MOVIE REVIEW: Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Edith Hamilton’s Mythology was published in 1942 and became an academic primer to the world of ancient mythology, as intended. It covered so much of the most well-known myths of the Ancient World, consisting mainly tales about the Titanomachy and the Trojan War, and stories of Norse mythology. There’s also a litany of Greek myths and tales, one of which covers the heroic tale of Jason of Thessaly and his quest for the Golden Fleece. The tale was adapted into a movie called Jason and the Argonauts in 1963, and once again in 2000. While we might look at the later version one day, today we’re looking at the older version — the one with the stop motion killer skeletons — made during the height of the sword-and-sandal craze made popular by Hercules [1957] and The Ten Commandments [1956].
After a priest (Michael Gwynn, Scars of Dracula, Village of the Damned [1960]) prophesies to the usurper Pelias (Douglas Wilmer, “Sherlock Holmes” [TV-BBC], Sword of the Valiant [1984]) that he will take the throne of Thessaly from his half-brother Aeson, only to lose it to Aeson’s heir…who will only have one sandal. Pelias wasn’t cool with that, so he kept an eye out while he ran Thessaly into the ground as a tyrant and raised his son prince Acastus (Gary Raymond, “The Rat Patrol” [TV-ABC], “House of the Dragon” [TV-HBO]). Twenty years later Pelias does find the one-sandaled man, named Jason (Todd Armstrong, King Rat, Winnetou and Old Firehand, The Silencers) — a dethroned prince of Thessaly looking for revenge against Pelias. The tyrant was wise enough not to identify himself, and offered his help once Jason returns with the Golden Fleece: a magical artifact kept in Colchis, on the other side of the world. So Jason builds a team called the Argonauts including the legendary Hercules (Nigel Green, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Zulu, Gawain and the Green Knight [1973]) and got a vessel called the Argo from the shipwright Argos (Laurence Naismith, The 300 Spartans, Richard III [1955], Diamonds are Forever), and heads off…with prince Acastus on the team. Acastus has instructions from Pelias to take the Golden Fleece and kill Jason when they leave Colchis, but they’ve got to get there first.
On the flipside, Jason and his Argonauts are being watched — and helped — by the Greek gods on Mount Olympus: Hermes (Michael Gwynn, pulling double duty), Zeus (Niall MacGiniss, The Crimson Circle [1936], Anna Karenina [1948], Helen of Troy [1956]), and Hera (Honor Blackman, Goldfinger, The Delavine Affair, Daughter of Darkness). The gods do their best as our heroes go on a long list of side quests and mini-adventures: defeating the harpies harassing Phineus the Blind (Patrick Troughton aka the 2nd Doctor Who, Treasure Island [1950], The Omen [1977]), escaping the iron golem Talos, and bypassing the Crushing Rocks. On that last one, our heroes rescue sorcerer-princess Medea of Colchis (Nancy Kovack, Frankie & Johnny [1966], Marooned) and return her to her father King Aeëtes (Jack Gwillim, Clash of the Titans [1981], the Monster Squad) as a prelude to stealing the Golden Fleece. Medea had already fallen in love with Jason and betrays her countrymen to get Jason safely away, which leads to an impossible nightmare for Jason after he and the team recover the fleece.
Now we have to get to the very big issue that stands out every time I think of this film: the children of the Hydra’s teeth. You may know them as the stop motion skeletons mentioned earlier. Created by legendary special effects artist Ray Harryhausen (Mysterious Island [1963], Clash of the Titans [1981], The 7th Voyage of Sinbad [1958]), they made an amazing set piece that gave many people nightmares for decades. As a child, I was not scared by the skeletons but I was intrigued. I knew they were stop motion and my big focus was how Harryhausen got the skeletons to move with the proper mass to make the animated skeletons look real enough and move with such frenetic energy, like — well, a body unburdened by flesh. It is a testament to Mr. Harryhausen’s skill that his skeletons register as moving supernaturally fast and beat our heroes so badly, they would rather throw themselves off a cliff than deal with the fleshless undead. Even better, these skeletons were so visually impressive, they were replicated in the Golden Axe video game series, and are exactly what you think of when someone says “skeleton soldier”.
To the warriors fallen by the heads of the Hydra, I salute you.
CHOICE CUTS:
- The actors’ pool was quite shallow in the 60’s, as many of these actors often worked with each other on similar projects in a row. For instance, more than three of the principal cast for this film also starred in The Silencers or Sword of Sherwood Forest.
- Nigel Green, the actor playing Hercules in this film, looked very different from earlier Hercules actors Steve Reeves and Reg Park. His sandy brown hair and light-colored eyes gave us the archetype that would lead us to Kevin Sorbo’s portrayal in the syndicated TV series “Hercules: the Legendary Journeys”.
- Medea became the inspiration and namesake for many characters, from Sorceress Edea in “Final Fantasy VIII” [VG] and Tyler Perry’s Madea.
- Colchis — like the nation that currently encapsulates its borders, Georgia — was a trans-continental country, straddling Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
- According to this movie, whichever land possesses the Golden Fleece will be blessed with peace and prosperity. Jason made it his goal to steal it to save Thessaly and kept it after he succeeded. This means he left the Colchians to the harsh whims of Fate, causing untold hardship. Based on what a hero is about, this tracks.
- One of the Argonauts, Hylas, was played by John Cairney (Cleopatra [1963], Miracle in Soho [1957]), and represented the opposite approach to his team partner Hercules. While Hercules would brute-force a problem, Hylas would use ingenuity and simple physical science. Despite being smarter than the son of Zeus, he did one stupid thing and got killed because of a mistake Hercules made.
- The gigantic fish-tailed deity that helps the Argo sail past the Crushing Rocks is actually Triton, not Poseidon.
- Oddly enough, both Todd Armstrong and Nancy Kovack were dubbed over. Perhaps their accents were too American.
- The amazing soundtrack was composed by Bernard Hermann, also responsible for Psycho [1960], Citizen Kane, and Taxi Driver.
