By Matt for the TIB Network:
Today's film is one of my favorites from my freshman year "World Cultures" class back in high school. Grab some pop corn and sit back for an adventure on the high seas as we take a look at Jason and the Argonauts.
Tagline: The epic story that was destined to stand as a colossus of adventure!
Plot Outline: The legendary Greek hero leads a team of intrepid adventurers in a perilous quest for the legendary Golden Fleece.
Director: Don Chaffey
Music by: Bernard Hermann (one of the really great film score composers of all time! - and he doesn't disappoint in this flick either.)
Meet our hero, Jason (Todd Armstrong).
Jason is sent on a quest in order to restore his family name and throne in a game being played by Hera and Zeus.
That's Hermes (Michael Gwynn) on the far left, Zeus (Niall Mac Ginnis) in the center and Hera (Honor Blackman - Goldfinger's "Pussy Galore" [which out to help out with the Google hits - ed.]) on the right. Jason is on the table.
Jason needs two things: a ship and a crew.
Here's the ship: the Argo named after its builder and crewman, Argos.
The crew features one other (bigger name than Jason?) name: Hercules (Nigel Green). Here Herc and Hylas (John Cairney) compete so Hylas can join the crew in order to provide the "brains" of the outfit.
The most fascinating thing about this picture is Ray Harryhausen's creatures. Here is Talos at the Isle of Bronze. Herc is in some real trouble here...
And the Children of the Tooth at the end of the picture is the "piece de la resistance":
I've got just one word for them: NASTY!
One last thing...what is Jason after? Why, it's the Golden Fleece, of course.
Obligatory Star Trek Reference
Those of you who have seen the film may be wondering why I haven't mentioned Medea (Nancy Kovak) yet... Well, turns out that Jason's love interest is a familiar face...
Here she is as "Nona" with her husband "Tyree" in the classic Trek episode "A Private Little War."
Honestly, I'm not going through my collection and saying, "Oh, this one has some obscure Trek reference in it!" Really. Honest.
