December 30, 1966: "One Million Years B.C." Premieres

December 30, 1966: The film One Million Years B.C. premieres. Produced by Britain's Hammer Films, which specialized in horror films, and directed by Don Chaffey, it was a remake of the 1940 film One Million B.C.

Like so many other films of the era with fantasy elements, the special effects were provided by the master of stop-motion photography, Ray Harryhausen. Like so many other films set in humanity's prehistoric era, it puts people alongside dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were wiped out around 65 million years ago, while humans emerged back 3 million years ago, with our species, Homo sapiens, developing about 300,000 years ago.

Even the timeline of dinosaurs tends to get messed up by such films: Brontosaurus, the long-necked dinosaur, and Stegosaurus, with its triangular fins along its spine, both lived around 155 to 145 million years ago; and Tyrannosaurus rex, whose terrifying appearance, standing with long, sharp teeth, tends to make it the most familiar dinosaur, and Triceratops, with its 2 front horns and its horned collar, developed about 69 million years ago, making it a comparatively short-lived species. In other words, Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus co-existed, and Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops co-existed; but the latter 2 were closer in time to humans than to the 1st 2.

The film features a rivalry between the dark-haired Rock Tribe and the fair-haired, more civilized Shell Tribe. John Richardson plays Tumak, cast out of the Rock Tribe, and Raquel Welch plays Loana, a member of the Shell Tribe who takes him in. She eventually has to fight his former girlfriend, Nupodi, played by Hammer veteran Martine Beswick. Despite Beswick's experience in "catfights," having won one in the James Bond film From Russia with Love, Loana wins. Finally, a volcano erupts, killing members of both tribes, and the survivors of each are forced to form a new tribe, working together to survive.

Having already appeared in the science-fiction film Fantastic Voyage earlier in the year, One Million Years B.C. made Welch a star, as she went from a futuristic skin-tight pressure suit to a cavewoman's fur-skin bikini. Already 26 years old, with a son and a daughter, and engaged to the 2nd of what would be 4 husbands, she became one of the leading sex symbols of her generation.

Don Chaffey died in 1990. Ray Harryhausen died in 2013. John Richardson died in 2021. As of December 30, 2022, Raquel Welch and Martine Beswick are still alive. (UPDATE: She died in 2023.)

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December 30, 1966 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL and the AFL were between the ends of their regular seasons and their Championship Games. The NHL had no games scheduled.

There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Detroit Pistons bat the Los Angeles Lakers, 124-121, on a neutral court at the Montreal Forum.