The Beast of Hollow Mountain

Rating **/*****, or 5/10

Odd and slow paced monster movie pits cowboys against a dinosaur. An American cowboy (Guy Madison) with a ranch in Mexico notices the strange disappearance of his cattle and blames his Hispanic neighbours as thieves, setting off a dispute which isn't resolved until the real culprit is found, which turns out to be a carnivorous dinosaur. An intriguing premise, but ultimately this movie is too long for its own good (even though it lasts only 81 minutes) since the dinosaur doesn't appear until the last 15 minutes. Features some half decent charming stop motion animation (though the creature's lizard like tongue is just damn peculiar), which naturally never reaches the level of a Ray Harryhausen movie. Interestingly enough, Harryhausen himself would work on a much better 'cowboys v.s. dinosaurs' film, The Valley of Gwangi (1969). Any time that superior movie is mentioned, this film's title occasionally pops up as a mere footnote. Still, good effort. Plus, a rare find on DVD.

Starring: Guy Madison, Patricia Medina, Carlos Rivas.

Directed by Edward Nassour, Ismael Rodriguez

USA/Mexico: Peliculas Rodriguez, 1956