Quest for Fire (1982)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Quest for Fire is a somewhat transfixing film about prehistoric times, but without dialogue and the vulgar nature of it, it wasn't compelling.While the premise of the search for fire and its understanding of creation is a good one, it lacks much else. It was also a bit silly and crude.

Since no one I know was around 80 millennia ago, it is up to the Director and Producers to set this film's stage in any way they choose. Our heroes demonstrate pretty basic human traits but there is a marked difference between them. The foreign "girl" adds wonder/advancement to many aspects of their adventurous dealings, from medicine, empathy, strategy, humour, sex, to the ultimate technological advance. The characters are believable, have depth and are thoroughly engaging (I know someone who is exactly like the Ron Pearlman character). If you have studied basic Anthropology (read Desmond Morris and Robert Ardrey), you might really enjoy this picture - there is a lot of very carefully designed 'script' material here. I enjoyed it back in the 80s when it came out and even more in 2016. It is clear there was huge effort put into the production (3 years preparation before filming). It is wonderful.

I had originally watched this movie back in 1982, when I was just an early teenager, and as an adult, I could only remember bits and pieces of what happened. So I recently decided to watch it again, fully expecting it to be cheesy and campy experience, the way many old movies seem to go.However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Quest For Fire has aged quite well. If anything, the grittiness of the 1982 film stock really adds to the texture of the movie. It really does feel like you're watching a world from 80,000 years ago, mainly because of the rugged landscape, but also because of the exotic wildlife and the wonderful performances. If you haven't seen this movie, and you have a healthy attention span, I would recommend watching it. If you saw the movie years ago and have written it off as a silly caveman movie, give it a second chance!

Three bumbling, but amiable and persistent caveman embark on an epic and perilous journey to discover a new source of fire for their tribe. During their pilgrimage our trio have memorable encounters with savage wolves, equally vicious saber-tooth tigers, woolly mammoths (in an extremely moving sequence one of the cavemen gives a mammoth a clump of grass as a peace offering), several nasty rival tribes (a cannibalistic bunch of ugly apemen are especially foul and frightening), and a protective mother bear. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud and writer Gerard Brach do a simply amazing job of creating and presenting a thoroughly believable depiction of a harsh, strange, and oddly beautiful past world. Everett McGill, Ron Perlman (in his film debut), and Nicholas Kadi do remarkably agile and convincing physical acting as our three protagonists; they manage to make these characters funny, charming, and even touching. Rae Dawn Chong likewise shines as Ika, a sexy and vibrant member of a more advanced mud-smeared tribe the guys run across on their travels. This film earns bonus points for its candid, yet tasteful treatment of primitive man's sexuality, the sublimely simple, but still gripping narrative, and a few nice amounts of inspired humor. Claude Agostini's sumptuous widescreen cinematography delivers a wealth of stunning visuals and makes the most out of the breathtaking landscapes. Yves Langlois also deserves praise for his highly rousing and majestic orchestral score. Essential viewing.