Caveman (film)
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| Caveman | |
|---|---|
 Movie Poster |
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| Directed by | Carl Gottlieb |
| Produced by | David Foster Lawrence Turman |
| Written by | Rudy De Luca Carl Gottlieb |
| Starring | Ringo Starr Barbara Bach Dennis Quaid |
| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Editing by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Caveman is a 1981 slapstick comedy film financed by George Harrison, written and directed by Carl Gottlieb and starring Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach and Dennis Quaid.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Ringo Starr as Atouk
- Dennis Quaid as Lar
- Shelley Long as Tala
- Jack Gilford as Gog
- Barbara Bach as Lana
- Evan C. Kim as Nook
- Carl Lumbly as Bork
- John Matuszak as Tonda
- Avery Schreiber as Ock
- Richard Moll as Abominable Snowman
[edit] Plot
Atouk is a bullied and scrawny caveman living in "One Zillion BC". He lusts after the beautiful but shallow Lana, who is the mate of Tonda, their tribe's physically imposing leader. After being banished along with his friend Lar, Atouk falls in with a band of assorted misfits, among them the comely Tala and the elderly blind man Gog. The group has ongoing encounters with hungry dinosaurs, and rescues Lar from a "nearby ice age", where they encounter an abominable snowman. In the course of these adventures they discover drugs, fire, cooking, music, and learn how to walk fully upright. Atouk uses these advancements to lead an attack on Tonda, overthrowing him and becoming the tribe's new leader. He discards Lana and takes Tala as his mate, and they live happily ever after.
[edit] Production
The movie was filmed in the Sierra De Organos near Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico, and features stop-motion animated dinosaurs constructed by David W. Allen, including one memorable scene where a Tyrannosaurus rex becomes intoxicated by a Cannabis-type drug.
The film's dialog is almost entirely in "caveman" language, which is very simple and can easily be understood by the audience: "ool" is food, "zug zug" is sex, "haraka" is fire, "pooka" is broken, "macha" is monster and so on. The only English dialog is used for comedic effect, when it is spoken by a caveman played by Evan Kim who speaks modern English but is understood by none of the other characters.
[edit] Trivia
- In an interview, Shelley Long said that at her audition, she didn't speak any English. She responded to everything with an ad-libbed series of grunts. It obviously worked.
- Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr began their long relationship after meeting on the set of this movie.
- The film opens up with "One Zillion BC - October 9th" October 9th was John Lennon's birthday. This was in memoriam of Ringo Starr's former friend and bandmate with the Beatles.
- When showing at the old drive-in theatres in Australia every ticket holder was given a pamphlet with approximately 30 "caveman words" and an English translation for each word to listen for through the movie.
