Swords & Greek Mythology in the Mediterranean
Jason (Todd Armstrong), the rightful heir to the throne of Thessaly, Greece, gathers a crew of intrepid sailors to find the magical Golden Fleece, a quest that brings clashes with a 100’ bronze statue, a couple harpies, the venomous Hydra and a squad of sword-wielding skeletons.
“Jason and the Argonauts” (1963) is a sword & sandal flick based on Greek Mythology with Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion special effects, which were state-of-the-art at the time. It’s very similar to "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" from five years earlier and on par in all-around entertainment.
You can’t beat the scenic Mediterranean locations, the vessel, the costumes and the mystical action sequences. The fight with the skeleton warriors only runs three minutes, at most, but it took Harryhausen four months to produce it.
Unfortunately, this isn’t as compelling, story-wise, as “Ulysses” (1954) and “Mysterious Island” (1961) or future flicks like “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977) and “Conan the Barbarian” (1982). Those movies feature a fairly prominent female presence to counteract the sweaty men in loin cloths; this one doesn't. Sure, Nancy Kovack is on hand, but she doesn’t show up until well past the hour mark and not enough is done with her.
The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot on the coasts of southern Italy (Salerno) with studio stuff done in Rome and Shepperton Studios, just west of London.
GRADE: B-