''Caveman'' is a 1981

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by Carl Gottlieb and starring

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), '' The Big Easy'' (1986), '' Innerspace'' (1987), '' Great Balls of Fire!'' (1989), ' ...

, Shelley Long and

Barbara Bach Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (née Goldbach; August 27, 1946) is an American actress and former model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me (film), ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. She is married to former The Beatles, Beatles ...

. The film is set during

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

and revolves around the rivalries between

cavemen The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as "simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin Boul ...

Plot

Atouk is a bullied and scrawny caveman living in "One Zillion BC – October 9th". He lusts after the beautiful but shallow Lana, who is the mate of Tonda, their

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

's physically imposing bullying leader and brutish instigator. 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 and blind Gog. The group has ongoing encounters with hungry

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s and rescues Lar from a "nearby

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

", where they encounter a

yeti The Yeti ()"Yeti"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. is an ape-like creature purported t ...

. In the course of these adventures, they discover sedative drugs and fire, invent cooking, music and weapons and learn how to walk fully upright. Atouk uses these advances to lead an attack on Tonda, overthrowing him and becoming the tribe's new leader. He rejects Lana and takes Tala as his mate.

Cast

as Atouk *

as Lana *

as Lar * Shelley Long as Tala * John Matuszak as Tonda * Avery Schreiber as Ock * Jack Gilford as Gog * Ed Greenberg as Kalta * Cork Hubbert as Ta * Mark King as Ruck * Evan C. Kim as Nook * Carl Lumbly as Bork * Gigi Vorgan as Folg's Daughter * Paco Morayta as Flok * Jack Scalici as Folg * Miguel Ángel Fuentes as Grot * Erika Carlsson as Folg's Mate * Sara López Sierra as Folg's Younger Daughter * Esteban Valdez as Folg's Son * Juan Ancona Figueroa as Folg's Younger Son * Juan Omar Ortiz as Folg's Youngest Son * Anaís de Melo as Meeka * Tere Álvarez as Ock's Mate * Ana De Sade as Grot's Mate * Gerardo Zepeda as Boola * Hector Moreno as Noota * Pamela Gual as Noota's Mate * Richard Moll as Abominable Snowman

Production

Filming was mostly done in the Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete in the state of

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The river and fishing lake scene was shot in the Mexican state of

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

, and some scenes were filmed at the Churubusco Studios in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. The film features

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animated

s constructed by Jim Danforth, including a ''

Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

'' which in one scene becomes intoxicated by a

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

-type drug, animated by Randall W. Cook. Danforth was a major participant in the

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

sequences, but left the film "about two-thirds of the way" (his words) through the work because the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

prohibited his contracted on-screen credit, co-direction with Carl Gottlieb. Consequently, Danforth's name does not appear on the film. The film's dialog is almost entirely in "caveman" language, such as: * "aiyee" – help * "alunda" – love * "bobo" – friend * "caca" – shit * "gluglug" – drowned * "guwi" – out to get * "haraka" – fire * "kuda" – come * "macha" – monster * "nya" – no/not * "ool" – food * "pooka" – broken/pain * "ugh" – like * "ya" – yes * "zug zug" – sex/mate At some showings audiences were issued a translation

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

for 30 "caveman words." The only English dialog present 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. Being a Korean caveman, by speaking English, he appears to be more advanced than the rest. At her audition, Long said she did not speak any English, but responded to everything with grunts. Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr first met on the set of ''Caveman'', and they married just over a year later.

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on June 4, 2002. It was then released on February 17, 2015 on

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

by Olive Films.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 33% based on reviews from 21 critics, with an average rating of 4.7/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the film has a score of 55% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 1.5 stars out of a possible 4. The cast was "interesting", he wrote, but the main failing of ''Caveman'' was it being a spoof with "no popular original material for it to satirize. There has never been a really successful movie set in prehistoric times." Ebert and

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

both gave the film a negative "don't see it" review on their TV show but softened their criticism somewhat by noting that its dinosaur-related sequences were amusing. Janet Maslin of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film was "dopey, but it's also lots of fun", and that the real star was the special-effects dinosaur.

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

gave it a positive review, calling it "a funky, buoyant farce." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' gave it a mixed review. He was critical with the lack of originality but suggests younger audiences who have not seen it before may enjoy it. Arnold compares the film unfavorably to ''

Three Ages ''Three Ages'' is a 1923 Black and white, black-and-white American feature-length silent comedy film starring comedian Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery. The first feature Keaton wrote, directed, produced, and starred in (unlike ''The Saphead,'' ...

'': where

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts. He frequently ...

was able to bring his genius to that picture, ''Caveman'' struggles to overcome Starr's limits, and director Gottlieb fails to make use of other talented actors such as Quaid, Schreiber, or Gilford.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0082146, title=Caveman
Cavespeak: A Dictionary Of Cavese
1981 animated films 1981 films 1980s fantasy comedy films American slapstick comedy films Mexican comedy films Films about dinosaurs 1980s English-language films Fictional-language films Films using stop-motion animation Estudios Churubusco films United Artists films Films with screenplays by Carl Gottlieb Films produced by Lawrence Turman Films directed by Carl Gottlieb Films scored by Lalo Schifrin 1981 comedy films Films about Yeti Films about cavemen Films set in the Stone Age Films with screenplays by Rudy De Luca 1980s American films 1980s Mexican films 1981 directorial debut films English-language fantasy comedy films