Force Fed Films: "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963)

This week Jim forced me to watch “Jason and the Argonauts”, a movie about the Greek mythology with Jason and his Argonauts (pretty self-explanatory). Jim seemed to have fond memories with a lot of these older movies that deal with Greek mythology. And knowing (or not) that I enjoy mythology it seemed that it would be a perfect fit for me to see this. I was rather excited because I have seen a few clips of this movie previously and the special effects were super amazing, especially for its time. But before I dive too deeply into the movie let me tell you a bit about the myth.

The myth begins with Pelias taking over the throne of Thessaly by force. Later he is told by an oracle that he will be killed by a man with one sandal. As we skip over 20 years, we see Jason (the rightful heir of the throne) saving Pelias from drowning, who loses one sandle. Not knowing who Pelias is in this situation, the two make peace even though Pelias can tell that Jason is the one to get revenge. To buy some time Pelias tells Jason to travel to Colchis to find the Golden Fleece. In doing so, Jason goes on an epic journey with his gang, including the super strong Hercules. But to top it all off, up in Mt. Olympus, also known as Greek Las Vegas, Zeus and Hera decide to bet if Jason will succeed in following his prophecy. Hera is only allowed to help Jason five separate times. The winner will get pride and glory.

Talos the Titan really makes the movie feel that much epic.

There are a few more branches in the story but it would be more enjoyable to witness them while watching the movie. The movie does a great job of really bringing the mythology to life. Not only is the story smother you, it has a hint of epic. At no point did the movie feel boring or tedious. I felt myself getting lost into the world.

What stood out the most from the movie are the special effects. It was a mix of stop-motion and special effects was stellar even for today’s standards. The smoothness and fluidity of the special effect and the interactions with the actors were impeccable. Best example was the ravage battle between the skeleton shoulders and the Argonauts. At one point the skeleton stabs an Argonaut, and the movie really sells it perfectly. Weirdly, Jason stabs a skeleton in the ribs and it dies, not sure what the logic that follows, but the point is moot. Another impressive moment was when the Hydra, with 7 heads, was attacking Jason. All the heads moved independently and convincingly.

Epic Skeleton fight!

 The closest thing to the Achilles’ heel in the movie is the acting. Not so much there was no emotion, it was the emotions were incorrectly acted. In most stories I read Hercules is a charismatic hero, and Zeus is a stubborn but fair leader. Here we have Hercules is a jock who is power hungry and Zeus is a bully and comes off fairly arrogant. The other cast members, including Jason, don’t really have any personalities, meaning that at times it was hard to follow who the character on screen was. But this is a very minor complaint for an overall good movie.

Seven heads are better than one!

I was impressed with the quality and polish of the movie. It’s great that the movie doesn’t feel old, it actually ages really well. With the special effects being top notch and the story being so involving, there is never a dull moment in the movie. Though, I don’t know the actual story of Jason and the Argonauts all that well, but after doing some quick research. It seems the movie stuck to the myth very closely and did a great job of putting it on screen. A great watch!