[HorrorScience] Gwangi Valley (1969)

A man dies in the middle of the desert carrying a sack that contains something from a cursed place called The Forbidden Valley. His brother Carlos will try to do business with that merchandise, ignoring the legends and beliefs of his people, which say that If you take something out of that place and don't return it, you end up dead.

The action moves to Mexico, where a talkative and arrogant businessman (well, the typical tough hero) named Tuck Kirby goes to his ex-partner's (T.J.) circus to try to do business. The circus staff does not receive him too warmly, as Tuck caused them quite a few problems in the past.

While waiting to talk to T.J. To sell him a part of his show, Tuck and his young guide López find a paleontologist named Horace Bromley who is exploring a part of the desert in search of remains of prehistoric animals.

Despite arguing with T.J., Tuck takes advantage of the fact that she still loves him and gets her to show him the new circus act, consisting of a small horse that apparently is a species that disappeared millions of years ago, which was found by Carlos in the hands of his dying brother.

After learning of the existence of the little horse, Bromley agrees with the gypsies on a plan to free it with the intention of discovering where it comes from and thus being able to benefit from it for their research. The small animal is released and guides them to an isolated part of the valley, where in a few minutes unknown species begin to appear before them, since they are prehistoric animals that only Professor Bromley can identify (and not always correctly).

While the protagonists chase what they call “ostrich” A huge lilac dinosaur (Gwangi) appears that seems to be the top predator in the area, which causes flight. Professor Horace Bromley separates from the group and after being attacked by Gwangi, he is miraculously saved by a Styracosaurus, which defends its territory from the predator.

Later our protagonists try to hunt Gwangi so they can use him in the circus and thus earn a fortune, but the dinosaur will not let himself be caught so easily and will cause our protagonists to escape out of the Forbidden Valley. In this chase Gwangi will be immobilized and taken to the bullring where they do the circus acts.

Seeing a unique specimen, T.J. He decides to go on a world tour with Gwangi, just at the moment when Tuck thinks it is better to get away from business and go live quietly on a ranch. For his part, Professor Bromley wants Gwangi to be studied by scientists, while the gypsies try to free the dinosaur to avoid retaliation from his curse. The time for Gwangi's presentation to the public is approaching, in a bullring packed with people. What can go wrong?

Cataloging this western movie with dinosaurs would not be a mistake, as it tries to mix both genres quite successfully. While it is true that the idea had already been used in the past in both cinema (The Beast from Hollow Mountain) as in comics (Turok: Son of Stone) Gwangi Valley It is usually the first reference that comes to people's minds when these concepts are mixed.

Leaving aside its recognition, we find ourselves faced with an entertaining, interesting film, but irregular when it comes to characters (who change their minds and ways of acting at every moment) and unoriginal when it comes to the scenes in which the dinosaurs come into action. In this film we can see moments that will remind us of other films such as Mighty Joe Young, 20 Million Miles to Earth either king kong.

While it is true that the special effects are generally good and some scenes are outstanding, that lack of freshness and how incoherent the human characters become in the final part of the film takes away some of the shine from this film, which in general is entertaining and interesting.

Curiosities about Gwangi Valley:

• Willis O'Brien had this film in mind since the 1940s, but no studio wanted to buy him out. In the end it was his disciple Harryhausen who ended up bringing it to the big screen.
• In Willis O Brian's original idea, Gwangi was an Allosaurus, but in the film his appearance is very similar to a Tyranosaurus, specifically the ones drawn by Charles R. Knight. Curiously, Knight's drawings showed the Tyrannosaurus in an incorrect posture, too upright, because at that time there was a common belief that Tyrannosaurus walked in that position, and although in 1970 it was proven that this information was not correct, it took a few more years until the idea of ​​the upright Tyrannosaurus was completely discarded.
• Gwangi's bluish-purple/violet color is because Harryhausen didn't have time to test different colors.
• Like many westerns, the film has scenes shot in Almería and Cuenca (Spain). In fact you can see the Spanish flag painted in the bullring where the circus is located.