The Roller Coaster climax.
What do you think of the roller coaster scene at the end?
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MovieChat Forums > The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) Discussion > The Roller Coaster climax.
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I think the ending sequence was pretty well done and holds up reasonably well today.
And yes, it is sad when the Beast dies. He's fearsome but not necessarily malicious. Of course, I guess he (she? it?) has only himself to blame: he ate the scientist that wanted to capture and study him, leaving alive only the characters that wanted to kill him.
I thought the roller coaster climax was very exciting and ultimately quite touching. The monster's protracted death throes were truly sad and heartbreaking to watch. Moreover, I loved the casting of Lee Van Cleef in a small role as the expert marksman who fires the isotope into the creature.
"Warren Oates died for our sins"
From the moment the rhedosaurus was shot, you knew it was going to die. I think it would have been far more climactic if the beast had knocked over the barrels and set fire to the roller coast before it was shot. That way, the marksman has to shoot the beast while worrying about the flames and then escape. Still, there was a sense of "if you miss, we all die." I think they should have said that very line to add to the tension.
As for the rhedosaur's death, Ray Harryhausen said that people would comment that he gave his movie monsters Opera deaths. It's true. It's great that you have these snarling monsters that destroy, kill, and eat whoever or whatever they want, then instead of falling to the ground when they're killed, they do this long, drawn out, "whoa is me" death. In truth, however, the rhedosaurus was an animal and incapable of knowledge of good and evil. He destroyed what annoyed him and ate when he was hungry. I can all but guarantee that if your pet cat or dog was the rhedosaur's size and had never seen a human, they would have done about the same thing.
One thing I noticed, the rhedosaur's death was almost a move by move reinactment of Kong's "going under" when he was hit by the gas bomb in 1933.
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If this site had a dam spel check, it would say that.
shareThe roller coaster climax is very good, and also, very sad when the Rhedosaurus
gets killed, and that cry that he makes at the end is also sad.
I'v always thought that what raised Harryhausens work another notch was his perfect lighting. The rollercoaster climax is beautifully and consistently lit with all other aspects of the film in each shot - especially once the coaster catches fire. Reminded me of the great flickering-flame lighting on Medusa in Clash of the Titans...
Even the best CGI guys today can never get the lighting to match this perfectly.
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I cried.
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