The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)

Touches You

Purely Joyful Movie!

One of my all time favorites.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

First of all, I don't know why this site says this movie is Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi. It's not any of those. It's a light-hearted western comedy. If a man failing to steal a woman is a romance, then this is a romance. I haven't seen many westerns but from what I have heard they all have this plot. The bad guy wants to chase someone off their land. And there's a drunk Mexican. The only really bad thing about this movie is that it is way too long. There are several extended periods of nothing and it's hard to keep paying attention. Basically, this movie is a family friendly monster flick that no child would ever have the patience to sit through. I'm sure if you could force a first grader to watch the whole thing, they might thing it was awesome. A second grader would know better.

Did you think the genre mash-up "Cowboys vs. Aliens" was original and clever? Well about 40 years earlier there was this fun Cowboys vs. Monster flick. Actually it's a story about a bunch of vaqueros who find themselves face-to-face with an allosaurus who's been killing their herd. The allosaurus doesn't actually show up until near the end of the film and a lot of time is spent on the vaqueros trying to figure out what's happening to their herd. That part of the film isn't all that compelling, but once the stop motion allosaurus shows up, this film is a whole heck of a lot of fun! Filmed in Regiscope! and was followed up with "The Valley of Gwangi" by Ray Harryhausen.

As cowboys vs. dinosaurs movies go, "The Beast of Hollow Mountain" isn't all that bad. While not as interesting nor as well done as its spiritual descendant, "The Valley of Gwangi" (both originated from an idea of Willis O'Brien's), BHM has surprisingly good colour cinematography as well as a good script and reasonable acting. Of course, the centerpiece is the Mexican-munching allosaurus. The special effects here are erratic: some of the walking scenes are very good (for the era) but the big rubber feet undo much of the movie magic and the size of the Beast's tongue seems to vary from scene. Overall: not a great film by any stretch, but watchable and enjoyable.

I like dinosaur movies. I like The Valley of Gwangi. This is barely either. Sure it has a dinosaur. Sure it has cowboys. Sure it takes place in that land of prehistoric adventure(Mexico)(?) But let us not get too carried away here. First of all - for much of the film - absolutely nothing happens except for a rather lame fight between Guy Madison as an American rancher versus the wealthy Mexican rancher who loves pretty(and perky) Patricia Medina. I mean nothing happens. We do not even get a real hint of the dinosaur until forty-five minutes into the film when Pancho gets a formal dinner invitation. Do we see the dinosaur then? Oh no. It does not appear for another ten minutes and its screen time is definitely limited. The dinosaur is done with that lost art - stop motion animation. It is done okay for its time. in fact the denouement of the film was pretty cool with the quicksand and guy Madison on a rope. I also liked the scene with the dinosaur skidding down a cliff and trying to get Panchito and Medina in a cabin. If more had been done with this, the film would have been markedly improved. Notwithstanding all of that, the film was fairly entertaining despite its legion of flaws. The acting is over-the-top from Madison giving his best good-guy cowboy impression(whilst secretly lusting after another man's woman" to Pascaul Garcia Pena doing one of the drunkest buffoonish characters on screen. Medina is over-the-top too - but boy what a top to see! Her bulletted blouse nearly explodes! The Beast of Hollow Mountain is interesting for nothing else than seeing some early stop motion animation techniques used. the film could have used the dreadful "let's dress up a lizard" technique but chose not to. I see many comparing this to Harryhausen's Gwangi - truly. I see little similarities. That is a very good film. This one, is at best, okay.