π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
Oscar Night Connection
"Some people say Citizen Kane (1941) or Casablanca (1942). I say 'Jason and the Argonauts' is the greatest movie ever made."
- Tom Hanks, when giving Harryhausen the Gordon E. Sawyer Award recognizing his contributions to the film industry at the Oscars' Science & Technical Ceremony in 1992
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
π Listen to Bernard Herrmann's evocative soundtrack for elements of his previous films, such as
The Day the Earth Stood Still
North by Northwest
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Vertigo
The Kentuckian
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
If you are watching the DVD, you may see scenes that were cut from other versions, especially regarding skeletons, but no spoilers now.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
π Notice that Hercules has a different look in this film. Harryhausen wanted to avoid the Italian "muscleman" stereotype seen in previous films.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
REUSE, RECYCLE
The Argo was built over a fishing boat, but it had three large Mercedes engines to power it. They cost roughly 10% of the film's budget.
Filmmakers sold the ship to 20th Century-Fox after filming, and it was used in Cleopatra (1963).
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
Context is Key
Two years prior to tonight's feature, Sergio Leone's The Colossus of Rhodes was released. It famously featured the large statue of Talus.
π€― So it was wild for audiences to see a couple of years later Talos changed into a living bronze giant. It would become one of Ray Harryhausen's most famous creations.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
Does anyone watching know the answer?
Recall the scene of Talos's head initially coming to life and turning towards Hercules. Ray Harryhausen said it was inspired by a *Japanese film*, but he could not remember its name.
Do you know the Japanese film that inspired this scene?
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
β³ Anybody seen the second-billed Nancy Kovack yet? We are well into the film.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
REUSE, RECYCLE Part 2
The costumes for tonight's feature were reused from the Spartan and Thespian costumes in 'The 300 Spartans' released the previous year.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
π΅ Musical Appreciation
In this film, Bernard Herrmann did not use any strings. You heard only woodwinds, etc.
But afterwards, in Psycho, he only used strings.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
"Argonauts" Location Scouting Summary
πΉGreece: Too "bleak and gray"
πΉYugoslavia: Too corrupt
πΉItaly (just outside of Palermo): Perfect!
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
RUINS
During filming of tonight's feature, a big scene with the Argo off the coast of Italy was ruined when a replica of the Golden Hind sailed into view. The film 'Sir Francis Drake' (1961) was coincidently filming at the same location. That production's scene was ruined as well.
Tensions were dispelled when producer Charles H. Schneer shouted, "Get that ship out of here! You're in the wrong century!"
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
β³ Nancy Kovack (second-billed actor) did finally appear as Medea in the 66th minute.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
This film killed in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
In the U.S., though, despite its awesomeness, audiences had tired of the sword and sandals epics beloved by Harryhausen. There had been just too many flooding the theaters. It only did middling business.
The ending clearly suggests a sequel was planned, but, no.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
I have geeked out at the skeleton hoard scene in this movie all my life. Look at the smooth motion, the complex movements, dodging and rolling in multiple levels.
π Look at the skeleton's shields. Each has a design based on previous Harryhausen monsters.
π¦#MONSTERDON ποΈ
βοΈ TRIVIA AND THE ARGOS β΅π
Animation of Dem Bones - By the Numbers
7 skeletons each with
5 appendages
35 things to move for each frame, at least
13 to 14 frames per day for difficult action (half a second of film)
4.5 months approximately to film
@JoeWynne Medea gets up to all kinds of crazy shit after she runs off with Jason. Maybe they decided the source material was too dark for a fun sequel.
It's def why they cut the movie off where they did.
Joe Watching β½ποΈπ΄πΊ
γΏγγγ’γΌγ
David Zaslavsky
LAUREN
jadebees
mcubed
strangefour with the Pleiades