I watched this Roger Corman offering from the 50's on the cult and awesome television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. A movie with teenager in the title, but nary a teen in sight. Kind of like that other film that MST3K did, I think the name was Teenagers From Space, the one with the killer lobster. The closest thing to a teenager in this one is the young maiden and Robert Vaughn who is the title character, but he was like 25 when this was made and not a young looking 25 either. Still, the film kept me wondering a bit as to what was going to happen as I knew there was going to be some sort of surprise at the end of this one and I was correct. I also kind of guessed it as well. The film could have been better had they did more exploration of the forbidden lands, but this film wants to impress us more by having the word and the law discussed a lot. The film at these points in time is less exciting to watch than a filibuster. Like a lot of films from this era, it is also very short as back then I guess people did not mind only being in the theater an hour or so, plus they had shorts to go along with films whose run times were on the minimal side, MST3K even had to do two shorts to go along with this one!
The story has a tribe of cavemen who hunt for food and are very rigid and set in their ways. One young caveman, who is a young adult (though I do admit teenage caveman has a better ring than young adult one) questions the laws and rules of his people. The food in the area they live in is scarce, yet across the river is a land full of greenery and animals aplenty to eat. He wishes to cross into this land to not only to get more food, but also to learn of its secrets and see a strange monster said to kill with only a touch. He is quite stubborn in his ways and will stop at nothing to learn the truth.
This film, made for a pretty good episode of MST3K. Many of the riffs were directed at Robert Vaughn's age as he clearly is no teen, and also to the many uses of footage from other films in certain areas. They even use an image of the She-Creature during the end of the film. Of course, they riffed this film well before that one, so no mention of it being from another film. The film was very talky in areas, but they managed to keep me entertained in an area of the film I would have been bored otherwise without them. Though, the funniest laugh I gave this film was not even during the film, but during one of the bump segments as Dr. Forrester and T.V.'s Frank battle it out!
So your typical MST3K fare and pretty much your typical Roger Corman fare as well. The most notable thing about the film is that it does have a young Robert Vaughn as its star, after that it has a bit of a twist at the end that is kind of like one found in an M. Night Shyamalan film. It is not completely terrible because it does seem to be racing to some reveal, but nothing to surprising for those of us today as it would have been for people back in the day. I kind of figured that was where they were going with it, and I am sure most others guessed it as well.
The story has a tribe of cavemen who hunt for food and are very rigid and set in their ways. One young caveman, who is a young adult (though I do admit teenage caveman has a better ring than young adult one) questions the laws and rules of his people. The food in the area they live in is scarce, yet across the river is a land full of greenery and animals aplenty to eat. He wishes to cross into this land to not only to get more food, but also to learn of its secrets and see a strange monster said to kill with only a touch. He is quite stubborn in his ways and will stop at nothing to learn the truth.
This film, made for a pretty good episode of MST3K. Many of the riffs were directed at Robert Vaughn's age as he clearly is no teen, and also to the many uses of footage from other films in certain areas. They even use an image of the She-Creature during the end of the film. Of course, they riffed this film well before that one, so no mention of it being from another film. The film was very talky in areas, but they managed to keep me entertained in an area of the film I would have been bored otherwise without them. Though, the funniest laugh I gave this film was not even during the film, but during one of the bump segments as Dr. Forrester and T.V.'s Frank battle it out!
So your typical MST3K fare and pretty much your typical Roger Corman fare as well. The most notable thing about the film is that it does have a young Robert Vaughn as its star, after that it has a bit of a twist at the end that is kind of like one found in an M. Night Shyamalan film. It is not completely terrible because it does seem to be racing to some reveal, but nothing to surprising for those of us today as it would have been for people back in the day. I kind of figured that was where they were going with it, and I am sure most others guessed it as well.