Bart Thompson - An American foreman who's in charge of constructing a harbor for a small Caribbean island. Said construction grinds to a halt once Bart and his workers free the frozen bodies of two dinosaurs. In the end, Bart saves the day and defeats the mighty claymation Tyrannosaurus and wins the heart of Betty Piper!

Dinosaurus! has all the makings of a bad movie. The plot is paper-thin, the characters are all two-dimensional, and the effects are pretty shoddy (even for 1960). However, despite all these strikes against it, I found it to be a very entertaining creature feature. Yes that's right, I enjoyed Dinosaurus! and I'm damn proud of it!

The film begins on a small (unnamed) Caribbean island where Bart Thompson and his workers are using dynamite during the construction of a new harbor. As Bart, Chuck, and the rest watch the timed-charges go off, Betty Piper arrives on the scene in a small motorboat. Ignoring all signs of danger, she continues toward the shore. A late explosive charge goes off and nearly capsizes her boat, but luckily it only knocks her cooler overboard. In this situation, most people would be at least a little shaken up, but not Ms. Piper. The stubborn redhead strips to her bathing suit and dives into the water to retrieve her lost cooler.

Exasperated, Bart dives in after Betty and ends up rescuing her from drowning. Back on the beach, Betty eventually regains consciousness and tells Bart that she saw a monster! Chuck soon confirms that yes Virginia, there is a dinosaur! Two in fact! Just as this revelation is given to both Betty and Bart, Mike Hacker, the island manager, arrives on the scene to cause some grief. Once Hacker hears that two frozen dinosaurs have been found in the bay, you can practically see the dollar signs in his eyes! Hours later, the workers pull the two frozen beasts from the ocean with a crane and lay them on the beach. Wait, is it really wise to let two ancient frozen dinosaur corpses thaw out on a beach until government authorities or scientists come to investigate? Won't the specimens be completely ruined by the sudden increase of temperature? Most importantly, won't the dead dinos smell?

After all the hoopla is over, everyone, except for T.J. O'leary, goes into town to relax and eat at the Island Cantina. Later at night, Mike Hacker returns to the site and pokes around. Amazingly he finds the frozen body of a caveman resting on the shore. He drags his future investment into some nearby brush and covers it up until he can return to reclaim it. (Again, doesn't he consider the fact that the body may start to deteriorate after it thaws completely?) Hacker retreats back to town afterwards, leaving T.J. completely alone with the two dinosaurs. While T.J. enjoys some whiskey and reads a copy of "Rip Van Winkle," lightning strikes the thawing monsters outside. Slowly, the two giant creatures begin to move.

It's at this moment that the power on the island (conveniently) goes out, so T.J. grabs a lantern and heads for the door, only to be assailed by the Caveman! The prehistoric ape-man runs off after the encounter, leaving a very confused and startled drunk behind. T.J. decides to go outside and investigate and grabs a stick of dynamite for protection (I guess he plans on taking any attackers with him to the grave). This is where O'leary's luck of the Irish wears off as he becomes the first victim of the newly reanimated T-Rex. Before he's carried off, T.J. does manage to light a stick of dynamite which garners the attention of our main characters.

Bart and the others arrive on the scene only to find an empty beach and some giant footprints. Immediately they all come to the conclusion that the dinosaurs have come back to life! Hahahaha. Not one person tries to come up with a rational explanation, they just all suspend their disbelief automatically! Bart automatically takes charge and has Chuck evacuate every person on the island to an old fortress. Then Bart, Betty, and Dumpy (chuckle) wander off in search of Julio (who ran away after taking his fair share of abuse from Hacker). Mike Hacker is also searching the island with his henchmen, Jasper and Mousey, in tow. Though he insists he's searching for Julio, we all know who he's really looking for.

Speaking of which, that goofy Neanderthal winds up at the home of Betty's mother. After scaring the old woman off, the cavemen ventures inside (through a conveniently opened door) and explores the environment. He gets himself a nice big axe, takes out the only working short-wave radio on the island (again, how convenient), and just makes a big mess around the house. Julio arrives moments later and befriends the lonely and confused caveman. Together they share a pie, drink some milk, and learn about the miracles of modern kitchen appliances. (Stove = Fire!) Their fun is ruined once Hacker and his goons show up. After Jasper and Mousey fail to capture the caveman, Hacker steps up for his turn.

Hacker lunges at the prehistoric man and ends up getting a pie to the face! That's right folks, the pie-in-the-face gag is truly as old as the dinosaurs! This gives Julio and his troglodyte friend the chance to escape into the jungle. Later on, Bart, Betty, and Dumpy (giggle) arrive at the house and worry for the safety of Betty's mom. Dumpy (snicker) calls Chuck via walkie talkie and confirms that Ms. Piper is safe and sound, though she was rambling about an ape-man earlier. Sure that's great news, but the radio is destroyed, completely cutting off the island from the outside world.

As luck would have it, at that very moment, our trio of Julio-hunters sees the Brontosaurus pass by with both Julio and the Caveman on it's back. At this moment, the T-Rex decides to strike. The Caveman slides off the Brontosaurus' back and plants his newfound axe into the attacking dinosaur's foot. This allows Julio and his bulky dino-mule to escape unharmed and also allows the caveman to carry Betty off to an abandoned mine. (After all he is a caveman!) While Betty wards off the advances of the curious caveman (he just can't understand that she's not into older men), Julio and his Brontosaurus are attacked again by the T-Rex. Conveniently the battle takes place near the abandoned mine and the friendly neighborhood cavemen whisks Julio back to the cave while the two clay titans battle.

And speaking of the battle, it's the biggest effects sequence of the movie, jumping from stop-motion animation to rubbery puppet action! Though the Brontosaurus has a huge size advantage, it's mortally wounded in the fight. Seeing that the other dinosaur shaped lump of clay isn't a threat now, the T-Rex advances on the mine and starts crashing against the entrance. Bart and Dumpy arrive on the scene with some Molotov cocktails (made by Chuck's chick, Chica) and bombard the carnivorous creature with fire. But for some damn reason, the cocktails prove useless! Not only do they burn out quickly, but they barely faze the frenzied reptile! (I guess we can rule out any volcanic event or huge forest fire as the cause of the dinosaurs extinction! It must've been the Ice Age!) Eventually, the T-Rex does get tired of being pelted with fire and rushes off temporarily.

Back in the mine, Hacker has snuck in and is now holding everyone at gunpoint. This is where Betty, always the optimist, finally sees how evil Hacker really is. He intends to use Julio as a diversion (i.e. bait) so that he and his precious caveman can escape certain death. Suddenly the mine begins to collapse due to the Tyrannosaur's attack. Bart rushes in and rescues Julio and Betty but he can't save the poor caveman who is soon buried alive under rubble. And wait! What's this?! As Bart and company exit the mine they glance down and see Hacker's hand sticking out of some debris! After all the trouble this guy causes, this is the best death the filmmaker's can give him? Hacker deserved to be an appetizer for the T-Rex!

And remember that poor brave Brontosaurus that gave his life to save Julio? It's alive! Well, for another two minutes that is. The poor beast painfully gets back on its feet and tries to sneak away. Unfortunately, the Bronto stumbles into a pond of quicksand and drowns! Quick! Get away from Julio everybody! He's bad luck! Moving on then, Bart, Julio, Betty, and Dumpy (HAHAHAHAHA!) arrive at the old fortress at the tip of the island where Chuck has set up a moat filled with oil. It won't burn for long (only about five minutes or so) but it should buy enough time for the mailboat to arrive and save the day. Soon it's morning, and all is silent on the western front... and then suddenly the T-Rex appears above the treetops in all of it's rubber-puppet glory! Dumpy (BWAHAHAHAHA!) sounds the alarm ("DI-NO-SAURUS!") and the moat is lit soon after.

Bart senses that this is the perfect moment to be a hero, so he quickly hops behind the controls of a steam shovel and slowly rides into battle against the anxiously waiting T-Rex. Hmmm... a man in a mechanized digging machine battles a T-Rex at the film's finale... I guess Roger Corman is a fan of this film?! (For those that don't follow see Carnosaur.) Bart deftly maneuvers the clunky steam shovel and repeatedly hits the large meat-eater in the jaw. The T-Rex nearly shoves the contraption over a cliff but Bart manages to come out on top after he sucker punches the T-Rex. The huge beast slowly tumbles over the side of said cliff and into the ocean waves below. As the tyrant lizard king sinks to the bottom, the movie asks us if this is truly the end. Why yes, yes it is, because there was never a Dinosaurus! 2! (We need MORE exclamation points!!!!!) Also, don't miss the heartfelt simile Bart uses, to compare the dearly departed cavemen to Rip Van Winkle. (Yes, that's right, O'leary was reading that very book the night he was eaten! Wow! The symbolism!)

As I stated in the beginning, Dinosaurus! has a lot going against it but manages to remain entertaining. With a film like this, you can't ask for great acting, but several of the stars deliver decent performances. Kristina Hanson who plays Betty Piper easily wins my vote as the best thespian in the movie. She's not hard on the eyes and she gives her character more wit and charm than most of her co-stars combined. The other character I truly enjoyed was T.J. O'leary, played by James Logan. He was truly made for the role of a loveable yet drunken Irishman. Sadly James' career consisted of mostly bit parts and he remained largely uncredited for most of those film roles. And I suppose I should tip my hat to Fred Engelberg who portrays the vile Mike Hacker. Out of all the cast, he truly seemed to be having fun with his role.

Now, the special effects in Dinosaurus! are nothing to really cheer about. The stop-motion animation is second-rate at best and there's far too much use of rubber dinosaur puppets. Said puppets work fine for a few closeups but that's about it. For a movie where the special effects are crucial, the filmmakers should've hired a true master, like Ray Harryhausen. (Though I'm sure Ray was already far too busy working on bigger and better productions.) Overall, Dinosaurus! succeeds in being a fun dinosaur romp, especially if you overlook all the plot contrivances. (Did you notice that I used the word convenient a lot in this review?) If you grew up watching a lot of dinosaur flicks like I have, then you should easily enjoy this movie.

And now for some Dinosaurus! Trivia!

Steve McQueen was intended to star in Dinosaurus! (and 4-D Man) but apparently he proved to be too difficult to work with during the filming of The Blob in 1958. Because of that, Irvin Yeaworth and producer, Jack Harris decided not to hire him!

The Brontosaurus from the film ended up on an episode of The Twilight Zone. In "The Odyssey of Flight 33," the Brontosaurus watches an airplane fly by. Believe it or not, that one very short effects sequence cost $2,500 dollars! It officially became the most expensive piece of film they ever shot for an episode!

If you listen closely to the Tyrannosaurus' roar, you'll notice that the same roar was used a year later in Roger Corman's film, Creature From the Haunted Sea!