Jason and the Argonauts

"Jason and The Argonauts" by Don Chaffey is a brilliant movie adaptation of the Greek mythological story of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Jason sails on the Argo-ship with a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece. The movie is a fun adventurous one with a lot of spectacular moments and fights. The movie plot is well written, adventurous, exciting and easy to follow. Ray Harryhausen's special effects are still very brilliant in bringing a handful of superhuman creatures to life on the big screen. The photography of the Mediterranean is gorgeous. The musical score by Bernard Herrmann is evocative and powerful. The acting is very sincere and decent. Todd Armstrong gives an awesome performance as Jason who relies on skill rather to accomplish his goals. Nigel Green is outstanding in portraying Hercules as a burly, believable veteran. Niall McGinnis was excellent as Zeus, King of the Gods. Nancy Kovack was very good in her role as Medea the mysterious High Priestess of Hecate. Douglas Wilmer was a good choice for the roles as Jason's evil uncle, Pelias. The swordfight scene against an army of skeleton warriors is still one of the best sequences in the movie. This is still an excellent tale of love and betrayal, friendship and fortune that still holds up as one of the classic mythological fantasy movies.

Overall resolution is hit and miss. Some segments are razor sharp while others are VHS grainy. Possibly due to "day for night" shots and the Harryhausen special effects which are some of his best! But worst of all the movie has been enlarged cutting off the sides to fit your 16 x 9 tv! I want my movies as the producers made them without modification. I will be asking for a refund from apple since they still don't tell you in the description. "widescreen" is not a good enough discription. I'm sure Ray Harryhausen would not approve of this "butchery" Come on Apple, be sure that were getting the films the way the creators made them, not some "hatchet job" from some marketing "hacks" who think they no better then the film makers.

terrible artwork for a great movie. please fix.

The 3 star review is mostly due to the quality of video. The movie itself is 5 stars all the way. The problem I have is the so called "HD" version. Some parts of the movie look great and you can tell it was meant to be hd, but other parts look like they were pulled straight from a vhs tape. Maybe this is the best they had to work with due to the original film, it still gets distracting when one scene is in gorgeous hd and the next is vhs quality.

loved this movie growing up! even with the cheesy special effects, still a classic! The revised version with Jason London wasn't so good, glad i found this version! Stoked!

I remember watching this movie in my history/social studies class for a test, and boy did I get a good grade on it haha. Rays special effects were just amazing, however I do agree some if the other stuff in this film was cheesy and corny but it's worth the ride. 4/5

The special effects work was top of the line for its time and I totally respect Ray Harryhausen's work. That said, nowadays this movie is so cheesy its still amazing to watch! My brother and I watch this at least once a year, our commentary gaining in ridiculousness each time! Watch this film if only for the skeleton soldier fight scene. Best part of a movie EVER.

"Some people say Citizen Kane or Cassablanca. I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film of all time."- Tom Hanks at the 1992 Academy Awards. Well, Tom you have a good choice in movies because of this. Ray Harryhausen did alot of great movies such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came From Beneath The Sea, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles To Earth, the Sinbad movies, 1 Million Years B.C., The Valley of Gwangi, and Clash of the Titans [which by the way is superior to the 2010 remake]. But this one is by far his most impressive. Why? Talos, the bronze statue, looks amazing in the stop motion. This thing moves like a real frickin metal man. The Hydra is very impressive because of how many details had to go into it and making sure it all looks natural....which it does. But, by far one of the greatest feats of stop motion effects has to be the effects for the skeleton army. It is amazing....I can see why in Army of Darkness they payed homage to such a great cinematic feat. The story is fantastic and makes you feel like your part of the Greek mythology when watching it. Overall, this is a movie that I not only recommend I say go watch it if you love movies....period.

One of the BEST Harryhausen movies! Intelligent script. Absolutely amazing duel with the Undead Army of skeletons---one of the most difficult sequences Harryhausen ever accomplished!