The session: "Westerns with a Twist of Monster"
For this year's version of our session of Westerns, Keith is showing us four mashups: Westerns with monsters
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Week 4: The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
Directed by Jim O'Connolly
My Impressions Going In:
I had heard of this one. Heck, Keith sometimes has a poster for it in his basement. It's one of those titles that's iconic enough that it's been in my consciousness. But, of course, I hadn't seen it and couldn't have told you anything about it.
Somewhere in Mexico there's a hidden valley with prehistoric creatures. Which is all well and good until people enter hidden valley -- and the dinosaurs exit.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
Valley starts off kind of slow, but when it gets going...wow! It becomes relentless and refuses to let up.
With Ray Harryhausen's genius stop-motion animations, the dinosaurs (and the eohippus) come to life, the dinosaur and cowboy elements blend remarkably well to tell an interesting story. It's reminiscent of King Kong, but set in the old West.
What was particularly interesting was the climactic scene in the church. I viewed that scene as being sacreligious in a way I don't expect from European Westerns. You had a church being damaged by a dinosaur, and actually burning down. Keith, however, saw it differently. He argued that it was in a way affirming of religion. With the fire and the hellish screeches, it was almost as if the church itself was sending the dinosaur to hell. It's an interesting take, and not without merit, though I wonder what exactly the dinosaur did to deserve hell. He was just dinosauring along, minding his own business. He didn't ask for all the trouble. And it's bad enough that bhe had to die for his trouble. Do we really have to imagine him going to hell?
Ratings
Me: 9
Bob-O: 9.8
Christina: 9.4
Dave: 9.9
Ethan: 8.5
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