"It is scenes such as this when Bernie's genius comes into its own. After a serious almost malevolent arrangement during the chase, he achieves a comic "attitude" by using oboes from the point where the creature leaps into the screen, thus attaining a quirky and eccentric sound."

Phororhacos

Creator: Ray Harryhausen

Film: Mysterious Island 1961

A Phororhacos, or sword beak, was a 6-foot tall, flightless bird having small, wings and very large hind legs, that lived during the Miocene period, The phororhacos was a fearless killer and attacked even if outnumbered. It initiates combat by jumping on a victim, its two claw attacks inflicting double damage as it jumps.

Gideon was taking a nap after fishing when a giant shadow covers him and starts to follow him. He ran towards the camp where Lady Mary Fairchild and Elena where bringing food for the crew. The creature attacks them and jumps over the fence where they kept the goats they had captured. Lady Mary tries to shoot it with a shotgun but ends up being tossed away as the Phororhacos kicks her. Gideon tries to hit him with a stick as you see here but ends up being tossed away too. Not until Herbert jumps on creature's back and stabs it with his knife to death and falls dead on the sand....but a mysterious bullet was found later when the crew decide to have the giant creature for dinner!

Phororhacos Facts

• The model of the Phororhacos was approximately 10 inches high that had actual chicken feathers.

• For many years many people thought that the Phororhacos was a overgrown chicken! which in fact it was based on a creature that lived many millennia ago.

• In the scene were Callan jumps on the creatures back Ray achieved by using a mix of models; both miniature and a full size section of the creature, with the actor sitting astride the mock-up and his substitute model astride the model of the Phororhacos.

Back

Ray Harryhausen

on the Phororhacos

"I never planned for the Phororhacos to be seen as comical-in fact I had conceived it as a serious menace-but because the audience views the creature as a chicken, I can understand how the humor comes out."

"Sadly the model doesn't exist today, as I reused the armature for something else, perhaps the ornthinimus in Valley of Gwangi."