JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), dir. Don Chaffey

With all due respect to director Don Chaffey, most of the credit for “Jason and the Argonauts’” success belongs to special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, who frequently brought the fantastic to life in this mythological adventure flick.

Set in ancient Greek times, when a pantheon of Gods frequently toyed with the fates of Man, the family of King Aristo of Thessaly is massacred by Pelias (Douglas Wilmer), a rival who also plans to kill Aristo’s children. Luckily, the goddess Hera intervenes, rescuing young Jason and continuing to watch over him into adulthood. When he reaches the age of 20, grown-up Jason (played by Todd Armstrong) decides to raise an army to overthrow Pelias, avenge his father and sisters, and claim his rightful place as king.

But Jason also wants to prove his worthiness to the public, so he sets out to find the Golden Fleece, a gift from the Gods reputed to be somewhere at the ends of the Earth. Gathering a crew of the toughest and most clever – including such legends as the strongman Hercules (Nigel Green) – he and his crew set out aboard the Argo, from which the band of heroes later get their name.

Of course, an odyssey is nothing without dangers, and the traps and beasties encountered in “Jason and the Argonauts” include a statue come to life, mountains that crush any ship unlucky enough to sail between them, the multi-headed serpent known as the Hydra, and re-animated skeleton warriors. The latter helped earn the film a place among the greatest adventure movies, and also represents Harryhausen’s most recognized work as well as some of the best stop-motion animation ever.

Personally, as much as I liked the skeletons, my favorite special effects sequence involved the rock statue set off after one character fails to heed the word of the Gods. Not only did I love the design of the guardian – tall enough to tower over nearby mountains, carved Greek soldier’s helmet for a head – I admired the half-lurching way Harryhausen decided to animate him, sort of resembling a toy soldier marching.

I also liked how its “Achilles heel,” when exploited by Jason, ends up spurting a steamy hot liquid. Exactly what the substance is never gets explained, but it’s a detail that somehow feels right.

Another terrific special effects moment involves those aforementioned mountains that crush unwitting ships. This time, instead of stop-motion animation, Harryhausen and Chaffey utilize rear-projection for the sequence, which culminates in a Poseiden-like entity rising up from the ocean and really giving Jason and company a shoulder to lean on. Sure, compared to the seamless CGI-graphics of today, it looks as antiquated as anything else in the movie, but the filmmakers add little details that truly give their work personality – in this case, the end of Poseiden’s tail can be seen flopping up and down along the water’s surface.

If “Jason and the Argonauts” has a flaw, it’s that the human characters are not nearly as compelling as their special effects counterparts. Aside from the titular hero, who could best be described as “defiant,” the screenplay gives none of the crew members much depth or opportunity to stand out. The exception might be Hercules, who disappears early on (ostensibly to star in his own adventure flick), and that’s a shame, since he leaves at exactly the point in which Nigel Green starts giving him true gravitas and making him compelling.

Nevertheless, watching for the retro-style special effects is fun enough, and the movie really is about something: that although the Gods are out there, when it comes down to the really important decisions in life, Man makes his own fate. That makes “Jason and the Argonauts” an enduring classic.

Overall rating: *** (out of ****)