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Robert Vaughn argues with his elders, visits the forbidden lands, and parlays with a false god.  However, most of his time is devoted to arguing over primitive tribal law.  A better title would have been "Teenage Cavelawyer."

Hahaha!I always had a soft spot in my heart for this movie.James Dean-Caveman!

Wow from a "teenage" anything to a burned out gunfighter to a suave (by TV standards) globe-hopping spy to an ambitious but cynical and cold DA with political aspirations in roughly a decade. I'll bet Robert Vaughn even looked middle aged in his baby photos and probably had the same hair style as well.

One of the first four or five times I saw MST3K was with this film. I knew the show was roughly two hours with commercials, and I came in on it part way through the show, but this episode seemed to last for several hours. I'm convinced experimentation in how to harness temporal holes in the fabric of the space continuum can be discovered by enough research involving this film. Or is that too cruel a task to give to anyone?

I first saw this movie at the theater, cost me 10 cents to get in (I was under 12 years old) always wondered why the cave man was so clean and why his hair was always perfect, also considered, however briefly, asking for a refund.

Not only did Corman like to recylce film from earlier films (i.e. "One Million B.C.), he liked to recycle his actors. For example, not only did Beach Dickerson play the Fair-Haired Boy, who was sucked down by the quicksand, but also the Man from the Burning Plains, the Tom-tom Player, and the man in the bear costume. I also believe he is the man who rides into the encampment on the horse, unless that character and the Man from the Burning Plain are one and the smae.

Unlike alot of B movies, there are some farily well known names associated with this one. Not only Robert Vaughan, who is probably best known for playing Napoleon Solo on television's "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," but also perennial villain Frank DeKova, Corman regular Jonathan Haze, Ed Nelson, who would work almost constantly in films and on television, and Robert Shayne, who would play the police inspector on "The Adventures of Superman."

Yes, it would be nice to have a teenager, or someone who looked like a teenager to play a teenager, but the same year that Robert Vaughan would play the title character in "I Was a Teenage Caveman," 28-year-old Steve McQueen, would play a teenage character in "The Blob." Somewhat better would be 21-year-old Gary Conway, who would  play the title character in "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," and 20-year-old Michael Landon, who would play the title character in "I Was a Teenage Werewolf."

As bad as this one would be, it is far better than the 2002 television remake of the same title. That one makes you want to gouge your eyes out, before it is over.

I actually LOVE this movie. My friend Jeff from another board highly touted it and I became a huge fan. Robert Vaughn is quite good and like nearly all the early Corman films, this movie actually does have a message.  The surprise ending actually caught me by surprise the first time out.

This movie hurt me like Mr T hurt Rocky. Beach Dickerson should've been top billed; he plays like 5 roles.
Love the "theme music" for the search party in the MST3K version, though: "Doo doo doo do DOO do, doo do doo do DOO do" etc. :cheers:

I hadn't seen this movie in years, I queued it up on my online rental/ Should get it this week.

I just got done watching this movie, and I wanna say, I didn't think it was half bad. I thought that its heart was in the right place, and that, at its core, the story was pretty solid, and the acting passable, apart from Robert Vaughn who was pretty good. Its only real problem was its low budget and reliance on stock footage to represent the monsters. The scene where the Symbol Maker's Son tries to persuade the others not to kill the injured stranger was surprisingly moving. It's unquestionably a B-movie, but it was better than most, I thought, and the twist ending was handled fairly well.

I have seen the MST3K version(I'm proud to say I have it in my collection)and love the riffing,then I watched the movie by itself on AMC.I prefer the MST3K version better....The Law is the Word and the Word is the Law!!! What does that mean???

it's a neat little movie, saw it as a kid and didn't see the surprise twist ending coming.  wanted more monsters or dinosaurs though.  Vaughn will talk about the movie if asked, he doesn't hate it.  glad it's out on DVD without idiots talking through it.

David

Hey, take it easy. I don't consider Mike (or Joel) and the Bots to be idiots at all. :(

I remember this movie as a kid and I always hated that Giant Lizard,Alligatorsaurus fight! I saw it in so many prehistoric movies as a kid, used over and over again that it just irritated the hell out of me!!!
A very terrible movie! Cameo  by the 'SHE CREATURE" at the end.

I actually caught the tail end of this picture about 40 years ago, running in late afternoon/early evening on WOR Channel 9 out of NYC/North Jersey. I only caught the sudden montage of the survivor, and despite being an avid MST3K fan, somehow never saw the ending and for all those years, wondered what the hell the movie was, and as time went on, I asked what sort of movie ended with an explanation montage like that. To make matters worse, the filter of memory caused me to remember one of the lines at the end as 'creatures wilder than the dinosaurs' rather than what was actually said, so Google and such was no help. But re-watching MST on a friend's PLEX made me realize this was that long-lost movie.

The movie is bad, but I like the twist. I once read an old piece wherein a cave-type primitive finds the ruins of New York, with all that implies. I wonder if they cribbed from that for this.