In order to prove the gods are on his side in a battle with the usurping King Pelias, Jason (Todd Armstrong, voice: Tim Turner) gathers the finest athletes of Greece and heads out to take the legendary golden fleece. Aided by the goddess Hera (Honor Blackman), the powerful Hercules (Nigel Green), the ship builder Argos (Laurence Naismith), and the prophetess Medea (Nancy Kovack, voice: Honor Blackman), Jason must overcome strange beasts, magic, and treachery to complete his quest.
I loved Jason and the Argonauts when I first saw it in the ’60s as a small child. It was an exciting trip into a fantastic world of giants and monsters, and the acting, characterizations, and plot concerned me less than a titan made of bronze. I’ve enjoyed it every time I’ve seen it since, but not quite so much, as those other elements have become more important to me.
This is an effects movie, built around the wondrous stop-motion creations of Ray Harryhausen. Here he gives us harpies, a hydra, the before-mentioned bronze man, and perhaps his greatest work, the sword-wielding skeletons. It is the great metal man, rising up in a field of statues, that most sparked my imagination. This squeaking giant, left by the god Hephaestus who long ago abandoned the island, strides across the sand, crushes men, and lifts the Argos out of the water as a toy. It all looks great. Most of the effects are excellent, though sometimes the scenes they are in lack drama. The impressive-looking hydra dies extremely easily. I’m not sure why the golden fleece wasn’t stolen decades earlier if its guardian was such a wimp.
The story is basic quest stuff, being related, but not overly faithful to, the Greek myth. It starts abruptly and ends in the middle of the story. Rumor has it that a sequel was planned to get Jason back to Greece and deal with King Pelias, but it was never made, so we’re left hanging.
Little effort is made to make the characters interesting. Jason is a drab, white-bread sort, who is obviously dubbed. Even if the filmmakers weren’t fond of Armstrong’s voice, they’d have done better to leave it in as the replacement doesn’t sound like it is coming from his mouth (the mismatched lips don’t help much either). Medea, another underdeveloped character, is also dubbed, and while it is slightly less obvious than with Jason, it’s still a constant annoyance.
Jason and the Argonauts has nothing more to offer than Van Helsing or the remake of The Haunting. Which you prefer depends on how you like your special effects served up, and if you don’t like effects films, you’re in the wrong place. Me, I like a good meaningless extravaganza from time to time. Think of it as a perfect Saturday afternoon’s entertainment, particularly if viewed with the family.
Harryhausen was a master of his craft, but I wonder if anyone will care after my generation has died. I grew up with Harryhausen, and for those of us who saw his work as a kid, he will forever have a place in our hearts. But newer technologies can be more spectacular with a lot less effort, and younger movie-goers seem to wonder what all the fuss was about. I’m not bemoaning this—every generation should have something that’s theirs.
Ray Harryhausen’s other features are The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), The First Men in the Moon (1964), One Million Years B.C. (1966), The Valley of Gwangi (1969), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), and Clash of the Titans (1981).