Jason et les Argonautes

Possibly. His first "Sinbad" film in 1958 had one moving skeleton for the hero to fight; this one has a whole platoon of them, each part painstakingly moved one tiny distance at a time personally by Harryhausen through stop-motion techniques. The seven-headed Hydra is another technical marvel. There are some other nifty creatures for Jason and his crew to battle, but for me, the most impressive of them all turns up first: the gigantic Talos, the Man of Bronze.

I was a kid when this came out, and I don't think I'll ever forget that moment when the huge, crouched statue came to life, turned his head towards the two men below him (his bronze head screeching with the tear of metal), climbed off of his pedestal, and proceeded to chase Jason and his men. Talos was giant like Godzilla, but as single-minded as the Terminator: all he wants to do is track Jason's crew down until he kills them all. This gave me nightmares. Bernard Herrmann's score is one of his best, making music to match Harryhausen's images. (Herrmann was coming off of other Harryhausen's, plus Hitchcock's "Vertigo," "North by Northwest" and "Psycho," and knew how to thrill you.)

Tom Hanks, who was also a kid when this came out, has said: "Everybody thinks that 'Citizen Kane' was the greatest movie ever made. But if you were young in 1963, you know the real answer is: 'Jason and the Argonauts.'"

This was one of those films I always remember seeing as a child and I never forgot those skeletons which I think is Ray Harryhausen's best work.

Greek hero Jason takes a party by ship to search for the Golden Fleece, but have to encounter several dangers on the way. This starts when they drop off at an island with bronze statues to collect food and water. But one of them goes into the tomb of one of these, Talos and steals a gold sword. Talos then comes to life and attacks the crew and during their escape, the ship is destroyed. Talos is destroyed eventually. While on the island, they come across a blind man, who gets attacked by two cheeky Harpies who keep eating his food. They are captured. They continue their journey and encounter Neptune and arrive on the island where the Golden Fleece is. Before getting the Golden Fleece, Jason must fight and kill the Hydra, which he does. The best part of the movie is of course those skeletons near the end. Jason manages to defeat them when they fall off a cliff into the sea.

This has to be one of, if not the best of Harryhausen's movies. Bernard Herrmann was responsible for the excellent music.

Jason is played well by Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack plays Medea. These are joined by Bond girl Honor Blackman (Goldfinger), Laurence Naismith (The Valley Of Gwangi), Dr Who actor Patrick Troughton who plays the blind man, Niall MacGinnis (Night of the Demon) and Nigel Green as Hercules.

This is probably my favourite of Ray Harryhausen's fantasy movies.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

What do I like about this movie...besides Harryhausin's special effects? Besides the frenetic battle with the skeletons and the seemingly hopeless fight against the statue of Talos? I like the way the people are presented, I suppose...

Heracles is presented, not as a young ripped body builder, but as one would expect a middle-aged strong man to be: Formidable, a little grey and a little swaggering. Argos, the ship builder, is tan and fat, as one would expect the veteran of many sea voyages to be. The crew looks like what one would expect a crew of ancient greeks to look like.

The acting is not spectacular, but sincere. No one looks embarrassed to be in this movie. It is tight with great special effects...wonderful for children...

And, I must mention Hera, normally portrayed as a matronly and vindictive woman, is here presented as a beautiful and helpful goddess by Honor Blackman, no less. Although many of you may be more familiar with her as Pussy Galore from Goldfinger...

It's really rather hard to believe that this picture received mediocre reviews when it first came out.It appears that most now regard it as a classic,and in certain circles,it has achieved cult status.True,Armstrong's Jason is a rather bland character,and could use some foibles and quirks to become more realistic and human,but this could be lodged against the writers.Kovacks as Medea certainly does look marvelous,but shows none of the inner torment of the character of classic mythology.(On the other hand,this movie was made for kids,and we don't need to introduce them to Eurypides' virago just yet.)An outstanding cast of well-trained British actors provides sterling support.Naismith personifies loyalty and good-natured common sense;Troughton is remarkable as a tortured sinner who is brave and hasn't lost his sense of humor;Green is probably the most realistic Hercules ever developed;And Gwilliam is the personification of outraged hospitality and necromantic malevolence.Wilmer has a good time doing a Rathbonesque villain.The special effects are first rate,given the state of the art at the time,and Blackman and MacGinnis develop wonderful portraits of the deities.They have a genuine relationship,and appear to be a man and wife.The plot has more depth than most films of this genre,and is lots of fun,besides.

I decided to contribute my comments when I read another commentator who mentioned that the leads were dubbed... this fact dealt a crushing blow to "Todd Armstrong" from which he sort of never really recovered.

As I was told, he showed up at the gala premiere and nobody had told him he had been dubbed over. What a horrible shock, in public, on one's 'night of glory'!

He had a highish voice, but one that was extremely expressive - a fine instrument. The dubbed voice is very low and flat. I can't tell you how I'd love to see the film with his voice restored!

Making movies, like any creativity, is full of compromises, some of them beyond one's control. "Todd" still loved the movie - it was filmed in southern Italy - he had a great time doing it. He was always a very, very handsome and strong man, and his physical presence shines through still.

It is really a memorable, powerful film! After seeing it I dreamt my favorite kitten had been slaughtered by the other kittens in the litter, who had become sword-wielding skeleton kittens!

I hope you all enjoy it and don't get too worked up about inaccuracies with the original story (as someone here has).

Because its overall professionalism and the magnificent special effects, this movie will live on despite being technologically outdated.

Can anybody speak to the possibility of finding the original actor's voice track? What's to be done? Thanks!