| The Missing Link | |
|---|---|
DVD Cover |
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| Directed by | Picha |
| Produced by | Picha Michel Gast Jenny Gérard |
| Written by | Picha Tony Hendra |
| Starring | Ron Venable Bob Kaliban John Graham Christopher Guest Clark Warren Mark Smith |
| Music by | Roy Budd |
| Distributed by | Pils Films (France) |
| Release date(s) | 1980 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Belgium France |
| Language | French English |
The Missing Link' (French: Le Chaînon manquant) is a 1980 French–Belgian animated film written and directed by Picha. Though it was not as successful as Picha's previous film, it was entered into the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
Contents |
The year is 196303 B.C. A group of cavemen rises from the mud, and the first thing on their minds is finding something to eat. After two unsuccessful attempts, the group decides to eat one of their own. Suddenly, the men meet women, but don't know how to make love to them. The elder of the men sees a pair of stegosaurus performing doggystyle, which inspires the elder to do the same thing with one of the women. Nine months later, that same woman is pregnant with two boys, Ah and Oh. The cavemen like Ah, but are frightened by Oh and abandon him. Meanwhile, a brontosaurus abandons one of her eggs. Both Oh and the baby brontosaurus Igua meet, and instantly become friends.
Years later, while trying to feed Oh, Igua comes across a stranded egg. Before Oh can try to eat it, the egg hatches and inside it is a baby pterodactyl named Croak. Croak and Oh become friends as well, but Igua becomes jealous and doesn't want Oh to see Croak again. As Oh grows up into an adult, he meets up with Croak again, who tries to help Oh become smarter. Their first "lesson" is how to fly. As Oh tries to fly, Igua steps in and takes Oh away. The next day, Oh looks in a pool of water and sees his reflection and discovers that he's a man, not a brontosaurus. He decides to leave Igua and hunt for his own kind.
As Oh begins his quest, Igua tries to get together with his own kind. He finds a group of brontosauruses at a nearby lake, but they reject him due to Igua smelling too much like "man". Igua is crushed and decides to find Oh. As Oh begins to search for man, he comes across a group of workaholic creatures named "No-Lobes". They let him stay, but Oh causes chaos, which results in Oh discovering the wheel. After Oh destroys the No-Lobes's crops with the wheel, he is kicked out and the quest for man continues. While exploring, Oh is caught by a feline creature with a long tail, which she uses to seduce her victims before eating them. Oh decides to name her "No-man". "No-man" uses her tail to seduce Oh, then drags him off to her own kind. Before the felines eat him, they are distracted by a new-born baby. Oh and "No-man" run off together, with the others quickly behind them. Oh and "No-man" give them the slip, then they both have sex. While the two sleep, they are interrupted by a stampede of giant turtles. The feline tribe catches up with them, and catches "No-man". Oh uses a lone giant turtle shell and a couple of wheels to ride up to the tribe and tries to catch "No-man", but misses. Oh rolls off into the desert, leaving "No-man" to have her tail cut off. Oh crashes into a palm tree in the middle of the desert and is left to walk again.
Later, Oh runs into Croak again. Oh is in need of water, and Croak just happens to be searching for water. They find what appears to be water, but before Oh can drink, he is stopped by a dragon. The dragon tries to breathe fire at Oh, but it comes out his buttocks instead. To get water, Oh decides to help the dragon by sticking a cork up the dragon's butt. This causes the dragon to breathe fire from his mouth. The dragon thanks Oh and lets him drink. However, the water is polluted, but the dragon gives him a lift to a nearby lake. After Oh drinks plenty of water, he takes a brief nap. When he wakes up, he sees that he's tied down to the ground by a colony of ants. Oh gets himself free and climbs up a tall building made out of grass, which cracks and sends Oh crashing into a pool of water, which drowns half of the ants. Oh continues on to the Arctic, and meets up with a group of Norwegian barbarians. Oh shows them fire, which intrigues the group. They use their fur coats to light up the fire even more, but the fire melts the ice and their coats are lost in the bottom of the ocean. The group chases after Oh, but Croak flys in and saves him. As Croak flys Oh to safety, Oh is eaten by a shark. Oh eventually escapes from the shark and finally meets his human family.
The elder recognizes Oh and instantly dies. Oh takes over as leader and tells them that he'll teach man what he has learned on his travels. While teaching them, Igua finally catches up with Oh. However, Oh is still angry at Igua. Meanwhile, Ah (Oh's brother, though neither of them know that they are related) takes over as leader and shoves Oh away into the fire that was made by Ah. Igua saves him, and both Oh and Igua reconcile their friendship. Ah (in caveman talk) tells his people that they must show the world who's boss. They kill off the "No-Lobes", the dinosaurs commit suicide, the dragon disappears from the face of the earth, the feline tribe is skinned alive ("No-man" is the sole survivor, but dumps Oh), and the ants make a rocket made out of grass, which plummets into the ground, which causes the Earth to split into continents. As for Oh, Igua, and Croak, they spend the rest of their days on an uncharted island. Croak keeps busy by carving Easter Island heads, and Oh takes the title as the missing link.
Because of the remarkable success of the 1975 film, Tarzoon, la honte de la jungle, Picha was encouraged to address another myth, that of Darwin and his theory of evolution. More ambitious than the previous film, production lasted from 1977 to 1979. Animation took place in Belgium, New York, France, and London. Despite undeniable improvements, the film was a critical and commercial disappointment.
As with Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle, the original foreign language version was so raunchy that the dialogue had to be rewritten when the film was released in the United States to avoid an X rating.
On 28 July 1999, A Region 2 PAL DVD was released in France. It includes the French and English dub, the French theatrical trailer, a complete filmography of the director, and 2 reviews of the film. In 2004, Force Video released the English version in Australia on PAL Region 0 DVD. The DVD comes with no bonus features.
There are currently no plans to release the film in North America.
| B.C. Rock | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Albert Schawrtz Michael S. Landes |
| Written by | Jim Vallely Jonathan Schmock Joesph Plewa Christine Neubaur |
| Starring | Jim Vallely Jonathan Schmock Joesph Plewa |
| Music by | Alan Brewer Anna Pepper |
| Distributed by | Almi Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1984 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
In 1984, an American dub was released known as B.C. Rock. It was released in select theaters and home video by Almi Pictures. Major changes to the film included newly-written dialogue by the comedy duo The Funny Boys (Vallely and Schmock), recut footage, different voices, different instrumental score, the absence of the narrator (with the main character telling the story), and nearly all the songs written and performed by Leo Sayer have been replaced by songs by other artists, in order to attract a wider audience. Though several bootleg DVDs are available online, there are currently no plans to release it officially on DVD. Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein, future founders of The Weinstein Company, are billed as "Music Talent Consultants". Relative newcomer Miramax Films received a "Special Thanks" billing.
A soundtrack for this version has never been released, possibly due to legal issues. However, the songs performed by Rick Wakeman, Leo Sayer, Hall & Oates, Genesis, and Triumph have been released officially.
| The Missing Link: Music From The Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Leo Sayer | |
| Released | 1980 |
| Genre | Rock, Soundtrack |
| Label | Chrysalis Records |
A soundtrack of the United Kingdom version was released in 1980. The songs were performed by Leo Sayer and were written by Sayer, Alex Master, Les Davidson, and Billy Livsey. Sayer and Davidson also wrote Igua's theme. The score was composed by Roy Budd and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Additional music was provided by Absolute Elsewhere member Paul Fishmann, who had previously composed the soundtrack for Picha's previous movie Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle.