Jason and The argonauts (1963)
Three million dollars were spent on Jason and the Argonauts,
mainly on the 'Dynamation 90' special effects created by Ray
Harryhausen - and it was not difficult to see where the money
went.
This lively and imaginative re-telling of the Greek myth begins
with a siege and slaughter by the power-mad Acastus, who kills the
entire royal family of Thessaly - except tiny baby Jason. Years
later, a grown Jason returns home to make his rightful claim to
the throne. But his people need more than a conqueror - they need
inspiration.
When Jason hears of the magical Golden Fleece, with its
legendary powers to guide a nation to prosperity, the quest is on.
After a powwow with Hera, queen of the gods and his own personal
protector, he recruits the brave Argonauts to man his ship, and
the crew sets sail.
 The
Argonauts and their dashing leader clash with a variety of titans
and assorted mythic beasties along the way: the 100-foot bronze
statue of Talos who comes to life, the bat-like and screech-happy
Harpies, the seven-headed reptilian Hydra, and an army of
skeletons (pictured below) who skitter around with sword and
shield. Mercifully, there's a lot of divine intervention along the
way.
Hera, to the raised-eyebrows of her Mount Olympus cohorts,
frequently helps her boy out, and at one point, sea-god Poseidon
emerges from the churning seas and holds the huge Clashing Rocks
apart, so that Jason's ship, the Argo, can sail safely between
(pictured above right).
Todd Armstrong was cast as the fearless Jason, and Nancy Kovack
was Medea. Miss Kovack was certainly pretty to look at, and even
coped well with the dialogue Jan Read and Beverly Cross wrote for
her.
But to boast - as a studio handout boastingly did - that her
performance followed in the footsteps of Maria Callas (a renowned
operatic Medea) was tantamount to entering the fantasy realms in
which the film was set.
Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer teamed up for
further fantasy epics over the next two decades, including The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of the Titans.
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