Jimmy Ryan - A tough American cowboy
that has a cattle ranch "south of the border," near a lonely (and allegedly cursed) place known
as "Hollow Mountain." When he's not herding (or searching for missing) cattle, Jimmy
spends his time flirting with a local beauty named Sarita. Jimmy is also an apparent Tarzan enthusiast, as illustrated during
the film's final moments.
Sarita - The "hot tamale" that Jimmy is constantly trying to woo, even though
she is betrothed to Enrique Rios. Sarita is mainly around in this film to provide a reason for
conflict between Jimmy and Enrique, and serves as the damsel in distress once the Beast arrives
on the scene.
Enrique Rios - A rude and downright belligerent Mexican cattle baron that is intent
on driving Jimmy Ryan out of town. Enrique steps up his war on Jimmy after he sees the American
cowboy being a bit too friendly with Sarita. Near the end of the film, Enrique suffers a pretty bad concussion after being
tossed about like a ragdoll by the Beast. Wether he died from the head trauma he received is unknown
but if any one character deserved to bite the dust in this flick, it was him.
Pancho and Panchito - This father and son duo is comprised of a good-natured alcoholic and his
whiny son. These two decide to help out Jimmy once his workers pack up and leave the ranch. Pancho
ends up as a snack for the Beast, but sadly Panchito doesn't share his fate. I was really hoping
to see this annoying brat get eaten, but alas, it was not meant to be.
Felipe Sanchez - Jimmy's right hand man and ranching partner. Felipe is a bit
of a hot-head, but generally he stays out of trouble and... that's all I have to say about him.
He's sort of a pointless character.
Don Pedro - Sarita's father and local bigwig. He tries to mediate the feud between
Enrique and Jimmy but ultimately sides with Enrique. That's pretty much all there is to Don Pedro;
he's yet another pointless character in this film.
Enrique's Henchmen - These guys are hired by Jimmy, but unbeknownst to our hero,
they're preparing to stampede his cattle (for various reasons). Unfortunately for these
sombrero-wearing goons, the Beast comes along and starts the stampede a bit early with some
disastrous results.
Jimmy's Cattle - Mmmm... fresh beef that's fit for a ravenous dinosaur!
Hollow Mountain - A quiet mountain in a desolate area in Mexico that looms
mysteriously in the background during most of the film. In fact, Hollow Mountain gets so much screen-time
that it might as well have been listed in the film's cast.
The Beast of Hollow Mountain - The titular creature of the film! This
tongue-lashing dinosaur wanders out of his home turf in search of dinner and ends up taking a fatal
bath in some quicksand. (Unbelievable, I wait over an hour to see what the hell the Beast looks like, and
it dies nearly fifteen minutes later! Hell, the freakin' Mountain had more screen-time than the Beast did!)
Back in my younger days, I was a huge fan of TNT and its late
night shows on the weekend, namely 100% Weird and TNT's Monstervision (the pre-Joe Bob Briggs years).
Because of those two programs, I was able to see a lot of classic Toho films as well as cinematic
oddities like Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) and
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966). On one of these
fateful Friday night/Saturday mornings, The Beast of Hollow Mountain played
and promised to have a dinosaur mixing it up with some cowboys! If memory serves me correctly, I did
struggle to sit through the whole movie and ended up going to bed disappointed. Even now, years after
my first viewing of the film, I still feel a bit cheated...
As Beast opens, we see Jimmy Ryan, his main man
Felipe, and Pedro (their ranch-hand) wandering through a swamp at the feet of Hollow Mountain in
search of some missing cattle. The search is pretty much uneventful and fruitless, though Felipe
does take a dip in some quicksand, and they do find a dead steer. Felipe automatically blames
Jimmy's arch-nemesis Enrique Rios for the missing cattle, but Jimmy is a rather level-headed
guy and decides to go into town to talk to Don Pedro about current events. Meanwhile back in town,
a young boy named Panchito waits outside a bar for his drunken father, Pancho. Apparently
Pancho is still in mourning over his late wife and is drowning his sorrows in tequila.
Once Pancho exits the bar, Panchito talks his drunken dad into going home. Pancho then attempts
to mount his horse, but disaster soon strikes when the horse is frightened by the firecracker-chucking
Mexican equivalent of Our Gang. Before
Pancho can come to any real harm, Jimmy arrives in time to save the day! A crowd quickly gathers
around Pancho and everyone has a good laugh once they discover that he is alright. Once the crowd
breaks up, local beauty Sarita shows up and gives Pancho a piece of her mind and tells him to
go straight home. Pancho does as he is told and Sarita thanks Jimmy for his rescue effort.
And as luck would have it, Sarita is the daughter of Don Pedro, so Jimmy gets a beautiful escort
on his errand. Once he arrives, Jimmy is warmly greeted by Don Pedro and soon they begin discussing
the mysterious disappearances of Jimmy's cattle. Their conversation is interrupted moments later
by an irate Enrique Rios, Sarita's extremely jealous fiancé. This folks, is the start of a conflict / love
triangle that slowly develops during the film. You see, Jimmy has fallen for Sarita and is
consistently trying to woo her. By doing this, he earns the complete (but not fully warranted)
hatred of Enrique, who sets out on a campaign to drive the American cowboy out of Mexico.
The first blow comes when Enrique pays Jimmy's ranch-hands to pack up and quit. While this would
normally be a bad thing, Jimmy lucks out and finds help from an unlikely source: Pancho and Panchito.
As thanks for saving his life, Pancho (and his son) offer some aid in running the ranch and herding
the cattle. Jimmy agrees, but this decision eventually turns out to be a double-edged sword. (More on that later.)
And there's the main bulk of the film's plot right there folks! Jimmy continues flirting with Sarita, Enrique
continues to get more increasingly violent against his American adversary, leading to a good-ole
fashioned brawl in the center of town. (Jimmy wins by way of knockout.) And during all of this drama,
Hollow Mountain looms silently in the background.
Oh yeah, you almost forgot Hollow Mountain and the alleged creature that lives upon it didn't you?
Well so did I for a bit. Had the directors not thrown a shot of said mountain on the screen every now
and then, I would've suspected that I was watching the wrong movie. And since we're on that topic,
more of Jimmy's cattle disappeared in the Hollow Mountain area again, which leads to the big
turning point in this film. Pancho, always the stubborn one, decides that he will do Senor Jimmy
a big favor and track down the missing cattle. Pancho ventures into the swamps of Hollow Mountain
alone, unbeknownst to Jimmy and Felipe, and runs afoul of the titular Beast. A search done by Jimmy and
his Mexican friend days later turn up nothing but poor Pancho's hat.
Saddened by the loss of the film's comic relief, the two cowpokes decide to keep a lid on things
for Panchito's sake. However, it turns out that the lad is just as stubborn as his father, because
Panchito continuously tries to sneak off and search for his pa-pa. At this point of the film,
things start coming to a head as Jimmy finally admits defeat and (after a secret graveyard chat with
Sarita) plans on turning his ranch over to Felipe after a final shipment of cattle is made.
But Enrique Rios will have none of this, and plans on having two of his henchmen foil Jimmy's plans. (Jeez,
this guy just won't quit!) The initial plan is to cause a stampede in order to hinder Jimmy's shipment of
beef cattle, but things go terribly wrong because of one small boy that refuses to give up on
his father. Yup, that little rascal Panchito manages to make a break for Hollow Mountain
during Sarita and Enrique's wedding.
Meanwhile, in some nearby grazing lands, the Beast finally makes its first official onscreen appearance via
an actor in rubber dino-feet, and some jerky stop-motion animation. The prehistoric creature (is it a
Tyrannosaurus Rex? An Allosaurus?! I haven't the foggiest...) hungrily chases after some cattle and causes
a stampede that crushes Enrique's henchmen and causes a mild pandemonium in town. Jimmy and a bunch
of local cowboys attempt to round up the rampaging cattle, allowing Panchito to sneak off to search
for his missing father. (Here's a hint kid: Look for a giant pile of dinosaur sh*t that has a sombrero
on top.) Sarita, finding out that Panchito snuck off, chases after the little brat, quickly rescues him, and whisks
him off to the safety of an abandoned house. The Beast descends upon the wooden building and begins
tearing through the roof in order to get to the house's chewy center. ("How many bites does it take
to get to the center of wooden shack?")
Luckily for Sarita and Panchito, Jimmy arrives on the scene and begins firing his pistol at the
prehistoric giant in order to draw it away from its current prey. As the Beast chases after Jimmy,
Sarita and Panchito make a break for it. In the meantime, Jimmy gives his pursuer the slip which
is no big feat as the Beast is apparently dumb as a rock, and clumsy to boot. As the dinosaur meanders about in search of the
illusive cowboy, Enrique Rios arrives on the scene and is soon caught unawares by the lumbering Beast.
Soon, he and Jimmy are galloping away on horseback with the Beast not far behind (boy that big ole
critter can move fast). They manage to retain the lead until they take a spill down a steep, rocky
hill. Amusingly, the Beast follows suit, allowing Jimmy and Enrique some time to seek shelter in a small cave.
A little dazed, and still very hungry, the dinosaur picks itself up and continues to chase
its elusive quarry. The mighty Beast finds the aforementioned cave and begins probing the
shallow cavern with one of its clawed hands. Jimmy delivers some damage to the carnivorous monster's
arm with a knife, but the ravenous Beast refuses to give up. The second time it reaches within the
cave, the dinosaur snags Enrique and drags him into the daylight, kicking and screaming. As the Beast
inspects its prize, Don Pedro, Felipe, Sarita, Panchito, and a handful of armed men show up and
fire a volley of shots at the Beast. Annoyed by the gunfire, the agitated dinosaur tosses Enrique
head-first into a nearby rocky hillside and roars defiantly at its attackers.
Now that the Beast's attention is diverted, Jimmy manages to sneak out of the cave, drag Enrique
to safety, and obtain some rope (courtesy of his pal Felipe). He then wades into a swampy bog and makes several attempts to
get the dinosaur to follow him, but as it turns out, the Beast of Hollow Mountain isn't that
stupid. (Drats!) But have no fear, because Jimmy is apparently a huge fan of Tarzan. Using his
trusty rope, Jimmy lassoes a tree branch above his head, climbs partially up the rope, and begins
swinging back and forth in front of the Beast. The hungry dinosaur unsuccessfully tries to snatch Jimmy
from the rope and eventually makes the mistake of stumbling into the murky bog. As it turns out,
said bog is filled with quicksand, and soon, the struggling Beast is sucked down in the muddy water,
thus ending its depressingly short reign of terror.
The Vault Master Presents - THE BITTER END
Immediately after their ordeal, Jimmy and Sarita get hitched, and adopt young Panchito. Yes, that makes for quite a happy ending doesn't it?
But what about Enrique?! After he awakens from his coma (a result of the Beast's attack)
he becomes insanely jealous over losing the love of his life, and decides that if he can't
have her, then no will. Late one night, Enrique sneaks onto Jimmy's ranch and murders the
newlyweds in cold blood. The following day, Felipe discovers their bodies and vows avenge the
death of his friends. He foolishly rushes off to deal death to the murderous Enrique, only to
die himself during a typical quickdraw showdown.
Young Panchito runs away from all the death and destruction and during his lonesome years as a
drifter, he becomes a great gunfighter. Eventually Panchito returns to his hometown and in a brilliant
display of gunplay, brings Enrique to justice for the murder of his (adoptive) parents. But,
in a bizarre twist, the offspring of the Beast suddenly appears to avenge its father's
death. And since Jimmy is dead, the blame of Poppa Beast's untimely demise is placed solely
upon Panchito. The tension between to two orphans explodes into a battle royale
between man and Beast, in which only one will survive!
When you're done here, be sure to check out my other Dino-Western review for The Valley of Gwangi (1969)! It's a lot like The Beast of Hollow
Mountain but contains more dinosaurs, action, and excitement! |
Film Review: You know, it's odd what movies we like or dislike
as children. I've managed to track down most (if not all) the films I enjoyed as a youngster and
I have to say that my first impressions were generally right on, even at a young age. Case in point,
I found The Beast of Hollow Mountain to
be a possible cure for insomnia in my pre-pubescent years. Even during my recent viewing of the film,
I wondered how I ever stayed up so late to finish the entire movie. And finally, during the final eighteen minutes,
I realized why... because I wanted to see the "Beast!"
And really, the "Beast" is what saves this movie from being a complete snoozefest. The hope of
seeing the elusive creature keeps you going for the first hour, and just when you're about to
lose hope and turn the movie off, the dinosaurian monster appears on the screen! However, it's
the Beast's late appearance that nearly kills the movie. The entire time you watch it, you expect
to catch a brief glimpse, or hear a roar, or well, anything! All we get are occasional close-ups
of "Hollow Mountain," a lot of talk about "superstitious locals and their legends," one missing
horse, and a few dozen missing cattle. It's barely enough to retain one's interest, but as I've stated,
once the dinosaur jerkily meanders its way across the screen, the movie becomes a lot of fun.
The Beast is brought to life with a form of stop-motion animation called "replacement animation" which
involved the use of multiple dinosaur models, each with its own pose. Though it is an effective
means of animation, the end result is quite spasmodic to say the least. But enough about the Beast,
let me tell you a bit about the human stars of the film. The focal point of the movie is the
love triangle between goody-two-shoes Jimmy, the greedy and unlikeable Enrique Rios, and the beautiful
Sarita. Jimmy is played by Guy Madison, who portrays Jimmy as an "all-American" kind of guy
with a heart of gold and nerves of steel. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Eduardo Noriega who plays Enrique,
Jimmy's arch-nemesis. Enrique is a greedy little snake and a total coward so it was great to
see this jerk get his comeuppance at the end of the movie when he's dashed against a boulder by the
film's real star!
Then there's Patricia Medina who plays Sarita, the catalyst between Enrique and Jimmy's feud
in the film. Patricia is a very beautiful and talented actress, and amazingly enough, her
character is a strong and rather independent woman. No, this is no mere helpless maiden in distress folks,
this is a heroine that had the guts to rescue a small (annoying) child and attempt to fend off
a large carnivore with a stick! (Plus she's damned good in the saddle! Oh wait, that sort of sounds
like sexual innuendo. I mean, she's a good rider, especially bareback. Damn it, I did it again!) These
three are the core characters of the film, but there are two others that deserve mention: Pascual García PeZa
as Pancho, and Mario Navarro as Panchito.
Pascual provides the film with a bit of comic relief as Pancho, the loveable drunk that becomes
the Beast's first snack. Pancho isn't very bright, but his heart is in the right place, and it's
sort of sad when Jimmy and Felipe discover Pancho's hat in the swamps of Hollow Mountain. However,
the character that should have gotten devoured (aside from Enrique) was little Panchito, who
basically comes off as a Mexican version of "Kenny." (i.e. The annoying kid with a
high-pitched voice and short-shorts that temporarily became staple of many Japanese monster movies. If you've
seen any of the Showa Gamera films, Godzilla's Revenge, or
Godzilla vs. Hedorah, then you know precisely what
I mean.)
Panchito is downright irritating and ends up rousing the ire and hunger of the Beast toward the end of the film, thus putting
himself and others in jeopardy. (Granted, he was looking for his missing dad and was misled by
a few little white lies from Jimmy.) Actually, now that I think of it, had Panchito not been an
annoying (and stubborn) little brat, then the Beast may never have showed up. (Then again, there's always the chance
that the Beast could have gotten hungry enough to invade the small Mexican village at the end of the
film, resulting in mucho death and destruction. Of course, the budget probably wouldn't have allowed
such a spectacle. Sigh...)
Well, to wrap things up, I have to say that despite the obvious lack
of a Beast during the first two-thirds of the film, I actually enjoyed The Beast of
Hollow Mountain quite a bit. At the very least, it's an interesting
prelude to the awesomeness of The Valley of Gwangi and
deserves some respect for being the first dino-western to ever be made.
So how radioactive is this dino-western prototype?
Geiger Counter Reading:
- THREE 'RADS' -
WARNING: This film is radioactive! Seeing the film's titular monster in action
is worth the price of admission. The only problem is that you've got to sit through
a boring, hour-long Western before the dinosaur finally makes its appearance!
DVD Review: Bad news b-movie fans,
this movie is currently out of print. The copy I own, is a DVD-R that I bought off eBay. This homemade
disc features a clean widescreen transfer of the film, that was probably taken from a VHS tape.
The picture and audio are acceptable, but dang-it, I'd love to own a legit DVD release of the
film. The original home video release was done by United Artists, a branch of MGM (which is now
owned by Sony) and according to a reliable source, The Beast of Hollow Mountain
is available in Japan in a two-film set with The Magic Sword. What gives MGM?!
If you're like me and can't wait for a Region 1 DVD release of Beast, you have
two options. You can either buy a DVD-R of the film from the folks at Monsterland Toys!
The disc features a widescreen version of the movie and has a photo gallery and trailers as extra
features. If you have a very fast internet connection, there's an even easier way for you to get
this forgotten film. Visit BitTorrent.com and download the movie for free!
The file size is 198 Megabytes, so if you're still on dial-up, be prepared for a few days wait before
you can enjoy the movie.
Pancho: [To Panchito] "Your father
is not a drunkard. He drinks to forget your mommy who is in heaven."
(Reviewer's Note: Actually he is a drunkard and is probably celebrating the death of
his wife. Don't listen to him Panchito!)
- Beginning - Random Thought: "You know, I've always
believed that sombreros were the goofiest looking hats ever invented."
- 5:27 - Felipe's current though: "Oh right! This is where the quicksand is! Whoops!"
- 23:56 - A fistfight breaks out between Jimmy and Enrique. C'mon Jimmy! Drop that
chilupa!
- 29:51 - Oh hey look, it's Hollow Mountain! But uh... where the hell is the Beast?!
- 42:17 - So... yeah... Hollow Mountain....
- 44:00 - So there is a Beast on Hollow Mountain! I had nearly given up hope!
- 59:09 - Hahahaha! Those are some nifty-looking dinosaur slippers!
- 59:19 - WOOHOO! It's the Beast! Finally!
- 59:23 - What the hell is up with that tongue? Is the Beast an ancient relative of Gene Simmons?
- 64:48 - HAHAHAHAHA! Panchito's reaction when he sees the dinosaur is priceless! (So priceless that
I looped this particular moment over and over again resulting in fits of belly-hurting laughter.)
- 72:00 - Whoa! That dinosaur can really sprint when it wants to! Hahaha!
- 78:15 - And the Beast's short reign of terror ends after it takes a plunge into some quicksand.
- 78:42 - THE END.
Recommended Viewing:
- Well obviously, the first thing I have to recommend is The Valley of Gwangi
which boasts the fantastic stop-motion animation of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. It's basically
The Beast of Hollow Mountain
on steroids!
Dinosaurs were big business in cinema ever since the original The Lost World
hit theaters back in 1925. But dinosaurs really didn't become huge until the release of the original
King Kong in 1933. After that there was a slew
of dinosaur/giant prehistoric monster films that either utilized stop-motion animation, or men
in rubber suits to create the illusion of prehistoric life. Some of the better classic dinosaur
films include The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953),
The Giant Behemoth (1959), Gojira (1954),
The Land Unknown (1957),
and Dinosaurus! (1960).
Not all dinosaur films are created equal, so here are a bunch of the schlockier ones that us
b-movie fans hold dear to our hearts: The Crater Lake Monster (1977),
Unknown Island (1948) (which featured a giant
killer sloth among other things), One Million B.C. (1966),
Gorgo (1961), Reptilicus (1962),
Sound of Horror (1967) (which boasts a killer
invisible dinosaur! I kid you not!), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970),
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977),
The Land That Time Forgot (1975),
Planet of the Dinosaurs (1978), and
The Last Dinosaur (1977).
Useless Trivia:
- Willis O'Brien wrote the story
that Beast is based on (namely El Toro Estrella')
and was originally going to do the special effects for the film.
- The Beast of Hollow Mountain
is the
first film to combine stop-motion animation with widescreen and color!
- Mario Navarro who plays Panchito
in this film would play a similar character in 1957's The Black Scorpion
. Coincidentally,
two of his Beast co-stars also had roles in
The Black Scorpion, namely Pascual García PeZa (Pancho)
and Carlos Rivas (Felipe)!
- The Beast of Hollow Mountain
appeared
on Season 1, Episode 4 of Svengoolie on January 28, 1995.
- Co-director and stop-motion effects artist Edward Nassour passed away on December 15, 1962 in
Sherman Oaks, California. Edward invented the Regiscope system utilized in stop-motion and had
several other animation patents accredited to his name.
LEAVE YOUR OWN COMMENTS ABOUT THIS MOVIE IN...
And feel free to e-mail me at vault_master[at]bmoviefilmvault[dot]com if you have any
questions, personal recommendations, or information about the films reviewed here on the site! Don't be shy! Your
feedback helps make The Vault better!
Review posted on May 21, 2007.
(Review last updated on November 18, 2007.)
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