Jason et les Argonautes

Fans of Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation process will have a field day with JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, which Harryhausen considered his best work. And certainly Harryhausen's special effects are the highlight of this film, which is generally based on the ancient Greek myth of Jason's search for the golden fleece.

The film as a whole is very much like a superior sword-and-sandal epic of the 1950s and 1960s, very colorful and over-run with manly men and beautiful dancing girls. A bit slow to start, once the story line is established the pace leaps forward--and we are treated to some of Harryhausen's most enjoyable creations, including Talos, the bronze statue; two of the most evil looking harpies you can imagine; a really nasty hydra; and Harryhausen's most famous (and his own personal favorite) bit of work: an attack by skeleton warriors.

In the wake of computer generated graphics, Harryhausen's work may strike some as dated, but this is actually part of its charm, for we will never see its like on screen again; it has a certain visual appeal not found in contemporary films, and Harryhausen's creations always have remarkable personality. On the downside, however, some of the film's other techniques have not aged as well, and the use of rearview projection is extremely noticeable (and often annoying) to the modern eye. Still, even those who aren't overly enthusiastic about these types of special effects will find the film an excellent choice as a "family night" film. As for Harryhausen fans--the film is a must-see, must-own, and must-watch as often as possible! Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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.'"

Jason and The Argonauts is a great film to watch and escape reality. This is one of those movies that you know is not real but you just enjoy it and have fun watching it. I think this film is underrated because it was not given one Oscar nomination. I think this film should have been nominated for Best Art Direction and Set Decoration, Cinematography, Bernard Herrmann's Original Score and Film Editing. When I first saw this movie on Turner Classic Movies one night, I was only excited to see the Skeleton Fight at the end which took Ray Harryhausen and special effects crew three months to create that entire sequence. This is a Great movie and I encourage all of "The Lord of The Rings" fans to watch this and see a great masterpiece of classic fantasy and old fashioned special effects. **** out of ****!

The fascinating odyssey of Jason in search of the Golden Fleece. This is an adventure movie in the old style, with no pretensions, no pomposity... The genius and pioneer of the special effects Ray Harryhaussen gave us a handful of superhuman creatures who make things quite difficult for the brave Jason.

Some may think this special effects or the movie itself are obsolete. OK, now read this: the movie was made 43 years ago, Harryhaussen made them without computers or digital effects... so, show some respect!! In short: the movie is just fantastic.

*My rate: 8/10

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.