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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ray_harryhausen_8968.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:The master of monsters.]]
3
4Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American movie visual effects pioneer of German descent.
5
6Inspired by the works of Willis O'Brien (''Film/TheLostWorld'' and ''Film/{{King Kong|1933}}'' most notably), he became the most prominent StopMotion animator in the film industry from TheFifties all the way to TheEighties and worked on such classics as ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'', three ''Literature/SinbadTheSailor'' films (''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'', ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' and ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger''), as well as some of the most notable UsefulNotes/{{dinosaur|s}} films of the pre-''Film/{{Jurassic Park|1993}}'' era.
7
8These {{adventure}} / {{fantasy}} movies would often be more [[StarringSpecialEffects showcases for Harryhausen's talent than anything else]], but this is [[JustHereForGodzilla reason enough to watch them]]. The man has inspired many special effects artists to this day.
9
10A lesser known fact: most of the settings in these films were made using [[MatteShot matte painting]], another visual effect technique he was a master of.
11----
12!!Projects Harryhausen Worked On:
13
14[[foldercontrol]]
15
16[[folder:Comic Books]]
17* Several of his classic films have been given Comic Book sequels, or adaptations, which include his original sketches as an extra. These include
18** ''It Came from Beneath the Sea... Again!''
19** ''20 Million Miles to Earth''
20** ''Earth vs. the Flying Saucers''
21** ''The Elementals'' - An unproduced Harryhausen Project.
22** ''Wrath of the Titans''
23[[/folder]]
24
25[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
26[[index]]
27* ''Film/MightyJoeYoung'' - Harryhausen's first Hollywood gig, spiritual sequel to ''Film/KingKong1933''. The effects were a collaboration between O'Brien and Harryhausen.
28* ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'' - While not the first [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever monster to attack a city]], it was the first monster to be [[NuclearMutant created by The Bomb]]. [[InNameOnly Very loosely based]] on the short story of the same name by Harryhausen's friend and fellow guy-named-Ray, Creator/RayBradbury. Because of the movie's success and only vague connection to the story, Bradbury renamed his work "The Fog Horn" to differentiate the two.
29* ''Film/ItCameFromBeneathTheSea'' - Giant Octopus attacks San Francisco. Notably, the City Fathers didn't want to have their newly built [[MonumentalDamage Golden Gate Bridge]] destroyed in the film for fear it would show the bridge being a weak structure. The producers filmed guerrilla-style and put it in anyway. The octopus only has six tentacles, to save on animation time.
30* ''Film/TheAnimalWorld'' - Started as a Documentary about life, but the StopMotion dinosaurs stole the show. It also reunited Harryhausen with his idol Willis O'Brien.
31* ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' - AlienInvasion done with little subtlety. Some of the most iconic MonumentalDamage occurs in this movie when Washington is attacked, including a saucer crashing into the Washington monument and knocking it onto people as well as a Saucer destroying the dome of the Capital Building. Footage from this movie later showed up in several [[BMovie rather less well done SF films]] like ''Film/TheGiantClaw'' and ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges The Three Stooges in Orbit]]'', as well as in the excellent Creator/OrsonWelles quasi-documentary ''Film/FForFake''. It also showed up in the classic ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' story "To Serve Man".
32* ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth'' - Harryhausen's second alien movie, but this movie's Venusian beast, the Ymir, isn't [[AlienInvasion here to conquer]], and is instead a tragic [[NonMaliciousMonster frightened animal]] along the lines of [[Film/KingKong1933 Kong]]. Harryhausen later authorized the [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion colorization]] of ''Film/ItCameFromBeneathTheSea'', ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' and ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth''. The colorized versions were released as a DVD box set, with the option of watching the films in the original black and white.
33* ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' - Swashbuckling [[SeaStories nautical]] fantasy adventure in ArabianNightsDays. His first full-length color film, and TropeCodifier for Harryhausen, introducing one of his most iconic creatures: the [[DemBones living skeleton]], as well as a {{Cyclops}}, some two-headed RocBirds, and a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent flightless dragon]]. Despite its title, this was the first of three films Harryhausen would make about Literature/SinbadTheSailor. In particular was heavily inspired by ''WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailorMeetsSindbadTheSailor''.
34* ''Film/TheThreeWorldsOfGulliver'' - An adaptation of ''Literature/GulliversTravels''. Features the most low key creatures Harryhausen had animated, a squirrel and a crocodile.
35* ''Film/MysteriousIsland'' - Sequel to ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''. Charles Shneer threw in [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever various giant animals]] to give Harryhausen something more to do.
36* ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' - Another nautical fantasy swashbuckler, this time a SwordAndSandal adventure based on Myth/ClassicalMythology. This was Harryhausen's first world-recognized achievement occurs with a bronze giant and a battle with 7 skeletons. It took him several days to film one second of film--and he got the scene done in a single take! Also one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s and most iconic of Harryhausen's films. Creator/TomHanks has [[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/movies/ray-harryhausen-cinematic-special-effects-innovator-dies-at-92.html called it]] the greatest movie ever made.
37* ''Film/TheFirstMenInTheMoon'' - {{Steampunk}} Victorian astronauts meet [[BeePeople Ant People]] on the moon.
38* ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' - [[TheWestern Cowboys]] [[CoolVersusAwesome versus Dinosaurs]], noted for the epic scene where the cowboys rope Gwangi himself, a vicious Allosaurus.
39* ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' - A [[HollywoodPrehistory cavemen-and-dinosaurs movie]] often noted more for Raquel Welch as a NubileSavage in a FurBikini than for Ray's special effects. But they're very good effects. Supposedly, the Archelon model had a lot of critics complaining that Harryhausen used [[{{Slurpasaur}} a real turtle]]. A remake of the 1940 film ''One Million Years B.C.'' which ''did'' use real animals and is generally considered to be not as good.
40* ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' - A not-quite-sequel to ''7th Voyage'', but in a similiar vein of ArabianNightsDays adventure. Epic scenes include a statue of [[UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} Kali]] swordfighting Sinbad with all ''six arms'' and a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaur]]-{{cyclops}}. Also notable for being the film that brought Creator/TomBaker (who played the evil magician Koura) to the attention of the producers of ''Series/DoctorWho''. This movie in particular was heavily influenced by an earlier fantasy film, ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'', of which Ray was a big fan.
41* ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' - The last of Harryhausen's Sinbad movies. Sinbad goes to a LostWorld and battles a giant saber toothed cat. There's also a prince who got turned into a baboon and a gigantic, good-natured [[FrazettaMan "troglodyte"]], the latter of whom is often considered one of Ray's most sympathetic and appealing creations.
42* ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' - Ray's swan song, featuring his last act in the {{Medusa}} battle done by flickering firelight. The complexity of that scene wows FX artists to this day. Also the film in which Sir Creator/LaurenceOlivier gives the memorable order to "release the [[KrakenAndLeviathan kraken]]".
43[[/index]]
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Live Action TV]]
47* Many of his effects were reused in famous television series--most notably ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' reusing his Flying Saucers in "To Serve Man".
48[[/folder]]
49
50[[folder:Western Animation]]
51* Harryhausen's first gig was making shorts for the Army. Infamously, the short ''How To Build a Bridge'' had no visuals of soldiers putting the bridge together, and the superiors worried that the soldiers would think the bridges ''would build themselves!''
52* Harryhausen also did several fairy tale adaptations, but few are of note, as they were fully animated Gumby-style shorts.
53[[/folder]]
54
55!!Homages and Shout Outs:
56
57[[folder:Comic Books]]
58* Creator/GeorgePerez cited Harryhausen as a chief inspiration for his ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' run, most notably in the "Challenge of the Gods" story-arc, where the skeleton-army sequence from ''Jason and the Argonauts'' is homaged down to the Hydra-teeth.
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
62* Speaking of Shout Outs, two stop-motion films that came out in the same year had the exact same nod to the man: both ''WesternAnimation/TheCurseOfTheWereRabbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'' had a "Harryhausen" piano in there.
63* Harryhausen had an upscale restaurant named after him in Creator/{{Pixar}}'s ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
67* ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'' features a very Harryhausen-inspired battle sequence with an Army of Skeletons. Some of which were stop motion.
68* ''Film/JurassicPark'' has a scene where the ''Tyrannosaurus'' lunges out from cover, grabs a ''Gallimimus'', and shakes it to death in a manner very similar to the titular character from ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' ambushing a ''Struthiomimus''. This scene was animated by Creator/PhilTippett, a lifelong fan of Harryhausen.
69* While it mostly uses the traditional PeopleInRubberSuits that comes standard with ''[[{{Toku}} Tokusatsu]]'', ''Film/KamenRiderZO'' features a stop motion fight with a giant spider monster that is rather Harryhausen-esque.
70* The skeleton fight between Brendan Fraser and a bunch of skeletons in ''[[Film/TheMummy1999 The Mummy]]'' is acknowledged by the director and art department as a deliberate tribute and throwback to ''Jason and the Argonauts'', right down to looking ever so slightly slapstick.
71* ''Film/PacificRim'', while not directly related, is stated to be a tribute to both Ray Harryhausen and fellow Monster movie creator Creator/IshiroHonda.
72* ''Sinbad: The 5th Voyage'' is a GenreThrowback to the aforementioned Harryhausen ''Sinbad'' movies, going as far as using actual stop motion animation (albeit far more technologically advanced) for the creatures.
73* ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' is, in many ways, an homage to Harryhausen's body of work, combining the Sinbad and Greek mythology films into a single setting full of giant monsters. Especially in the "Cyclops Island" short included on the home video version: Sinbad's reaction to encountering the one-eyed giants is [[Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad "Not again!"]]
74* ''Film/SpyKids2IslandOfLostDreams'' has a skeleton army too; the island itself, full of creatures of varying sizes and natures, wouldn't be out of place in the Harryhausen canon either. Although most of it is done with CGI, it's CGI that is [[{{retraux}} designed to capture the look of stop motion]].
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Live Action Television]]
78* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' did a Jason and the Argonauts story which climaxed with a battle against (CGI) Skeletons in Harryhausen fashion.
79* Scenes from both ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' and ''Valley of Gwangi'' have been used in the Newsflash game on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''.
80[[/folder]]
81
82[[folder:Multiple Genres]]
83* It's hard not to find a Medusa or Gorgon design not influenced by Harryhausen's design: from TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons to ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules, they all nod to Harryhausen.
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:Music]]
87* The video for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Burn It Off" is a pastiche of Harryhausen movies, with members of the band chased by CGI versions of his monsters (especially the skeletons) around an island and on a ship.
88* The Hoosiers song "Worried About Ray" is named for him, and the video even features stop-motion creatures reminiscent of Harryhausen's works.
89[[/folder]]
90
91[[folder:Video Games]]
92* ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' has several Greek myth units based directly on Harryhausen's version of them - cyclops, bronze giants and medusa, for example.
93* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series draws a lot of inspiration from Harryhausen's movies, namely the Myth/ClassicalMythology inspired ones. In particular, the second game includes several shout outs, including fighting skeletons while following Film/{{Jason|AndTheArgonauts}}.
94* Several ''[[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Killer Instinct 2]]'' characters pay homage to Harryhausen's movies, notably Spinal and Eyedoll.
95* The giant stone heads at the very beginning of Capcom's ''VideoGame/LegendaryWings'' are similar to the head of the Talos statue in ''Jason and the Argonauts'', including the way they turn around.
96* The {{Cyclops}} in the Platform/PlayStation game for ''VideoGame/XenaWarriorPrincess'' was quite obviously modeled on the ones from ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' complete with a horn on its forehead and (if you use the camera to see its lower body) satyr-like legs.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Web Video]]
100* Creator/PhilTippett's SurrealHorror stop-motion series ''WebVideo/MadGod'' has a statue of the cyclops show up in one scene.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Western Animation]]
104* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats'', ''Bride of the Pastmaster'', had two of its three {{Cyclops}} adorned with horns on their foreheads like the ones in ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad''.
105* ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans'' is full of Harryhausen movie shout-outs, starting of course with [[Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981 the title]].
106* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' has them transported to ancient Rome where they face off against a Cyclops that looks Harryhausen-esque, even moving as if stop motion animated.
107* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode ''Little Gift Shop of Horrors'', [[{{Expy}} Harry Claymore]] animated stop-motion skeletons and a cyclops for the SwordAndSandal film ''The Voyages of Loinclothiclese''. [[spoiler: Which is to say he used black magic to bring to life actual-size clay monsters, which turned on him after the advent of computer animation.]]
108-->'''Harry Claymore:''' [[spoiler: Do you really believe someone moves these figures one frame at a time? I'm not a masochist.]]
109* The horned cyclops appears in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s "Imaginationland" trilogy among the evil imaginary characters.
110[[/folder]]
111
112!!Tropes found in the films Ray Harryhausen worked on:
113
114* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' is set in a prehistorical world where humans and dinosaurs coexist.
115* BehemothBattle: There's very often more than one monster in his films, and some can end up fighting each other to the death.
116** ''Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth'' (1957) - Alien/elephant battle
117** ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' (1958) - Cyclops/dragon battle
118** ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'' (1966) - Carnosaur/ceratopsian battle and pterosaur/pterosaur battle
119** ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' (1969) - Allosaurus/styracosaurus battle, and later the same Allosaurus fights an elephant
120** ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' (1974) - Griffin/centaur battle
121** ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' (1977) - Troglodyte/smilodon battle
122* DemBones: The hero fighting animated skeletons only comes up in two of his movies -- ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'' and ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' -- but it's become one of his trademarks. The [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] scene from ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' is close in spirit since these creatures have visible ribcages and are seemingly impervious to being stabbed.
123* EvilIsHammy: Expect the villains (the EvilSorcerer kind especially) to be grandiose.
124* {{Fantasy}}: ''Jason'' and ''Clash'' are both adapted from Myth/ClassicalMythology, the ''Sinbad'' movies come from [[ArabianNightsDays Arabian myths]][[note]](with some classical mythology monsters thrown in the mix; the Islamic Golden Age was heavily influenced by Greek ideas)[[/note]].
125* MonumentalDamage: Harryhausen helped codifying this trope in a few of his earlier films, with ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms'' climaxing in the destruction of the Coney Island amusement park (that film directly inspired ''Film/{{Godzilla|1954}}'', besides), ''Film/ItCameFromBeneathTheSea'''s SignatureScene being the Golden Gate Bridge getting pulled into the sea, and ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'' showing a saucer crashing into the Washington Monument and the Supreme Court dome.
126* MsFanservice: There were some gorgeous actresses to accompany the heroes with {{Fanservice}}-filled outfits such as Creator/RaquelWelch in ''Film/OneMillionYearsBC'', Creator/CarolineMunro in ''The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'', Creator/JaneSeymourActress and Taryn Power in ''Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger''.
127* TheQuest: In the Greek mythology-based films and ''Sinbad'' films especially, the heroes embark on a journey to find magical artifacts and battle an EvilSorcerer.

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