The obligatory "then and now" shot of Eagle Beak and Indian Head as seen in "Stagecoach"

Eagle Beak, on the right, also known as Sphinx, and Indian Head, on the left, also known as Tower Rock, are among the most famous and most widely filmed rocks at the Iverson Movie Ranch. They're located in the Garden of the Gods on the former Lower Iverson, an area that has been preserved as a park. The sequence in which they appear in John Ford's landmark 1939 Western "Stagecoach" (top photo) is possibly the single most high-profile appearance of Iverson rocks on film, rivaled only by Iverson's other extremely high-profile feature, Lone Ranger Rock, and its appearance in the opening sequence of the "Lone Ranger" TV show. Eagle Beak, Indian Head and Lone Ranger Rock tend to be the entry point for Iverson research, and they clearly have their appeal and their glamour. But in my case, once I got past the initial excitement of seeing these familiar monuments in real life, I went on to discover hundreds of other rocks at the movie ranch that I found at least equally interesting. 

One noteworthy bit of trivia about these two giants concerns their names: Indian Head is a name that has been applied to at least four different rocks at Iverson, including both of these. (Click here for a post that runs through all of Iverson's so-called "Indian Heads.") Eagle Beak has itself been referred to as Indian Head at least once in a movie. Additionally, before Lone Ranger Rock became identified with the Lone Ranger, it was known as Indian Head. And there's another Indian Head on the Upper Iverson, also known as Wrench Rock. The name "Indian Head" could easily have also been given to another Iverson rock, known as Batman Rock. Meanwhile, Eagle Beak's name, which is now in wide use (much more common, for example, than Sphinx, which is probably more correct), apparently came about as a result of an error, as it was reportedly confused with a different rock, Eagle Beak Rock, located on the Upper Iverson.

The sad story of Rock Island

Rock Island wasn't one of the most frequently filmed rock formations on the Iverson Movie Ranch, but it showed up from time to time and usually had quite an impact. The shot above is from "Overland Stage Raiders" (1938). Rock Island is the name given to the six or so towering structures clustered together here with chase roads on all sides.

It was a challenge to determine their exact location — or their former location, I should say. Rock Island was an apparent victim of the bulldozers, destroyed several years ago to make way for condo development and Redmesa Road. I don't know whether it's true but I've heard that the people developing the former Iverson property at that time did the deed fast and without permits, to avoid giving any preservationist groups time to do anything about it. Chatsworth, Calif., does have an active historical society and other activist groups that are interested in preserving the town's cultural heritage, its equestrian traditions and its movie history. 


Whether it was done legally or not, the developers took out Rock Island and a few other key formations at Iverson when the bulk of the construction was going on, starting in the 1970s, but fortunately a good number of the ranch's "movie star" rocks are still around. They're sprinkled among condos, gated communities, sprawling mansions, apartments and a trailer park, or in some cases simply overgrown by trees and bushes, but for the most part they've survived. And even though sandstone is soft by rock standards, they're likely to still be around centuries after the manmade stuff is long gone.

The figure in the center of the shot, which seems to have a little round mouth and no face, is Eraserhead, for reasons that should be apparent to anyone who has seen the David Lynch movie. Because of its unusual appearance and its position as a cornerstone, Eraserhead is often the rock that immediately identifies the group. Rock Island can be tricky to spot because it is shot from a number of different angles and it looks different from each one. But I usually get excited when I do see it in the movies, if only because it's no longer possible to see it in person.

For more on the mystery of Rock Island, click here.

When Roy wasn't himself

Sometimes what you see isn't what you get. This shot of Roy Rogers riding Trigger on the Upper Iverson, taken from a 1952 episode of "The Roy Rogers Show" called "Ride in Death Wagon," is in fact printed backward. That is, left is right and right is left, like a mirror image. That's the way they ran this scene in the episode, because they wanted to have Roy riding from left to right, or west to east. It would have cost money to have a crew go out and shoot him riding, and they already had some perfectly good footage of him riding in the other direction, so they just flipped it and used the same footage twice.

Here's another shot from the same episode of the show, in which Roy is shown properly oriented, in virtually the same spot. You can see from the road going up the hill in the background that they didn't bother to shoot Roy riding in both directions, they just flipped the whole shot and ran the same footage twice. Flipping the shot was just one of the tricks used to stretch the budget, and in the days before VHS, DVD, freeze-frame and slow-motion, before viewers were able to take a close look at those backgrounds — and before people like us became obsessed with every little detail of the Iverson Movie Ranch — they could get away with it.

Here's another example of flipping the shot, from the TV show "Adventures of Kit Carson."