/ref>

References

External links