Clash of the Titans

Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts) was the master of animated special stop-motion effects in the pre-CGI days, and this was probably his master creation, a dramatization of the myth of Perseus, complete with mythological beasts, Gods (Lawrence Olivier as Zeus!), and mortals.

The film doesn't try to stay totally faithful either to the Greek myths or to a realistic portrayal of what Greece would have looked like at the time. Instead, it creates a new fantasy world of its own imagining, based upon the premise that the mythology was true, except for details that they felt like changing. Harryhausen created some imaginative creatures and special effects, the film is not without humor, and the stirring background music is provided by the London Symphony Orchestra.

NUDITY REPORT

It sure has a lot of nudity for what is basically a kid's movie.

Vida Taylor shows her breasts and buns as Danae.

The character of Andromeda also shows her breasts and buns, but it is reported to be a body double for Judy Bowker.

DVD info from Amazon

• A conversation with Ray Harryhausen
• "Map of myths and monsters" gallery
• All-new digital transfer
• Cast film highlights
• Excellent widescreen anamorphic format, 1.85:1

Unfortunately, the monsters and miniatures look primitive by today's technical standards. Actually, they were primitive by 1981 standards. Except for Medusa, the monsters are about as realistic as Davey and Goliath. And the acting and dialogue would seem cheesy even in Wisconsin. But it's basically a kid's film, one of those that they used to market to "kids of all ages", and can be thought of as kind of a low-tech Star Wars, with a cutesy robotic owl substituting for R2D2. Your kids will probably love it if you don't mind them seeing some naked women once in a while.

They did a beautiful job on the DVD transfer, which represents a quantum leap over the previous VHS versions of this film.

The Critics Vote

Rotten Tomatoes summary. 10 reviews on file. Of the six graded ones, five (83.3%) are positive.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 6.0/10

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C+. It is badly dated, and is mostly for kids, but is still probably the best of the Greek mythology movies, and the epitome of Harryhausen's career as the guru of stop motion effects.