Early Roger Corman movies can be very good ("The Little Shop of Horrors", "Not of This Earth"), very bad ("The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent"), or somewhere in between ("It Conquered the World", Attack of the Crab Monsters"). "Teenage Cave Man" falls somewhere in the middle, with an impoverished budget but a good cast and intelligent story.A restless teenage cave man (Robert Vaughn) has an urge to travel to the forbidden land "beyond the river", where a fabled monster can kill with just a touch. The first journey ends with an unfortunate death (B actor Beach Dickerson) in some quicksand (The "Sucking Sands"), so there's lots of discussion about the status quo, which the tribe elders say must be maintained. Eventually the teenager journeys again to the forbidden land, there's a bear attack (Dickerson in a bear suit), an attack by wild dogs (no doubt liberated from the local pound), and a final confrontation with the dreaded beast. The beast is nothing but an old man in a radiation suit who represents the last survivor of a long-ago nuclear war.Beach Dickerson used to tell hilarious stories about this movie, including a description of his four roles (he dies in three of them, and attends his own funeral). Vaughn adds some credibility to the proceedings, and the luscious Barboura Morris appears in a small part. Okay, it's really cheap, but it's also fun, and Vaughn is pretty good under the circumstances.

I saw this as an MST episode, and it's one of the few where you might actually be able to watch the movie and stay interested if Joel and the bots weren't blabbing away. The commentary is hilarious but the story also manages to be somewhat intriguing.There are what seem to be obvious flaws in the plot and even the wardrobe and outfitting of the cavemen that make the whole film seem silly until you get a surprise ending that you wouldn't be able to predict. The acting is bad and the cavemen are far too clad, but you don't seem to care entirely I wouldn't recommend actually trying to watch this on it's own, you need MST to make it enjoyable but at least it was a serious film which didn't entirely fail to entertain you and get it's point across.As a side note, I saw quite a few ideas here that have been used by Jean M Auel in her Clan of the Cave Bear portrayal of the Clan, even down to the name of the people

Teenage Caveman (1958) ** (out of 4) Roger Corman/AIP cheapie about a young caveman (Robert Vaughn) who travels across the evil even after being warned that evil will fall upon him. Across the river he sees dinosaurs and other strange beings but he tries to tell his tribe that it's not all evil. This ultra low budget film, like the above one, is cheaply made but it provides enough entertainment in its short 66-minute running time. Vaughn, while not really good per say, is at least interesting and we also have Jonathan Haze along for the ride. The dino shots were taken from One Million B.C. and a couple other monsters show up from previous Corman films.

Even dependable ace director Roger Corman wasn't able to turn this dud into something steadily worth watching. It stars THE MAN FROM UNCLE's Robert Vaughn as a 26-year-old "boy" who defies his tribe's law by daring to venture forth "beyond the river" to the other side, where he is met by quicksand and a few silly creatures. It's an hour or so of tedium, but we do get a hearty laugh in seeing Robert Shayne looking ridiculous as a bearded caveman in sheepskin and sporting a Shemp Howard haircut. The ending of the film is at least interesting, though it's not worth the trip to make it that far. * out of ****