Jason and The Argonauts 1963 Explained - Movie Review (Spoiler Talk)

From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.

Today I'll be reviewing the movie Jason and the Argonauts released in 1963.

Starring:

Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, and Gary Raymond

Directed by:

Don Chaffey

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:

G

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:

7.3

The Synopsis is:

The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.

Story:

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen was an American artist, designer, writer, visual effects creator, and producer who after having seen King Kong released in 1933 at the age of 12, became inspired to make movies.  At the time it was a marvelous feature film that showcased visual effects that had never been seen in a big blockbuster film, so much so that in 1991, it became "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress.

Harryhausen got in contact with the model animator who pioneered the visual effects for King Kong, Willis O'Brien who then instructed him to take classes in graphic arts and sculpture to hone his skills. While he was still attending high school, Harryhausen took evening classes in art direction, photography and editing.  He also studied art and anatomy which led to his first animation job with George Pal's Puppetoons.

At about the age of 27 he became an assistant animator for his first major feature film, Mighty Joe Young released in 1949.

He then teamed up with producer Charles H. Schneer, and the two kept making box office hits such as It Came from Beneath the Sea (a.k.a. Monster from Beneath the Sea released in 1955, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers released in 1956, and 20 Million Miles to Earth released in 1957.  

In 1958 Harryhausen began taking on an additional role as the associate producer on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad where he showed off his incredible talent.  His next project was Mysterious Island where he first conceived of a follow up to 7th Voyage on the back of the script on set.  It would be Sinbad and the Age of Muses where Sinbad would team up with the legendary hero, Jason of the Golden Fleece from Greek Mythology.  

As the project began to come together, it was decided to remove Sinbad from the story and concentrate on Jason.  The title of the film became "Jason and the Golden Fleece" and it kept that name for a good while during filming.  

Jan Read and Beverley Cross worked on the screenplay adapting the original Greek poem, The Argonautica written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC which tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece.  They veered away from accurately telling the mythological tale based on what Harryhausen could create.  Although Ray is not credited as a writer, his visual effects and concept art spearheaded the story and what ended up on screen. 

If there was ever a place to source fantastical stories of drama, tragedies, and tales of triumphant heroes it is Greek Mythology.  It is akin to our modern day superhero cinematic movie universes.  Jason was a hero and his story was a fantastic fantasy vehicle for Harryhausen’s special talents.  I’m a big fan of Greek Mythology, Egyptian Mythology, Viking Mythology…  It’s all right up my alley on a cold dark night!

The story is set up a lot like a Shakespearean play, filled with intrigue, twists, turns and surprises.  It ended a little abruptly, but on the most part it was exciting.  

There is also a charm about it that reflects the 1960’s efforts to present the public with “wholesome” content for the whole family.   I don’t mind graphic content in action movies, but I have to say that this movie proves you can certainly entertain an audience without it. 

The story is also devoid of comedy, but doesn't lose its lighthearted appeal.  I love that about it.

Pacing:

At an hour and 44 minutes the pacing is amazing, as every turn is stuffed with either information that fills in more details about the story or exciting action.  The only flaw with the pacing is that it ramps up with an amazing climax and then the story ends abruptly.

Challenge:

The story’s challenge stems from the meddling of the Greek Gods on Mount Olympus for their own entertainment.  The King of the Gods, Zeus and his wife Hera enjoy one game that looks like a board game with the real life people of Greece as the game pieces!  Their games with humans are petty and sometimes downright cruel.

That’s a real big challenge for the Greeks just trying to live day by day while miraculous oddities keep happening around them.  There is a sense of doom and gloom to the background of this story, that mortal men have no control over what happens to them.

The story starts off at the beginning of Jason’s story, but there is a lot more to the story that makes it awesome that the film doesn’t get to fill the audience in on. So you know that I had to get all nerdy and fill you in.

King Cretheus of Iolcus was married to Tyro who had three sons with him.  Tyro was secretly in love with the river god Enipeus.  He wasn't interested in her but Poseidon was.  He disguised himself as the river god and seduced her, which conceived twins, Pelias and Neleus.  The twins were raised away from the palace but returned to kill Tyro’s enemy in one of Hera’s temples and that is why Hera bears a lifelong hatred for Pelias. 

The film switches this event with Jason’s sister praying to Hera and being killed by Pelias, as Hera's motivation for helping Jason so much during the course of the film and the film centers around the interaction between her and Zeus as a power struggle.

Being the son of Posiedon, Pelias has certain favor with Zeus, which protects him from Hera’s outrage.  She only waits for an opportunity to gain her revenge.

According to the texts, Pelias thristed after the crown of Thessaly and banished his twin Neleus and one of his half brothers.  Then he locked up his two other brothers, one of them being Aeson, the rightful king.  Aeson was able to have children in captivity, but any male children would be killed.  So on the day of Jason’s birth, the women cried loudly to cover up his newborn cries and he was taken to Chiron the centaur who lived in the mountains and raised him there.  

In both the film and the texts, just as a way to probably terrorize Pelias, a seer tells him that his doom would come at the hand of a man with one sandal.  Low and behold, years later Jason shows up in his court missing a sandal boldly announcing his attempts at the throne.

Pelias sends him to retrieve the fleece believing that Jason would die on the journey.  In the movie, Jason is unaware that Pelias is his uncle until far into the film.  Whereas in the texts, his identity is out in the open.  I loved that extra layer of discovery for the protagonist and the filmmakers knew precisely how to add just a little more drama to an already intense story by doing this.

Pelias’ storyline ends here, but the film devises yet another challenge in Pelias’ son Acastus.  In the original story as in the film, he earns his place as one of the Argonauts, but he only becomes Jason’s enemy after the voyage.  

In the fim, Acastus acts as a constant thorn at Jason’s side to sabotage the adventure adding yet another layer of challenge.  Many modern reviewers have commented negatively on Acastus’ obvious villainy, but in my opinion, this was exactly the intention of adding such a character.  When he finally faces off with Jason, you root for Jason.  The audience hates that character.  I think it’s brilliant.

The adventure itself is the main trial for Jason.  The original story had the events occurring differently with quite a few moments of more adult content that was omitted from the story such as the ship landing on the isle of Lemnos inhabited by a race of women.  The Argonauts actually stayed there for a while and created a new tribe of people. Jason had even fathered twins with the queen before he finally left to complete the voyage.

On the voyage there are some of the trials that were changed based on what Ray Harryhausen felt he could pull off.  They settled on the living bronze statue of Talos on the Isle of Bronze, the harpies tormenting the blind prophet Phineus, sailing between the Clashing Rocks, the Hydra seven headed serpent protecting the Golden Fleece and the scariest of them all, the seven skeletons otherwise known as the "children of the Hydra's teeth".

The end climax with the skeleton warriors was a culmination of a few wild events that stems from one additional challenge to the story, King Aeëtes of Colchis.  He was the son of Sun god Helios and the daughter of a titan according to the myth, so it would make sense for him to be the powerful wizard he is in the film.  Once he shows himself to be an enemy to Jason, he gives very valid reasons for imprisoning and ultimately chasing Jason.  The Golden Fleece was gifted to Colchis to preserve the peace and prosperity of the nation. Along with the remarkable healing powers within the Fleece.  In his shoes any great leader would react similarly.  I loved that character so much.  He brings so much energy to the climax of the film.

Empathy:

In the very beginning there isn’t much to empathize with except Jason since he is an enthusiastic young prince frustrated with the condition of his kingdom at the hand of Pelias and angry at the Gods for not hearing the calls of the people. In fact he doubts that they exist.

One thing I admire about Jason is that his first move is always to talk to his enemies rather than building an army first and approaching his uncle with force.   I can’t say it was a wise move, but it’s an example that Jason is vastly different from your average contender for the throne.  He’s so naive for not even recognizing that this nobleman he saves from the river is actually Pelias, but it speaks of his innocence. 

Pelias makes a deal with Jason, that if he can bring back the Golden Fleece, he’ll relinquish the throne to him.  I thought it was brilliant that Jason was sent to get the Golden Fleece that had healing powers when Jasons name means the healer.

Jason is the rightful heir to the throne and what the film doesn’t tell you is that he is also the great grandson of Hermes, the messenger god.  It makes sense that the film orchestrates Hermes to take him to Mount Olympus to speak with Zeus and Hera in person so that he then believes in the gods.

Although the gods are part of the challenge, they are also part of the solution here.  Well at least Hera is.  Hera, in the film, has taken a liking to Jason and has agreed to help him five times because that was the number of times his sister called out to her in her temple.  

A little background on Hera, she is the wife and sister of Zeus.  Yuk!  Things were really strange in the ancient world, but this was quite common.  Hera is charmed by Zeus but he cheats on her constantly, making her feel scorned and humiliated.   Since she cannot do any harm to Zeus directly, or seek a lover, she takes out her fury on the other goddesses and mortal women he seduces as well as their offspring.

In many tales of Greek Mythology she is the antagonist, terrorizing the heroes who were often the son of Zeus  however, for Jason’s story, she is doing everything she can to help him get the fleece.

In the film, the events between Hera and Zeus play out very much like playful teasing, contemptuous plotting, intellectual debates, and finally loving acceptance of their relationship as it is.  

Hera’s help does well to send Jason off to his task, giving him vital information in his encounter with his first trial, Talos.  Out of desperation he uses his last chance to get help from Hera at the very end of the first mission to convince the crew not to abandon him.  She does intervene once more at the Clashing Rocks as a means to make a move during her world board game with Zeus.

Jason’s ship, the Argo was built by Argus with the help of the Gods and acts as it’s own character along with the bravery, sweat and blood of it’s crew.  The list of the Argonauts according to the myth is a list of miraculous heroes, kings, noblemen and demigods.  In the film, Argus and Acastus are highlighted as well as Hercules or Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene.

• Acastus
• Admetus
• Argus
• Atalanta (the only female argonaut)
• Augeas
• Calaïs
• Castor  
• Euphemus
• Heracles (AKA Hercules)
• Idas
• Idmon, the seer
• Lynceus
• Meleager
• Orpheus
• Peleus
• Philoctetes
• Polydeuces
• Telamon
• Tiphys, the helmsman
• Zetes

As in the original story, this film gives us a little love story with Medea.  In the film she is a priestess and dancer at the temple at Colchis.  Her ties to the King is not clear.  But in the original story she is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis. As a little background, in the poem, Hera persuaded Aphrodite to convince her son Eros to make Medea fall deeply in love with Jason in order for her to use her skills as a sorceress to help Jason no matter the cost. 

Although this juicy plot point was removed from the movie, it could supply a reason why Medea was so quickly ready to betray her king and people for a stranger.  It always seemed a bit odd to me, but after learning that bit of information, it makes perfect sense.

Before I move on I just want to talk to you about one stand out character, Hercules.  I think we are all mostly familiar with the background of Hercules and his trials, but it is interesting that Apollonus added him to this story.  He is a hero at this point, but he hasn’t gone through his trials so he is a bit immature and he isn't a hulk at this point.  However, his personality is so lively and charismatic that it brings more of that lighthearted fun to the film.  What a wonderful addition.

Technical:

Don Chaffey was the "director for hire" with the clear understanding that he was to carry out the film’s direction following Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen’s instructions to the letter.  Even Though Harryhausen was involved in the script development, art-direction, design, storyboards, and tone of the film he couldn’t claim a directors credit on his films due to the rules of the Directors Guild of America.

However, everyone knew his films because they were well known for amazing visuals that broke new ground during it’s time.  

He would perform most of this miniature work by himself which kept the cost down low and it ensured he was in full creative control of what ended up on screen.

His father built the metal armatures that were the skeletons for each model while Harryhausen’s mother assisted with some miniature costumes.

Each stop-motion model was animated one eighth of an inch per frame that nearly seamlessly interacted with live action scenes filled seats in the theater and it was coined “Dynamation.”  Not to be mistaken with claymation which is most associated with clay plasticine figures.

The live action portion of the film was shot a year prior with the actors acting out all of the scenes with phantom monsters. Then Ray would use it as a  background miniature rear-screen with his models animated in front of it.  It was re-photographed to combine those two elements together.  To make the animations appear to be sandwiched between the foreground and background, elements were matted out in black and then filmed on top. Genius!

Talos was the first creature to astound Jason and the Argonauts.  Originally, he was only supposed to be about eight feet tall, but it ended up being inspired by Sergio Leone's The Colossus of Rhodes (1961).  This massive living statue was actually a miniature that was about fourteen inches tall.  Brilliantly, the movement of the creature along with screeching metal sound elements sold the effect, in my opinion. When Talos turns his head to look at his tiny enemies it sent shivers through me of dread of how impossible it would be to even attempt to defeat such a creature.

This inspired the amazon scene in Star Crash 1979.

Each monster had their own movement that suited their physiology, but they also had classic Harryhausen model movement characteristics that fans know and love about his remarkable work.

When I was a little girl, I saw this movie some time in the early 1980’s and was completely engrossed in the hydra and seven skeleton scenes.  I had never seen anything like it and there was a deficit of such entertainment since Harryhausen’s last visual effects movie Clash of the Titans in 1981.  We wouldn’t really get an intensity of fantasy monsters like this until Hercules: The Legendary Journeys television series was released in 1995. At least, I wasn’t aware of any other place to see it.

It was wondrous and it took Harryhousen and the height of his powers as an artist to animate each of the hydra’s heads and remember their placements. For the skeletons he shot about 13 or 14 frames a day in 4-1/2 months and which turned out to be about three of the most exciting minutes in cinema history.

Here is a bit of interesting information for us, originally the skeletons had rotting flesh hanging from their bones, but the censors thought it was too gruesome so they were reshot as just plain skeletons.

I just love that scene so much because it’s just so full of energy and it’s set up with a whole lot of suspense by the enthusiastically vengeful King Aeëtes. The technical storytelling of how vicious and undefeatable the skeleton warriors are is evident in the fact that  Jason doesn't actually defeat the skeletons.  They simply stop chasing him once they fall in the water, which seems to break the magic that created them.  

Bernard Herrmann created the score and it was his fourth collaboration with Ray Harryhausen and Schneer.   One of his trademarks happens to be recycling his own material from prior works, however, there is no lack of effectiveness.  Every passage is used in service of the storytelling brilliantly as well as giving us an ancient Mediterranean flavor for music.

At precisely the right moment the music is full of seduction, dread, foreboding and triumph

It helped to make everything seem so urgent when it comes to the action.  It's so turbulent and expressive.  It’s yet another sensational character in the film.

Performances:

The acting is old fashioned and the voice audio was all dubbed which sometimes sounds unnatural.  It is the plague of many low budget movies and especially an issue for many international films.  With that being said, there were quite a few stand outs that stole every scene they were in.

Jason was a combination of on screen physical performance by Todd Armstrong and the vocal performance by Tim Turner.  At one point Terence Stamp was considered for the role of Jason.

Todd Armstrong was enthusiastic and wide-eyed in his first and last leading role.  After listening to his real voice in a few television shows he appeared in, I thought it would have worked just fine in the film.  It was a missed opportunity that could have had a positive effect on his career.  Visually, he brings the presence Jason needs to be a hero.  He projected his lines with a lot of energy.

Nancy Kovak is actually an excellent actress.  You only need to see the work she did on Bewitched from 1964 to 1969 as two recurring characters.   Her voice was perfectly fine, but it was also dubbed by Eva Haddon.  It took away a little something from her performance, however, there is no denying that her physical performance was captivating during her short time on screen as Medea.

One clear standout for me was Honor Blackman who played the goddess Hera with a regal elegance while also knowing when to show her character’s warmth.  I am so happy she wasn’t dubbed because she has such a special voice.  She would star as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964) a year later.

Enjoyment:

The film has one heck of an ending that feels a bit unfinished.  Right after barely escaping those savage seven skeleton warriors, the voyage concludes with little to no closure about what happens after the fleece is presented to Pelias, but I think that it’s probably the best that could be done because after that everything goes BANANAS for Jason and Medea in Greek Mythology!  It gets so messed up that Medea has her own fame in Greek Mythology from Euripides's tragedy, Medea.

King Aeëtes continued to chase the Argo so Medea killed her own brother and dismembered him to distract her father as the ship escaped.  Jason married Medea and they had children together.  Pelias refused to give up his throne so Medea tricked his own daughters to kill him.  Acastus didn’t die, but since being the son of Pelias became King and banished Jason and Medea.  The couple ended up in Corinth.  Jason arranged to marry the daughter of the King of Corinth for political reasons. 

To Medea’s credit she tried to talk to him about it, but he was sure of himself since Aphrodite made Medea fall in love with him. She was hurt because she turned her back on her people, helped him win every trial, killed her own brother and betrayed her father only to be discarded for a political arrangement.  Medea killed the King of Corinth and Jason’s bride as well as the two boys that she had with Jason.  As vile as that all was, she was still protected by the gods as she fled to Athens in a chariot of dragons sent by her grandfather, the sun-god Helios.  Eventually even Zeus was so taken with her he tried to seduce her, but she refused citing that it would insult Hera.  For that she ended up living on Mount Olympus among the gods and married to Achelies.

Sadly, Jason lost his favor with Hera because he broke his promise to be faithful to Medea and died in misery.

Interestingly enough, at the end of this film, when it ends the way it does, I am okay with it because we know this truly is the highlight of Jason’s story.  I love that the Gods say that for now they will leave Jason to a short time of victory and for the time being, the gods were at a temporary truce with each other.

The film was titled Jason and the Golden Fleece until about 3 months before the release date.  There are a few posters and title screens however there were rumors of an Italian film with that same name that beat it to theaters starring Steve Reeves.  This must have been a bit of a mix up because there is no such movie on record.  Nevertheless, believing the rumor, the name was changed to Jason and the Argonauts just to alleviate any confusion should there ever be one.

The way the film ends, everyone expected a sequel.  There could have been a number of reasons it didn’t occur, such as the fact it was a box-office disappointment at the time, and audiences' tastes were changing.  However, fans of the film rose over the years to make this movie a cult classic early on in the late 60’s and 70’s.

I do remember seeing this when I was little in the 70’s and any time thereafter it was a family tradition to huddle around the TV to watch it’s airings.

We were in great company for our love of the film because even Ray Harryhausen regarded this as his best film of his career.

Ray Harryhausen was recognized for his contribution to film by receiving the Gordon E. Sawyer Award at the Oscars' Science & Technical Ceremony in 1992. Tom Hanks was the host of the event and famously said, "Some people say Citizen Kane (1941) or Casablanca (1942). I say 'Jason and the Argonauts' is the greatest movie ever made."

Ray Harryhausen went on to make more incredible films using his incredible Dynamation effects, such as a few of my favorites, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1973, Clash of the Titans 1981.

Ray also had a long list of filmmakers who were inspired by his work such as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Joe Dante, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, George Lucas, John Lasseter, John Landis, J. J. Abrams, and Wes Anderson.

And although the artform of stop motion animation has been replaced on the most part by CGI, it is still being used as a storytelling vehicle and it's always so much fun to see.

In the year 2000, Jason and the Argonauts was made into a mini series.  It was a fine mix between being a remake of the movie but added a lot more story plot lines from the actual poem and I actually enjoyed it a lot.  It does have a great deal of awkward CGI effects, but the story was pretty solid, with a lot more detail about the characters than the 1963 film couldn’t cover due to time constraints. I enjoyed the storytelling quite a lot.  

The 1963 film is nearly sixty years old and is a wonderment to the age from which it came from as well as a spectacular action packed fantasy adventure tailored by the godfather of special effects.  Each creature plucked from raw imagination, framed around the magnificent Greek Myths in the Bronze Age, the age of heroes to endure adventure and the human moral dilemma of Good vs Evil.

My Rating:

9.5

That sums up my review.  I hope you liked it.

This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!

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