''Dinosaurus!'' is a 1960

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

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.

Plot

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

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

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 the Ancient Greek, Greek words , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in present-day United States during the Late Jurassic period. It was describe ...

'' and a ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It 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 B ...

(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 notices 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 '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

into its mouth. As Bart goes in to save Julio and the others, the caveman 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 S. Yeaworth Jr. from a screenplay by Theodore Simonson and Kate Phillips, based on an idea by Irving H. Millgate. It stars Steve McQueen (in his first leading role ...

'' and '' 4D Man'', 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, in the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

. The dinosaurs were filmed using the technique of

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

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. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

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 series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'' (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 a ...

". 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 th ...

'' 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 ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' 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 loose ...

", 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 counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late ...

, 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, credited to William Roberts, is a remake – in an Old West-style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself init ...

'' instead.

Release

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

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and then opened in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

;

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

;

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

; Springfield and

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

;

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

;

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

and

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

Reception and legacy

Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

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

References

External links