In one zillion BC, Atouk (Ringo Starr) is a wimpy caveman and a member of the Hostile Tribe. The leader of the tribe is Tonda (John Matuszak). During an outing looking for food Atouk’s friend, Lar (Dennis Quaid) is injured. Tonda insists that he be left behind. Atouk is fixated on Tonda’s beautiful partner, Lana (Barbara Bach). When he tries to make a move on her, Tonda kicks him out of the tribe.
While wandering around Atouk finds Lar. The two of them go off together trying to survive. In their travels they come across Tala (Shelley Long) and an elderly blind man, Gog (Jack Gilford). They save Gog from the tar pits, so Tala and Gog join Atouk and Lar.
Not long after that they come across Flog (Jack Scalici) and his family. The more they travel the more other cave people they gather. Soon Atouk finds himself the leader of a tribe of misfits. They learn how to stand upright, create fire. They also learn how to cook, including making eggs sunny side up, fashion weapons and make music. As they evolve, they battle a variety of dinosaurs.
While out looking for food, Atouk and Lar see Lana get caught by raging rapids. Atouk rescues Lana, but Lar gets swept away. Once Lana is safe, the men go out searching for Lar. They find him in the ice age and save him from the abominable snowman (Richard Moll). While they are away, a jealous Tala tells Tonda that Lana is alive. Tonda shows up and steals all the Misfit Clan’s women.
“Caveman” was released in 1981 and was directed by Carl Gottlieb. It is a comedy fantasy film. In 1981 the movie was nominated for “Worst Picture” at the Hastings Bad Cinema Society's “Stinkers Bad Movie Awards”. It did win for ''Least 'Special' Special Effects''.
It is probably the first ‘stoner’ film. There were some chuckles here and there, enough to make it stupid fun, but the best part was the dinosaurs that were done in stop motion. Although they are not the best dinosaurs in the world, they are the funniest. Included in that mix is a very affectionate man-eating plant and the most adorable abominable snowman ever. Since there is basically no dialogue in the film, the jokes are all visual. There is a good amount of slapstick and some very facially expressive dinosaurs. The movie ended up being a lot more entertaining than I expected.
Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach met on the set of the film. They married in April 1981. They have been married for over 40 years. Ringo was the drummer for the sixties rock group “The Beatles”.
A caveman language was developed for the film.