Running time: 104 min

Cast: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack  

A long long time ago, special effects movies were made entirely without the use of computer-generated imagery. A painstaking combination of optical sleight-of-hand and mechanical manipulations produced the wondrous visual spectacles and acts of impossible heroism that thrilled the hearts of movie-goers. The buzzword in special effects wizardry of that time was stop-motion animation, a insanely laborious procedure in which malleable creature models would be shown to move by ever so slightly manipulating their limbs between each frame. In this realm, Ray Harryhausen (excellent wiki link) was King.

Harryhausen was not the first to use stop-motion per se. He was himself inspired by the technique in the 1933 King Kong, whose effects were designed by Willis O' Brien, and assisted O' Brien in the making of another giant ape film, 1949's Mighty Joe Young. But Harryhausen made additions and refinements that took stop-motion to quite another level and, in a body of work that stretched from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1954) to Clash of The Titans (1981), established a permanent position as one of cinema's prime illusionists; 1963's Jason and the Argonauts is regarded as one of his masterworks.

Significantly condensed from the Greek legend, Jason...'s plot is simplicity itself. When Jason meets Pelias, murderer of his father and usurper of the throne, the latter convinces him to take a perilous journey to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which has the power to heal and resurrect. For this Jason must raise a ship and crew that will last the journey. Selecting from the heroes of the time, Jason gathers his journey-mates and sets off on the ship Argos, carrying the favor of the Goddess Hera, who has been permitted by her husband Zeus to help Jason a total of five times. In the course of his journey Jason battles daunting odds including leather-winged harpies, the gargantuan bronze statue of Talos, a mountain-slide that threatens to destroy his ship, a multi-headed Hydra that guards the fleece and a force of skeleton warriors descended from the Hydra's teeth.

While the film's director is Don Chaffey (whose work with the actors is pedestrian and thankfully kept to a minimum in the film's zippy running time) there is little doubt that all the big scenes are courtesy Harryhausen. Brats weaned on a diet of ultra-slick CGI might find the animation work jerky and unconvincing, but it has a charm that only adds to the film's appeal, and Harryhausen's direction of the resources at hand is nothing short of astounding. Every creature shown in the film has personality and every special effect scene leaves its impact. A strong favorite for many is the climactic battle with the skeleton warriors (lovingly reprised by Sam Raimi in his Army of Darkness). It took Ray more than 4 months to create this 4 minute scene and by God, it shows. Seeing the skeletons gleefully brandishing their swords, climbing walls, leaping over ledges and falling over each other, it is almost impossible to believe they were individually manipulated by hand (Spoiler youtube link). Hitchcock regular Bernard Herrmann's brass-n-drums score does a fine job of heralding the onscreen spectacle. Subtle it ain't, but effective? Hell, yeah!

All things considered, Jason and The Argonauts is an enterprise of wall-to-wall fantastic thrills that succeeds wonderfully thanks to the genius of its prime creator, Ray Harryhausen. Hail to the King, baby.