Rare and Obscure Dinosaur films
Dinosaurus (1960)
Produced by Jack K. Harris (The Blob, 4D Man, Equinox), this 1960 B- movie is more likely fun for kids but adults might enjoy the campy humor, especially associated with the caveman (Gregg Martell). Construction crews building a port on a Caribbean Island accidentally dredge up two long buried dinosaurs from the ocean floor. They have been preserved by the
cold deep waters. The Brontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus are pulled onto the beach and the foreman, Bart, calls a scientist to come investigate their find. Little do they know, but they have also beached a Neanderthal Man tangled in the seaweed. Overnight there is a violent thunder storm and the dinosaurs are struck by lightning, bringing them back to life (ala ‘Frankenstein’ science). An orphan boy, Julio, befriends the Brontosaurus, knowing he is a herbivore. The T. Rex is soon on the hunt putting Julio in jeopardy but Julio is saved by the caveman. The caveman falls in love with Betty. Later in the film Julio, Bart and Betty, are stuck in a cave as the T. Rex tries to gain entry. As the walls collapse, the caveman saves Julio again, along with Bart and Betty. The climax of the film has the foreman fighting the T. Rex in a steam shovel from the construction site. Filmed partly on the island of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, the film is campy entertainment for all ages.
B-movie fans will also be entertained by the trivia and correlations to other films:
Marcel Delgado (maker of King Kong) had only 2 weeks to design the dinosaur models used for the film.
During filming, the special effects crew also filmed a sequence for The Twilight Zone using the miniature set and the Brontosaurus. The footage can be seen in the TZ episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33.”
The steam shovel vs. T.Rex climax is reminiscent to Ripley fighting the Alien in the ‘pay-loader machine’ in the film Alien. It is also clearly ‘hijacked’ for the scene at the end of Carnosaur (1993).
In one scene, a bus full of tourists is confronted by the T. Rex who bends down low and peers into the bus windows at the screaming people. (see photo above) He then bangs the bus with the side of his head and eventually crushes the bus. The similarities between this scene and the scene in 1993’s Jurassic Park with the ‘tour jeeps’ are more than a coincidence and thought to be Spielberg’s homage to the earlier film.
Psuedo science:
By now most of you know, there was no actual Brontosaurus that ever walked the earth. The Brontosaurus was a mistake of having the wrong head on the body of an Apatosaurus. Through the 1980’s, most museums began removing the ‘Brontosaurus’ heads from their skeleton displays and replacing them with the proper, smaller heads. And naturally, millions of years passed between the time that Dinosaurs lived and Cavemen arrived on earth.
Related Articles:
The Legend of Dinosuars and Monster Birds
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
parlor of horror 
I just wanted to let you know I bought Miseria’s Chorale and Dark Eclipse Magazine off of Amazon.com today, and I look forward to reading your work.
Wow, thanks so much. I’m glad you chose those publications because they are recent works and more indicitive of my current writing. Some of the stories in mags and books from earlier this year were around for a few years and just got published this year, but the last few stories published were written very recently. I continuously strive to write better 🙂
I totally remember this 😀
I have not seen this one, but am aware of it.
I think you will like it – it’s the best of the 3 dino films I just reviewed!
And you must be familiar with the Twilight Zone episode that used the same dinosaurs, no?
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Terrific site, I love your “obscure dinosaur movie” reviews. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thought the ending was reminiscent of “Aliens” and that the bus scene resembled the “Jurassic Park” scene. There is one more connection to this film I’d like to point out. I think you’ll find that several head shots of the Tyrannosaurus from this film were used at the end of the Gilligan’s Island episode “The Secret of Gilligan’s Island”, where cavepeople versions of the castaways are menaced by a T-Rex in a dream sequence.
Wow, I’d like to see that Gilligan’s Island episode now 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting.