Movie Review: Clash of the Titans (1981)
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Greek mythology has always had a special place in my heart, and not just because, being Greek, they’re a part of my culture. If one is a Westerner, then these myths are also a part of your culture.
I remember my grandmother telling these stories to my brother and sister and me when we were younger, the way she used to tell them to my father and uncle. They captured my imagination with their tales of gods and heroes and monsters. I still have this old copy of the tale of Perseus called The Gorgon’s Head from 1961 as written by Ian Serraillier. It was my father’s, and then mine, and now I’ve given it to my son, who also loves these myths.
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On a whim, I decided a few days ago that we should watch Clash of the Titans. I am referring to the original 1981 version, of course. My brother and I would watch this with my dad when it was on TV back in the day. We loved it! Clash of the Titans was special-effects monster legend Ray Harryhausen’s final film, and boy did he have a blast with it. Between the two-headed dog, the giant scorpions, Calibos, the Kraken, and of course Medusa, his stop-motion style is perfect for the dreamlike quality of the Greek myths.
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Clash of the Titans is a streamlined retelling of the Perseus myth. Perseus was the son of Zeus, who impregnated his mother Danae by appearing as a golden rain. The film opens with Danae’s father, King Acresius of Argos, casting Danae and the baby Peseus into the sea for bringing dishonor onto his home. They are saved via Poseidon, at Zeus’s bidding, and end up on the island of Serifos, where Perseus grows up strong and fair and noble. Zeus then has Poseidon summon the Kraken to destroy Argos.
Okay, then.
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Meanwhile on Olympus, Zeus has transformed Calibos, the king of Joppa, into a twisted creature who is thereby banished to the swamps. Calibos, son of the goddess Thetis, abused his power by, among other things, hunting Zeus’s winged horses almost to extinction save for the legendary Pegasus. In retaliation for now being unable to marry the beautiful Andromeda, princess of Joppa, Calibos captures her spirit every night via a giant vulture, brings her to the swamp, and gives her a riddle. When Andromeda’s spirit returns and she awakens, any suitor must answer her riddle. Failure results in being burned alive.
Needless to say, Andromeda is still single and is not happy with this turn of affairs.
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Thetis begs Zeus to forgive Calibos and Zeus refuses. Thetis rightly surmises that, if Calibos had ben Zeus’s own son, he’d forgive him. So she decided to get revenge on Zeus by terrorizing Perseus and . . . teleporting him to Joppa?
This part of Thetis’s revenge plot is kind of strange. Perseus awakens in an amphitheater in Joppa and befriends Ammon the playwright. He’s then, at Zeus’s behest, given magical artifacts from three goddesses: A magical shield from Athena, a magical sword that can cut through anything from Hera, and a magical helmet that can turn him invisible from Aphrodite. Perseus then goes to Joppa, vows to break Andromeda’s curse, and free the city of Joppa. This is where our adventure begins in earnest.
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It’s still a really fun adventure movie, but it’s striking to think about how different movies are now, and how different they were then. You see, Clash of the Titans came out the same year as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and while Clash of the Titans did really well at the box office, reviews at the time state that it felt like a film from a bygone era. This was seven years after the original Jaws and five years after the original Star Wars. The summer blockbuster as we know it had already been released upon the world, complete with new flashy special effects, quicker editing, and a frenetic, almost hyper pacing. Clash of the Titans, by contrast, feels quaint . . . and not just because of Harryhausen’s effects, which hold up really well.
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The plot pacing of Clash of the Titans is actually brisk; we’re into Perseus’s quest before the first fifteen minutes are up. But the actual movie is more deliberate. It’s a different rhythm than we’re used to. Scenes and settings (and boy is the cinematography in this movie gorgeous) breathe and take their time to set up the locations. Battles are easy to follow and rely on clarity rather than hyper-kinetic editing and shaky cam. And even scenes that today would be fast-paced action fest special-effects extravaganzas like Perseus’s battle with Medusa in an ancient temple are drawn out and very tense.
It’s refreshing and a nice change of pace nearly forty years later in a movie landscape saturated with seizure-inducing superhero fare and CGI-spectacles that rarely let up let the squirrel-like attention of the audience be diverted by their phones. But what came first? The spastic movies or the fleeting attention spans?
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Clash of the Titans isn’t a perfect movie. Yes, it’s a bit cheesy, the acting is wooden, some of the effects didn’t age well (the talking statues, in particular), and it’s melodramatic as all get out. But that in no way detracts from the enjoyment. Clash of the Titans was Harryhausen’s last movie before retiring, and it feels like a final send off to classic pulpy sword-and-sandal adventure movies. They don’t make ’em like this anymore, and they never will. It’s a genre movie and proud of it. Highly recommended.
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I’d be remiss without discussing the casting and sets. Clash of the Titans is mostly British, and it shows. I mean, Laurence Olivier plays Zeus and Maggie Smith is Thetis. And those are just the two most well-known Brits. They’re all great, and the fetching Ursula Andress has a minor role as Aphrodite. And the lovely Judi Bowker plays Andromeda.
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On the American side, heartthrob and later L.A. Law star Harry Hamlin does a great job as the mostly shirtless hero Perseus, and Burgess Meredith is excellent as Ammon, Perseus’s mentor.
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Another underappreciated aspect of this movie is the old-school sets and costumes. You feel like you’re in the bustling Joppa, crossroads of east and west. Ancient temples, mountain vistas . . . it all looks so good. So do the wilderness areas. The sense of place in Clash of the Titans teleports you as much as Harryhausen’s creatures. Watching it as a 39-year-old gave me the same feeling I got watching it and similar movies like Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad movies when I was my son’s age. Simply beautiful.
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Oh, and there’s also a mechanical owl.
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