* Nope, this isn’t a permanent format change, folks. For the next week or so plus, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away today at age 92 in London and yes, the film world owes him more than they can ever repay.

Forget about today’s overblown CG effects, many of which make modern movies worse than better. Ray’s best work was all about blending fantasy into the assorted realities of the worlds he created and transporting viewers to places and making them forget about the outside world for about an hour and a half or so.

Jason and The Argonauts was the sixth collaboration between Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer and for many (including Ray), his best film. As a kid, this was one of the stapes of my TV diet, and as I grew older, finding out just how much work Harryhausen sunk into each film he worked on made me realize the man deserved his “legend” status as well as a the director’s credit denied him by Hollywood’s arcane rules…

Sure, it takes some massive liberties with the original mythology, but when you’re cramming an epic tale into a tidy hour and forty-four minutes, some shortcuts need to be made. Fortunately, the film soars through the nitpickers and as far as entertainment value goes, it’s a perfect flick for kids and adults alike. One of the more interesting aspects of the film if you’re paying attention is the Hercules semi-subplot that would have made quite a grand epic film on its own right had Harryhausen the time and money to do his trip to hell as a standalone film. That’s one of those dream projects I wish he was able to do, as all we got during the 60’s were some awful mostly Italian-made Hercules flicks that are all pretty bad by any standards (but for camp value, they’re priceless).

Like Harryhausen’s other films, activating the viewer’s sense of wonder and keeping it buzzing was his key. The actors are almost secondary as all they needed to to was recite their lines properly and react to the effects that would be inserted later. That said, the casting here is great all around and of course, the creatures Ray created and animated are perfect specimens of stop motion animation that still make for some memorable sequences. Plop down with this one and prepare to be floored by how well the live action and visual effects blend together.

In fact, the film’s effects do such a great job at tying the plot together that they’re all what many fans consider flawless. Talos’ introduction and the subsequent “battle” are brilliantly frightening thanks to the animation, editing and Bernard Herrmann’s outstanding score (a must-own for soundtrack collectors). Those naked harpies tormenting poor Phineas look all too real, and of course, that mind-blowing skeleton fight at the ending is a miracle of effects work that took Harryhausen some four and a half months to make. What’s more incredible about his work is for the majority of his career, he worked alone and did everything from pre-production art to model building to the actual animation.

All of that effort paid off in his films from the 50’s and early 60’s, which became influential in bringing up a number of animators and directors in the late 60’s and 1970’s, a few of whom actually worked with Ray on his later and final films. But that’s another post for down the road. Anyway, go check out this film for now, popcorn at the ready and brain set to age six or so. You’ll be transported back to a simpler time for visual effects, but still feel as if you’re there with Jason and his crew of mighty (and not so mighty) men.