1963’s Jason and the Argonauts provided a blockbuster production for its era–highlighted by Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion animation–and is largely considered one of the greatest fantasy films of all time even if it is not as well known to modern audiences.
What Is It?
This retelling of the classic story from Greek mythology begins with Pelias attacking Thessaly and killing King Aristo who is the rightful ruler of that region. A prophecy has foretold that one of Aristo’s children will kill Pelias, so he orders his men to have all three slain. However, the babe Jason is spirited away from the city, and the goddess Hera becomes his protector because Pelias profaned her temple. Twenty years later, Jason returns to Thessaly to claim the throne of his inheritance and he saves the life of Pelias on the way, not realizing he is the usurper. When Pelias learns who Jason is and what his intentions are, he does not reveal his own identity but convinces the challenger to the throne to go on a quest to the end of the world for the magical Golden Fleece which Pelias claims will aid him in his ultimate goal. The usurper cannot kill Jason directly because a prophecy warned that he would die as well, so he hopes that the youth will fail at this impossible mission. Jason gathers together a crew of the best men in Greece and has the shipbuilder Argus build the Argo, and they set out to face great perils in their quest for the Fleece.
Cast: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Honor Blackman, Gary Raymond, Laurence Naismith, Niall MacGinnis
Crew: Charles H. Schneer (Producer), Ray Harryhausen (Special Effects/Producer/Story), Don Chaffey (Director), Beverley Cross (Writer), Jan Read (Writer)
Original Release: 1963
Legacy:
This Ray Harryhausen classic delivers one of the greatest fantasy films of all time and a special effects blockbuster for its day that still holds up well today even though it has faded from the public eye.
A Closer Look:
In the 1950s and 1960s, sword and sandal movies were quite popular and provided the blockbuster films of that era with well-known productions like Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), Cleopatra (1963), and more. 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts jumped on to that trend and brought in plenty of fantasy elements as well, drawing heavily from Greek mythology (though with a notable amount of creative license applied). Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen had previously had success in the fantasy genre in 1958 with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (another classic and it will be getting a future post at this site), and the mythological tale of Jason seemed like the next logical step for that team. And while it would not deliver a Box Office success along the lines of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts would go on to count as a classic in the genre and Harryhausen has described it as his best film.
This film starts out very much like the historical sand and sandal epics of that time with battles and political intrigue so that it draws in the fans of that genre. But it also gradually adds fantastic elements and then as it progresses into Jason’s quest it turns into a full-on fantasy feature. That successful combination of the two genres gives it a grounded start that helps ease the audiences into the more fantastical moments of the film. And then the stop motion animation–which was start-of-the-art at that time–helps to turn this into a big screen event that certainly wowed audiences when it came out in the early 60s. Some of the sfx may seem rather quaint today (particularly the Clashing Rocks sequence), but many other scenes still hold up well and have become classics of cinema like the confrontation with Talos, the Hydra, and the skeletons.
As with any blockbuster film, the spectacle tends to overshine other parts of the production, but Jason and the Argonauts delivered a cast that was able to hold their own next to the sfx. Todd Armstrong is the standard 60s alpha male while still adding his own touch to the role of Jason. The alluring Nancy Kovack delivers a female lead who is more than just a damsel in distress, but her screen time is limited due to the constraints of the story. Honor Blackman and Niall MacGinnis provide some wonderful verbal sparring as Hera and Zeus while gaming with Jason’s fate, and they prove that the gods have their own human failings. And pretty much all of the roles are perfectly cast to turn this into a complete fantasy film with excellent production values, a good story, and a strong collection of actors.
Sadly, the stop motion animation that Ray Harryhausen was known for fell out of favor when Star Wars helped launch a new blockbuster era with notable advancements in sfx techniques. And these days, CGI overload has jaded many viewers to the effects from ages past. But Jason and the Argonauts is one that still stands out as a well-rounded film and much of the spectacle that it originally delivered still carries over today if you give it sufficient leeway. This movie was a stepping stone in the advancement of special effects and also a labor of love for Harryhausen. For those reasons, it still holds plenty of merit and is certainly worth seeking out.
Buy the Ray Harryhausen collections on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon.com
Why Was There No Sequel?
According to Wikipedia, Jason and the Argonauts cost $3 million to make–which was a notable budget for that time–but only brought in $2 million in theater rentals which means that it did not count as a Box Office success upon its release. Fantasy was also not considered a strong draw at the theaters in those days even though The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and other genre entries had found some success. But even if Jason had delivered stronger ticket sales, Hollywood was not necessarily amenable to sequels at that time. This was long before the entertainment industry had decided to turn everything into a franchise, and a well-respected movie was often allowed to stand on its own because sequels were typically considered lesser continuations that did not hold up to the original. Jason and the Argonauts would go on to have several theatrical re-releases and would have great success in reruns on television, and that helped to secure its place as one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans from 1981 can be considered a sequel of sorts because it also adapts Greek mythology and brings back the characters of Zeus and Hera and the other gods (with different actors). Apart from them, there are no other returning characters, and that film makes no mention of the adventures of Jason, but it does carry on in the same tradition as the 1963 film.
The Story Continues:
In 2007, Bluewater Productions put out a series of comics under the banner Ray Harryhausen Presents and these carried on the story and characters from the movie. The five-issue series Jason & the Argonauts: The Kingdom of Hades was released that year with David A. McIntee writing and Rantz providing the artwork, and it covers the journey home after the events of the movie as Jason and his crew are pursued by a vengeful Aeetes. That was later followed by the mini-series Jason & the Argonauts: Final Chorus in 2014 where Jason finds that he has just been a pawn in the plans Zeus has for a celestial war. Both have been collected in trade paperback and are available at the links provided.
Should It Be Rebooted?
The story of Jason and the Argonauts received a new telling in the 2000 television mini-series from Hallmark Entertainment. But despite its big budget and impressive cast, it lacked the charm of Harryhausen’s film and has since been mostly forgotten. A reboot of the 1963 film could work and could provide the beginning of a fantasy franchise based on Greek mythology. The characters from Clash of the Titans (which did receive a big screen reboot in 2010) could be brought in and there are any of a number of stories that could be adapted. Personally, I would love to see that done with someone like Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro overseeing the stop motion, but I don’t think that Hollywood would have much interest in going that direction. And any attempt to turn Jason and the Argonauts into a big-dollar CGI-overload epic would tarnish the original, so maybe it is better off left alone.
Interesting Facts:
Stop motion animation is notorious for how long it takes to bring its creations to life. As an example, it took Harryhausen four months to animate the skeleton sequence in the film which only took up about three minutes in the movie. He had first introduced the skeleton in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and it proved to be a popular monster. So he decided to have multiple skeletons appear in Jason and the Argonauts.
Patrick Troughton played the role of the blind man Phineus who is punished by the gods years before he joined Doctor Who as the second incarnation of the Doctor. In Harryhausen’s 1973 film The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Tom Baker would play the villain Prince Koura before becoming famous as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor.
Troughton was not the only actor from this film who would go on to appear in other sci fi TV shows. Honor Blackman (Hera) would play the first of many female assistants to John Steed on The Avengers, co-starring in the series from 1962 to 1964. Jack Gwillam (Zeus) had recurring roles on Danger Man and The Saint and he also stopped by The Avengers for one episode. Nancy Kovack (Medea) is probably best known to sci fi TV fans as Nona from the Star Trek: TOS episode “A Private Little War”, and she also made appearances in The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Seas, The Man from UNCLE, and Batman.
Where Can You Watch It?
Jason and the Argonauts has been released on DVD and Blu-ray and is widely available along with many of Ray Harryhausen’s other films. It is also available for streaming on TubiTV for free (with ads). All three of Harryhausen’s Sinbad films are streaming there as well.
Read More About the Film:
Wikipedia
IMDb.com
And you can read more about Harryhausen’s career with Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema
