Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

The film holds just about as much magic today as it did when I first saw it about fifty years ago. Another way of saying it would be that the movie brings you all the way back to when you were a kid and became awed at the spectacle of a giant bronze statue come to life, blue demon harpies attacking a blind man, or skeleton warriors come to life to battle the crew of the Argo. Back then, I wouldn't have known the first thing about Ray Harryhausen, but his genius at producing special effects have become legendary, during a time when CGI simply didn't exist. I still marvel at the patience and fortitude necessary to produce those claymation effects, filmed frame by frame with infinitesimal changes to the models to produce the desired results. Simply extraordinary.The story progresses under the watchful eyes of Olympian gods and goddesses, and as such, the story is a neat introduction to mythological characters like Zeus and Hera. I thought the story dropped the ball though when Poseidon wasn't mentioned by name as the savior of the Argonauts at the Clashing Rocks. Another thing that seemed odd to me was the idea that Hercules looked pretty much like any other run of the mill Greek as part of the crew. I wouldn't have expected Steve Reeves or Gordon Scott, but actor Nigel Green appeared just a bit too ordinary to be one of the world's strongest men. But then again, it was Todd Armstrong's show in the title role of Jason, so you wouldn't want to have him upstaged by a champion bodybuilder.Apparently the film was situated in a way to follow up with a sequel; Jason never made it back to Thessaly to confront Pelias (Douglas Wilmer), and Zeus's (Nial MacGinnis) words to Hera (Honor Blackman) went by the wayside at the end of the story when he said "Let us continue the game another day." But even so, the picture stands as a decent fantasy adventure for fans of the genre, with special effects that hold up more than a half century since the movie was made.

because it is more a film about childhood than a film for children. the dialogues, the acting in few occasions, the special effects, the atmosphere are arguments for this status. in same measure, the gods who, in contemporary adaptations are ignored. it has fun and action and tension and the flavor of mythology book. and this is a real great virtue. because it becomes a travel in time, in the heart of a genre who was not only successful but useful for a couple of generations. heroes and fights. romanticism and impressive victories. slice from a Hollywood - refuge front to the success of too technical blockbusters. so, a perfect film. first, for its silly sins. than - for the air of the travel who preserves each image and emotion of the first ages.

There aren't many movies that span even one generation as representing good entertainment. Those that do rarely fall into the category of sword-and-sandal, but "Jason" was one of them.Advanced CGI now makes Harryhausen work look primitive so today's kids probably wouldn't be impressed. Yet this movie that stunned me as a 10 year old still stunned my own sons 25 years after it's release. It required a significant piece of work to do that.There are plenty of comments regarding the quality of the animation so I won't add to that. I will note that a young person who has any interest in the history and development of film special effects needs to rank this one with "King Kong" and take a look. They won't be sorry.

Ray Harryhausen was the master of stop-motion special effects. Although he seemed to just get better with time, this is nonetheless one of the best films of the bunch, a thoroughly enjoyable drama with interesting moments of mythical creature action. Bernard Herrmann wrote a brassy score for this film while off duty from Hitchcock. Producer Schneer's and Harryhausen's goal was not a faithful rendition of the Greek myth, but a Hollywood action spectacle, and at that, they succeeded. The story takes many liberties with the original myth, such as the seven-headed hydra Jason fights to get the golden fleece. One liberty it does not take is politically correctness: the Greeks are white, no 'token women' join the Argonauts, and that is just fine.The general story holds true to the myth: Pelias steals the throne of Thessaly and puts all but one contender to death - Jason. To return to his rightful throne, Jason, with aid of the Goddess Hera, obtains the Golden fleece of Colchis, accompanied by the trusty band of Argonauts through many adventures, and marries the pagan sorceress Medea. Many adventures ensue throughout, such as saving Phineas from the harpies, squeezing past the Symplegade rocks (no dove in the film ). Much is also left out, some of which can be seen in the more recent miniseries, and much is added to make for more stop-motion spectacle.The special effects are a bit rickety as all stop-motion animation is, but they often interact very well with the human characters. For example, the skeleton fighting scene has not been topped by any modern efforts, whereas the hydra scene has a lot of sword stabbing at thin air and little engagement. Before faulting the film for that, consider Obi Wan Kenobi fighting droids and drones in Star Wars Episode I: so many years later, so much CGI money, and the interactivity is less than Harryhausen's fighting skeleton's scene. The drones fall and get cut apart without really seeming to put up a fight; and boy, do they miss a lot for machinery that should have millisecond response time."Jason" is not perfect: the acting is often wooden, many fight scenes look very staged, and the story occasionally bogs down. So it stays at the level of a grand Saturday matinée, of which Indiana Jones many years later reflected the best spirit also, with an archaeologist hunting myths, instead of the myths themselves.