The Last Dinosaur 1977 T Rex

[Norine Wiltshire]

Thefilm stars Richard Boone and Joan Van Ark. William Overgard wrote the screenplay. The score was composed, as was most of the music for all Rankin/Bass specials and series, by Maury Laws, while the title song "He's the Last Dinosaur", with lyrics by Jules Bass, was sung by Nancy Wilson, and arranged and conducted by Bernard Hoffer.

Wealthy big-game hunter Maston Thrust jr. has a multimillion-dollar company, Thrust Inc., which drills for oil under the polar caps with a manned laser drill called the "Polar Borer". Following one expedition, only one man, geologist Chuck Wade, returns; he explains that the drill was going through a routine check in the icecaps when it surfaced into a valley super-heated by a volcano. When the crew, except for Wade, began exploring the area, they were killed by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Thrust decides to go there himself to study the creature. He brings with him Chuck Wade, Bunta a Maasai tracker, Dr. Kawamoto and Frankie Banks a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer selected by the press pool. Matson is initially unwilling to let Frankie join the crew, but she manages to convince him to allow her on the expedition by seducing him.

Upon arriving at the isolated valley using the Polar Borer, the group notices Pteranodons. Once they raft to shore,, they narrowly avoid being trampled by a Uintatherium. After setting up camp, Maston, Chuck, Bunta, and Frankie go out looking for the T. rex, while Kawamoto remains at the camp. The party encounters the T. rex and narrowly escapes from it. Later, the T. rex find the camp, destroying it and kills Kawamoto. It then takes the Polar Borer and throws it into a canyon full of bones. He uses the Borer to dig a canyon wall and releases a Triceratops and the two dinosaurs clash. After a fierce battle, the T. rex kills the Triceratops.

The group returns to the destroyed camp and notice Kawamoto is disappeared as well as the Polar Borer. Enraged, Thrust vows to kill the dinosaur. After a few months pass, the group is now living in a cave and has a number of encounters with cavemen in the area, but are able to turn them away with a handmade crossbow. They also befriend a cavewoman, who they name Hazel. While Hazel helps Frankie wash her hair, the T. rex returns. Frankie takes refuge in a cave, with the T. rex trying to get in. Matson, Bunta and Chuck are able to turn it away with a large boulder tied to its tail. Thrust decides to kill the T. rex once and for all with a catapult.

After building the catapult, they wait for the dinosaur. Out hunting, Chuck finds the Polar Borer and realizes it is still operable. However, Matson refuses to leave, wanting to kill the T. rex. Chuck and Frankie leave the camp to get the Borer fixed and then leave, while Matson and Bunta remain. Once the Borer is launched back in the water, Frankie goes back to convince the others to leave with them one last time. Bunta is killed by the T. rex while stalking him.. Frankie reunites with Matson and helps him use the catapult on the T. rex. But the dinosaur soon gets back to its feet and destroys the catapult.

In the wake of the destruction, Wade arrives and states that they have to leave now or they will be trapped in the valley. Frankie pleads with Matson to go with them and to leave the T. rex as it is the "last one", Matson replies "So am I". Wade and Frankie then leave aboard the Polar Borer, leaving Matson in the valley with Hazel.

The film was intended for a US theatrical release, but failed to find a distributor and ended up as a television film. Screenwriter William Overgard pitched to ABC a TV movie about a hunter who travels back in time to kill a dinosaur. ABC rejected the idea in favor of a rock musical remake of King Kong. When that fell though, they came back to Overgard to develop his idea.

While the film featured mostly an English-speaking cast, a Japanese dub was created for the television release in Japan. The Japanese theatrical release, as well as the Japanese laserdisc release, used the English voice cast with Japanese subtitles.

On May 22, 2009, Toho Video released the movie on DVD for the first time anywhere in the world. The DVD contains both English and Japanese audio tracks as well as an audio commentary in Japanese. This release uses an anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer of the unedited 106-minute theatrical release prepared by U.S. rights holder Warner Bros., and also contains a 13-minute interview with visual effects director Kazuo Sagawa, a photo gallery (which includes storyboards, production designs, and behind-the-scenes photos), a 15-minute behind-the-scenes production reel narrated by Sagawa, and the original Japanese theatrical release trailer.

On March 22, 2011, Warner Home Video released the movie on DVD in the U.S. through their Warner Archive Collection as a "made to order" DVD. This release uses the same widescreen transfer of the 106-minute unedited version as the Japanese Toho release, but lacks the supplemental materials.

During an underwater oil drilling expedition, Thrust Industries' advanced submersible drilling vehicle, the Polar-Borer, accidentally burrows into a gigantic underground cavern. The vessel's crew ventures out to explore, with one member, Chuck Wade, remaining behind in the Polar-Borer. However, the crew soon find themselves attacked in the jungle by a colossal predator, a Tyrannosaurus rex. Wade manages to escape in the Polar-Borer, with all of his crew mates killed by the dinosaur. When Thrust Industries' CEO, multibillionaire Masten Thrust Jr., learns of the event, he orders a second Polar-Borer expedition to the strange underground world to investigate the presence of a prehistoric creature there, one on which he will be part of the crew. While as far as the public is concerned the expedition is for scientific purposes and grant closure for the crew members lost previously, Thrust - an accomplished big game hunter who had not faced a challenging hunt in years - intends to hunt the Tyrannosaurus himself and claim it as the ultimate trophy. Accompanying Thrust on the expedition are Wade, Japanese scientist Dr. Kawamoto, and an African tracker named Bunta. Francesca Banks, a journalist, convinces Thrust to bring her along on the expedition after seducing him.

The Polar-Borer is launched from Thrust Industries' oil platform Mother 1, and successfully bores through the polar ice and ocean floor until it surfaces in a lake within a jungle-covered underground cavern. Thrust, Wade, Bunta, and Francesca disembark to investigate, while Kawamoto remains behind to watch over their base camp. While exploring the jungle, they narrowly avoid being trampled by a stampeding ceratopsian. They later come upon a pond, where they find gigantic leeches, as well as a rock which they later discover is a giant turtle. Meanwhile, the Tyrannosaurus that killed the crew of the last Polar-Borer discovers the expedition's base camp, killing Dr. Kawamoto and trashing the camp before making off with the Polar-Borer. The beast deposits its new prize in its lair, littered with the bones of other prey. Suddenly, a Triceratops erupts from underground and charges at the Tyrannosaurus, goring it with its sharp horns. Despite sustaining injuries, the Tyrannosaurus kills its foe by biting down on its neck with its razor-sharp teeth, causing the Triceratops to bleed to death.

Thrust and the others soon find themselves stranded in the underground world, their every move stalked by both the Tyrannosaurus and a tribe of primitive humans. They are forced to camp in a cave and survive using the weapons they salvaged and hunting the local wildlife. Additionally, Francesca and Wade begin developing feelings for each other. When a large party of primitive men corner the trio, Thrust manages to kill their leader with a crossbow made from the ruins of Dr. Kawamoto's camp, convincing the others to stay far away from them from now on. However, a primitive woman takes an interest in the group, particularly Thrust, and follows them to their camp. Thrust is furious when the primitive woman tries to sleep with him and wants her thrown out of the camp, but Francesca decides to let her stay, naming her Hazel. One day as Hazel and Francesca are getting water from a lake, they are attacked by the Tyrannosaurus. They narrowly manage to avoid its attack, convincing Thrust that they need to kill it. Thrust and Bunta begin preparing an elaborate trap for the Tyrannosaurus, when Wade discovers the Polar-Borer in the monster's lair. He and Francesca try to convince Thrust to abandon his hunt and help them salvage the Polar-Borer, but find that Thrust's obsession has consumed him and that he wants nothing more than to kill the Tyrannosaurus himself. Wade and Francesca abandon Thrust to his hunt and manage to retrieve the Polar-Borer from the Tyrannosaurus ' lair using a pulley system, before finally pushing it back into the lake where it originally emerged. Wade begins repairs to allow the craft to escape, but Francesca goes back to try and convince Thrust to come with them.

As Wade nearly completes repairs on the Polar-Borer, the Tyrannosaurus finds and kills Bunta and prepares to do the same to Thrust and Francesca. Thrust is able to spring his trap, which catapults a gigantic boulder into the Tyrannosaurus ' head. While at first it seems to have been effective in bringing the beast down, the Tyrannosaurus soon gets back to its feet and destroys the catapult before escaping. Francesca begs Thrust to leave with her and Wade, but he continues to refuse to go home empty-handed. Francesca pleads with him to leave the Tyrannosaurus alone since it is "the last dinosaur," but Thrust simply replies that so is he. Thrust sees Francesca and Wade off as the Polar-Borer submerges and returns to the surface world. As Thrust hears the Tyrannosaurus ' roar echo through the jungle, he prepares to continue his hunt and is surprised when Hazel approaches him. Rather than shoo her off like before, Thrust finally decides to let Hazel join him, and the two set off into the jungle together.

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