Jason and the Argonauts

Jason and the Argonauts is an American made fantasy film produced by Charles H. Schneer and distributed by Columbia pictures in 1963. Jason (played by Todd Armstrong) is a Greek soldier who banned together a crew to sail to the end of the earth seeking the Golden Fleece.

            In 1963 Jason and the Argonauts was highly acclaimed, and was considered ground breaking because of the stop motion animation by director Harryhausen. The film did not win any awards, but Harryhausen did receive a lifetime achievement award in the 1992 Academy Awards where Tom Hanks commented on Jason and the Argonauts saying, “Some people say its Casablanca or Citizen Kane, I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made.”

            This film is before its time with the stop motion animation and the massive amount of other special effects that they incorporated in this movie. This would be the equivalent to an Avengers movie or Jurassic Park of modern day as far as special effects; it was simply over the top. The movie was very entertaining. As I watched, I set myself in the time that this came out from the perspective of never seeing special effects that are as interactive with the human characters before. I would have been blown away in 1963, and that made it more enjoyable for me to watch now. The story line was slow and basic, the acting was fare, and Hercules was a chump. The amount of shield/ weapon throwing in the movie was hilarious. The only thing that would keep this film from being a success in today’s market is the simplicity of the acting and the shallowness of the character depth. They did not build on either of these, but that wasn’t why this movie was made. It was made for Hydra fighting, skeleton screaming, Hercules abandoning, shield throwing action and, in that category, Schneer and Harryhausen nailed it.