JohnHowardReid This one is an unusual contender for exploitation bookings in that it actually has a literate screenplay. In fact, the dialogue is far too convincing for cavemen (but that's another story). And it also carries a message that predates "Planet of the Apes". Roger Corman's direction is certainly efficient – the action scenes are convincingly staged – but lacks the imaginative flair he usually brings to these offerings. On the other hand, production values are reasonably impressive – even if we excuse a wobbly shot of dinosaurs and that all-too-familiar lizard fight footage from "One Million Years B.C." DeKova delivers a strong performance as the rabble- rousing heavy, while the heroine has just enough footage to look decorative – but not enough to slow down the action. Darah Marshall (in her only movie) certainly makes an attractive "blond maiden". Considering the heavy dialogue they have to handle, the rest of the players are fairly capable, although it's a bit of a shock to see Robert Shayne hiding behind a beard as the keeper of the flame. Vaughn is also not up to speed. He looks uncomfortable in his animal skin and his accent seems far too cultured for this setting. On the other hand, production credits, headed by Crosby's fine location photography, are rarely less than proficient.

sol ***SPOILERS*** Roger Corman film about prehistoric man and what obstacles he faced back in prehistoric times and how he eventually overcame them.It took the rebellious and searching for the truth symbol makers-Leslie Bradley-son played by the young and energetic Robert Vaughan to finally find what it's really all about in what's beyond the great river where the monster who kills with one touch rules. Denied to go beyond the great river by caveman leader the black bearded one, Frank DeKova, the intuitive son of the symbol maker together with his fellow teenage cavemen travel there anyway with one of the the cave people the blond boy who can't float, Beach Dickerson, ending up dead by drowning in a nearby stream. It's the black-bearded one who then demands that the son of the symbol maker be put to death from not only breaking the law of the cave clan but being responsible for the blond boy's tragic death! After his dad, the symbol man, convinced the black-bearded one to give his son a second chance he despite risking his life for a second time goes beyond the land of the great river to find out what all these BS stories about the monster who kills with one touch is all about. It's when the son of the symbol maker finally confronts the monster that he realizes that he's in fact not trying to kill anyone but warn him and his fellow cavemen about what really happened way back then, in pre prehistoric times, and not let it happen again!***SPOILERS*** It was in fact the black-bearded one who in the end took out the monster who kills with one touch, by cracking his skull open with a boulder, which totally destroyed his made up stories about the monster being and indestructible God. It also had an outraged son of the symbol maker do in the black-bearded one with a arrow to the chest in him keeping the monster from telling the truth about what happened way back then and what exactly he had to do with it. Fortunately for the cave dwelling clan the dying monster had a book that exists thousand of years before man developed a written language and printing press to explain what really happened and why the world is in the sorry shape that it's in today in what seems like the year one million years B.C. But don't expect the cave people to be able to understand what the book is telling them since they, in not being able to read English or an other language, have no idea what's written in it!

bkoganbing Although its obviously low budget and cheesy special effects prevent this early Roger Corman film from a higher rating, Teenage Cave Man actually turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would. It shows that in every generation teens rebel, even back in prehistory.Robert Vaughn who later turned in performances as rather sophisticated people be they good guys or bad guys, is a rather erudite teen Cro Magnon who does not think the tribal religion has all the answers. His tribe is restricted in its turf by the Word which gives them only certain parameters to live.Frank DeKova is our villain, a hidebound sort of caveman, a fundamentalist in his beliefs who says death should happen to those who wander out of the tribal area. But Vaughn goes and in the process learns the answers to many things. And the film has a surprise ending, very similar to Planet Of The Apes which many critics have compared Teenage Cave Man with.Or for me this could easily have been a good Twilight Zone episode, as directed by Roger Corman.

unbrokenmetal Movies about the stone age are - with the honourable exception of Annaud's "Quest of Fire" - usually rather silly. Think of comedies like "Caveman" with Ringo Starr, monster movies like "One Million Years B.C." with Raquel Welch, or the unfortunate "Clan of the Cave Bear" with Daryl Hannah. The much older b/w flick "Teenage Caveman" was a real surprise therefore, remarkably ambitious for a B movie. Young Robert Vaughn, a few years before "The Magnificent Seven", stars as a caveman who is challenging the elders of the tribe by trespassing the forbidden lands beyond the river. In their belief, the cave people must stay near their cave; they shall neither cross the river nor the desert, because their forefathers left the "Word". Vaughn is restless, after his first trip to the forbidden lands he repeatedly says "I still wonder..." and takes a second trip there. The elders decide the penalty for breaking the law twice must be death, and send a hunting party after him. What they all discover in the land beyond the river is however not what the Word of the forefathers said... (oh, it's hard sometimes to write a spoiler-free review and don't tell too much!) "Teenage Caveman" has an unusual philosophical edge to it, asking questions like "why are we here" and "what is beyond our world", and it makes clear that curiosity and restlessness are the driving forces for mankind's progress. Vaughn's Caveman is not satisfied with the answers the elders give him, he says "I still wonder...", and shouldn't we too sometimes? Only annoying point is the monster scenes, as the cheapo lizards (I refuse to call them dinosaurs) seem to be cut in between from different movies.