Thursday, July 24, 2014

Harryhausen Yeti (that was not to be)

Ray Harryhausen is my idol.

Can you believe he was actually planning on doing a stop-motion Abominable Snowman for his film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)?



Oh wow. That would have been something. And check it out, he was going to be wielding a human being as a club.  Human-as-weapon.  That Harryhausen was a pioneer.

Alas, it was not meant to be.  He ended up going with a giant walrus instead:


Hey, I get it.  Ten minutes later in the movie, the heroes meet Trog, a big one-horned neanderthal (Not Yeti Friday post about Trog forthcoming).  A yeti would have been way too close to that.  Giant walrus, though, is different enough.  Also, you can't beat a giant walrus in any context.  Even if it isn't Harryhausen's best work.  The thing is hardly menacing.  I suspect it meant Sinbad and his friends no harm but they viciously attack and kill it anyway.

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