Starring Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack and based on a greek myth this week's must see movie is Jason and the Argonauts which was released in 1963On Olympus Zeus and Hera witness Pelias' murder of his half-brother, King Aeson of Thessaly, and the maturation of Aeson's son, Jason. To overcome his nephew's assertion of right to the throne, Pelias sends Jason on a treacherous journey, the quest for the Golden Fleece. Undeterred by danger, the youth immediately sets sail in the Argo with a crew of fast friends. En route to Colchis, site of their prize, the Argonauts surmount diverse obstacles, braving the attacks of a colossal bronze Titan, rescuing the prophet Phineas from the Harpies, and escaping death, through Hera's intervention, between the Symplegades. Despite the opposition of Colchis' King Aeëtes, to whom Jason's purpose is betrayed by Pelias' son Acastus, Jason, guided by Aeëtes' daughter Medea, kills the seven-headed Hydra guarding the Golden Fleece and vanquishes a skeletal army sown by Aeëtes from the monster's teeth. The Argonauts then return to Thessaly, bearing on board both Medea and the Golden Fleece.
Looking back on Jason and the Argonauts is seen as a masterpiece, particularly from a technical perspective.
Ray Harryhausen stop-motion scene's and the use of minitures were pioneering in terms of special effects, despite them seeming primitive today, at the time they were cutting edge inspiring a generation of filmmakers.
While the acting is great it is the monsters that really steal the show for this film The Hydra, Talos the Bronze Giant and The Harpies but it is the skeleton army that is most remebered.
Jason and the Argonauts' is a tale of love and betrayal, friendship and fortune and nearly 40 years after it was first released it still holds up as one of the classic mythological fantasy which provides a framework for some splendid stop-frame animation.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw