The Valley of Gwangi is likely the best cowboys versus dinosaur movie of all time. I admit that a slim category. One of the things about Gwangi that I've mentioned before is the fantastic poster art by Frank McCarthy. To look at this captivating image you imagine Gwangi as large as Godzilla or any self-respecting Kaiju, and the melee of cowboys and horses running among ancient giant bones and flailing in the desert air as Gwangi swings his enormous tale suggests a truly epic movie.
Here's the artwork which made for a fantastic poster.
It made for a great cover for a comic book drawn with somewhat less magnificence by Jack Sparling.
And I recently got to thinking about the image again when I stumbled across this coloring book tie-in for the movie. That painting was truly epic in scale!
So it's always been a mystery to me why my DVD copy of the film (which I'm deliriously happy to have) ignores the McCarthy masterpiece and instead uses artwork apparently done for a European poster presentation. There's no comparison despite the argument that the foreign poster is more accurate to the film itself.
Note: This post originally appeared at Rip Jagger's Other Dojo.
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Well, I can see one enticing woman on the last two pics, RJ, but frankly it just isn't enough for this paper pin-up perv. More!
ReplyDeleteA Godzilla-size T-Rex hammering away at dozens of cowboys doesn't get your juices flowing? You just want dames! Men are pigs.
DeleteOink! Oink!
DeleteI like 'The Valley Of Gwangi' too but the plot is basically just a King Kong rip-off.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed King Kong as a western, but that's not a bad thing at all. Cowboys and dinosaurs was a dream of Kong's creator.
DeleteI loved this film when I first saw it on TV in the mid 1970s. Maybe not the best story but the special effects were ( and still are) a treat.
ReplyDeleteThe story is more than a wee bit wonky. But the finale is a humdinger!
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