Today’s special effects vehicles are more visually stunning, but that doesn’t make them any better adventure stories.
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Many of us grew up savoring every moment of "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "Jason and the Argonauts," and, later, "Clash of the Titans." Whether in a motion picture theater or on TV, they were a integral part of our young lives, quintessential fantasy stories of heroes, gods, and monsters that were at the very essence of our youthful imaginations.
Special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen has said that of all the films he was connected with, it was "Jason and the Argonauts" that pleased him the most. I don´t quite agree that it´s his best work. Seeing it again after a long absence, I still believe "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" is the superior film on all counts. But "Jason and the Argonauts" has its moments and continues to be fun for all ages. Certainly, its new DVD presentation goes a long way toward making it as enjoyable as possible.
Todd Armstrong plays the stalwart hero, Jason, who, in order to inherit a kingdom, must find and bring back a mythical Golden Fleece from "the ends of the earth." He creates a contest to choose the very best soldiers and sailors of Greece to go with him on the voyage, and he commissions the finest shipbuilder in the country to construct the ship, the Argo. Then, with the help of the goddess Hera (Honor Blackman), he is off on his quest. Armstrong looks exactly right for the part, what every kid wanted to grow up to look like--handsome, dashing, athletic. He is also stiff as a board, like most of the other actors in the film, something kids would surely overlook.
However, as Hercules Nigel Green is exceptional; not like the muscular Steve Reeves Hercules of his day but a vigorous, virile older man. The cast aside, the movie really belongs to Harryhausen´s stop-action monsters. In fact, before the first creature appears--a wonderful bronze statue a hundred feet tall that comes to life--the movie is pretty routine. Other creatures include a seven-headed Hydra, the model Harryhausen said was the most difficult to coordinate, several winged Harpies, and an army of skeletons, an amplification of the idea in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad."
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