Friday, February 19, 2010

Classic Film Friday: Jason and the Argonauts

So this is a mom-free sort of movie. What I'm saying is there is lots of man stuff in this picture. There's women and drinking (just a little) and sport. There's also a voyage on a boat, and all kinds of monsters. Jason (Todd Armstrong) the child of a king that has been killed by Pelias (Douglas Wilmer) when Jason was a baby. Now it is 20 years past, and Jason wants the throne back.

So he goes about organizing a contest for the strongest, fastest, bestest men in all of Greece so that he can get the Golden Fleece and rally the people of Thessaly (where he is from). Now you have to know that the gods are involved as well as Pelias, but still, this sets in motion the Argo (the name of the boat) and the Argonauts, which include Hercules (Nigel Green) and Acastus (Gary Raymond), Pelias' son.

Funny things about this movie...

They change clothes several times while on the boat... But I don't know how.

When I mentioned this movie I got a "ho hum" response until I mentioned there were mythical creatures in it.

I forgot about the skeletons in the end... but I think we are still ok.

Overall I think the stop action animation was superb, but I can't say that to children of today.

Below is not the original trailer, but I think it brings things around nicely for the younger crowd:

3 comments:

Bob G. said...
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Bob G. said...
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Bob G. said...

MH:
SOrry about the deletions...too many TYPOS!
ANYWAY...
NOW you're talking...!
I remember watching this IN THE THEATER as a youngster...it was awesome then, and it's just as fun to view NOW.
We called this one of THE "sword and sandal" flicks...LOL!

After reading the REAL chronicles years later, while it doesn't hold AS TRUE as it should, the cinematic and historical liberties taken are offset by Harryhausen's fantastic and (then) state-of-the-art F/X!

The blind man (Phineas) was played by Patrick Troughton, the second "Doctor Who"...(bit of trivia there)
Gary Raymond went on to the RAT PATROL, and none other than Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore in Goldfinger) plays Hera, queen of the Gods.
Outstanding movie, and every bit as fun to watch (today) with the kids as it was to watch AS a kid.
It's definitely been in MY film "library" for ages!

Great choice.
(now, about that "Sinbad" guy...lol)