Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan

I've been a fan of Ray Harryhausen (and his good friend, Ray Bradbury) for over 5 decades. This is a brilliant and touching documentary on a man who cannot be pigeonholed as simply an effects artist, but a titan among filmmakers. I doubt there's a science fiction or fantasy filmmaker alive today, who hasn't been influenced by Ray. A really excellent documentary

RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN is an affectionate tribute to the great man and all of his work. This documentary is loaded with interviews with big name directors who found themselves influenced by Harryhausen's work - the likes of Spielberg, Jackson, Del Toro and plenty more besides - along with lots of clips of cool monster action and filmed segments from the special effects genius himself.

For anyone with even the slightest love or fondness for the great old effects pics of old, this is a must see. The format of the documentary explores the master's work in chronological order, starting out with his earliest efforts in the 1940s and concluding with his 1981 epic, CLASH OF THE TITANS. There's no negative stuff here, just a celebration of the techniques that made his films so famous. The running time flies past and you're left wanting more; what else is there to say than that?

What can be said other than what the plot says: This is the definitive documentary about Ray Harryhausen. Aside from interviews with the great man himself, shot over five years, there are also interviews and tributes from Vanessa Harryhausen, Tony Dalton, Randy Cook, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippet, Peter Lord, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, John Landis, Ken Ralston, Guillermo Del Toro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and many more.

What more can you say than that? If you know and love Harryhausen or dislike him (if this is possible) or have never heard of him, there is no end to the line of folks making movies that can tell you his influence and how many of the films today could not have existed without him in one way or another.

If watched fantasy movies in the 60s and 70s then you will know Harryhausen's work. Agreed that it now looks dated but back then it was cutting edge and the only way to bring monsters to life. Unfortunalty his work was rendered almost obsolete when Star Wars came along and changed everything. Touching tributes from various top level directors but you do sometimes question the level of reverance expressed toward Harryhausen and the importance of his work.

Being a child of the 70s I grew up wit Ray Harryhausen films, which were a staple of Bank Holidays and Christmas telly. Everyone who has worked with the gentleman have said just that, that he was a gentleman. A sweet, passionate man who cared deeply about people and his craft. Ray Harryhausen was a true credit to film makers.

I found this documentary just merely catalogued his films, based around a series of interviews he gave in the 90s. It also included a whole bunch of film makers, talking heads all saying how marvellous that he had inspired them to work in the industry. Well, I wanted to know about Ray Harryhausen, not about why they felt inspired.

I came away learning next to nothing, I might as well have read his filmology on this website for all the use the documentary served. His Wikipedia bio was more insightful.