This is the one film Harryhausen has done that is most often talked about. Not only is it incredibly watchable, 45 years after it's original release date, but the kinetic skeleton battle is still fantastic. I mean, look at that picture. That's a pretty freakin' badass picture right there. I'd probably pay more to just sit and look at that picture than I would to go see "The Love Guru".Ok, the skeleton battle, blah blah blah... as much as it is talked about... and it is the finale of the film, I think the entire movie works. It works better than just "fantasy camp with Harryhausen creatures". This is prime product right here, from the opening onwards, the characters are well fleshed out, with dialog that doesn't feel too corny. The actor who plays Hercules is also really funny and fun to watch. The music by Bernard Herrmann is suitably epic at times, delicate at others; however, I think he's done much better work.
This is the best movie Harryhausen ever worked on, and the final battle with 7 moving skeletons is probably the most technically accomplished of his scenes. Apparently it took him 3 or 4 months to animate the 4 minute sequence, and it shows. Each skeleton seems to naturally attack and parry to the actors who are obviously swinging their swords through dead air. They also seem to think and move fluidly. It's really fun to watch, and you could go over the fight many different times and still notice little nuggets of awesomeness. Other monsters include Talos the giant freakin' statue and the Hydra, which has 7 ducking and hissing animated heads. Let's not forget the harpies either. Damn there's lots of good stuff in here. This is the must-see film in the Harryhausen library. If you don't like this one, I doubt you'd like any of the others.So this concludes Harryhausen week, I hope you manage to pick up a few of his films and can see through the lens of time to truly apreciate this man's work, which was groundbreaking in its time.
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