The Clan of the Cave Bear
Based on the first novel in the bookseries Earth's Children by author Jean M. Auel.,Although Ayla is an early Homo sapien living with Neanderthals, she has shaved legs & armpits.,Brun: You want to be a leader, Broud, but a man who hits his people can never lead the Clan.,UK cinema and video versions were cut by the BBFC with minor edits to the rape scene. The 2004 Optimum release is fully uncut.,Featured in At the Movies: The Clan of the Cave Bear/The Delta Force/Wildcats/F/X (1986),Heroine
Written by Michael Brook
Performed by Sinéad O'Connor
Courtesy of Virgin Records,I first saw 'Cave Bear' when it first came out on video back in 1986 and quite enjoyed it, though it did wander far from the novel. Having recently bought it on DVD as an adult I can honestly say the film still looks great but the film makers took a powerful, epic story and turned it into a one dimensional piece of fluff that never succeeds in enthralling us. I have always been a huge fan of Daryl Hannah, and though she really seems to be doing her best here, I believe she was miss cast. Ayla was meant to be a young teenage girl - Daryl was far too old. The fault here of course is not with Daryl but with the Director and Producers. The main saving grace of the film is the cinematography - it looks beautiful and must have been a difficult film to light considering it all had to look natural and ambient. The DVD release was aweful - it wasn't in widescreen and looked little better than video. It was released by 'Force Video' (never heard of em') and didn't even feature a scene selection function. I know that Jean M. Auel was not entirely happy with the film (I wrote to her once and was thrilled to receive a letter back from her, some of it even hand written by her!) so perhaps one day the entire series of 'Earth's Children' books could be made into a mini-series for television.,