History Film / TeenageCaveman

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Probably not meant to be quite so subtle as most invocations of the trope; but the character arc for The Symbol Maker's Son mirrors that of a teenager exploring and testing the boundaries of his world and growing beyond the need for parental authority. Meanwhile The Clan represents said teenager's overprotective, formalistic, repressive family (think of the ShortFilm ''Film/ADateWithYourFamily'') who tries to keep him in a box -- for his own protection, of course, but in the process they're also stunting his growth as a person.[[note]]And then the surprise ending completely undermines this theme: The Law was intelligently formed long ago to protect people, but after a few generations they forgot why they did what they did.[[/note]]

* Creator/RogerCorman: Is responsible for this.

''Teenage Caveman'' is a 1958 ScienceFiction film directed by Creator/RogerCorman.

* PoisonousFriend: The Black-Bearded One starts the movie encouraging The Symbol Maker's Son to challenge The Law, then rats him out the moment he actually takes his advice. He spends the movie after that as a SmugSnake antagonist.

* {{Corpsing}}: Vaughn is leading some other members of the tribe through the jungle when they hear a loud animal growl in the distance. One of the other tribe members cries that it's an evil god come to get them. Vaughn has a hell of a time keeping a straight face.

* AintNoRule: When The Black-Bearded One protests The Symbol Maker's Son making a sleeping barrow outside of the caves for him and The Fair-Haired Maiden, the Elder basically shrugs and says "There's no law that says he can't."

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Probably not meant to be quite so subtle as most invocations of the trope; but the character arc for The Symbol Maker's Son mirrors that of a teenager exploring and testing the boundaries of his world and growing beyond the need for parental authority. Meanwhile The Clan represents said teenager's overprotective, formalistic, repressive family (think of the ShortFilm ''Film/ADateWithYourFamily'') who tries to keep him in a box -- for his own protection, of course, but in the process they're also stunting his growth as a person.

''Teenage Caveman'' is a 1958 adventure film directed by Creator/RogerCorman.

Robert Vaughn stars as a 26-year-old teenage caveman with styled hair who seeks to discover what is in the uncharted jungles beyond his tribe's campsite. It is against the Word (and the Word is the Law), but he breaks it anyway. Soon he discovers a strange creature that kills with its touch. We later learn that this is not a prehistoric tale, but a post-apocalyptic tale, and the strange creature is a 500-plus year old irradiated scientist in a radiation suit.

* NamelessNarrative: Everyone is referred to by job (The Symbol Maker), relationship (The Symbol Maker's Son) or physical appearance (The Black-Bearded One, the Fair-Haired Maiden)

-->I and a party of 23 others were on a scientific expedition when the bombs began to fall...nuclear weapon was unleashed all over the world. Retaliation added to retaliation, until all traces of man's works had been wiped from the face of the Earth.... things that escaped the blast, some grew huge beyond all reason and formed into the dinosaurs of pre-history, or took on new shapes altogether, mad and shapen purpose. My comrades and I, half-protected by our radiation suits, found ourselves given an age far beyond the span allowed. Out of all the sprawling millions of the Earth, a handful escaped all harm through fortune or design.

Not to be confused with Larry Clark's MUCH darker 2002 film of the same title.

* BMovie

* OldShame: [[invoked]] Vaughn claimed this was the worst film ever made after he did it. He probably realized that was ''far'' from the truth, because he later guest-hosted a ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' Turkey Day introducing the film.

* DawsonCasting: Vaughn is closer to a thirtysomething caveman, to be honest.
** He was born in 1932, so he was about 26.
* FollowTheLeader: The plot would be semi-recycled for ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''.

* Corpsing: Vaughn is leading some other members of the tribe through the jungle when they hear a loud animal growl in the distance. One of the other tribe members cries that it's an evil god come to get them. Vaughn has a hell of a time keeping a straight face.

Robert Vaughn stars as a 35-year-old teenage caveman with styled hair who seeks to discover what is in the uncharted jungles beyond his tribe's campsite. It is against the Word (and the Word is the Law), but he breaks it anyway. Soon he discovers a strange creature that kills with its touch. We later learn that this is not a prehistoric tale, but a post-apocalyptic tale, and the strange creature is a 500-plus year old irradiated scientist in a radiation suit.

* AfterTheEnd: Though we don't learn this until scientist starts his post-mortem narration.

For the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version, please go to the [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S03E15TeenageCaveman episode recap page]].

* OldShame: [[invoked]] Vaughn claimed this was the worst film ever made after he did it. He probably realized that was ''far'' from the truth, because he later guest-hosted a ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' Turkey Day introducing the film.

* PoisonousFriend: The Black-Bearded One starts the moving encouraging The Symbol Maker's Son to challenge The Law, then rats him out the moment he actually takes his advice. He spends the movie after that as a SmugSnake antagonist.