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I was pleased to join Dan Schneider not too long ago for his Cosmoetica show to discuss Ray Harryhausen’s best film, and one of the best damned fantasy adventure movies of all time, Jason and the Argonauts. Enjoy! And for some previous thoughts on Harryhausen’s work, check out my thoughts on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
As a kid, if I wasn’t watching Harryhausen movies or Behind The Green Door, I was watching giant monster movies from Japan. I did this because they had giant monsters smashing stuff. Duh. I liked Gamera more than Godzilla because Gamera was a turtle and turtles are awesome, especially when they can fly and shoot fire and save children, but Godzilla was pretty rad, too. So why not revisit some of the originals? Aside from the very first, which I like to revisit every few years because it’s way more amazing than people realize, I haven’t seen most of these in many, many years. That’s reason enough to blast through the first five or so (and maybe throw in a bonus while I’m at it)….
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Ray Harryhausen was a mainstay of my childhood. His movies were regular features on the Saturday matinees — on television, not in theaters; I’m not THAT old! — and they sucked me in every time. How could they not? No sane young boy would be anything but engrossed by giant creatures slugging it out with heroes in sandals, and Harryhausen’s creatures were AWESOME. So not too long ago, I decided to revisit a handful of his movies, among them The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. As a kid I had no real affection for the Arabian myths, so Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films never quite connected with me despite my huge love for his work and Harryhausen liberally mixing in monsters and myths from others cultures. I…
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