The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #64: "Jason and the Argonauts"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #64: "Jason and the Argonauts"

The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #64

By Xavier E. Palacios

"Jason and the Argonauts"

4 out of 5

Directed by Don Chaffey

Rated G

A re-telling of the story of the Ancient Greek mythic hero, Jason, who, under the guidance of the queen goddess, Hera, assembles a crew of the greatest he-men in the land aboard the ship, the Argo, to sail to the edge of the world and retrieve the Golden Fleece to rally his people against their tyrannical overlord; along the way, they face great monsters and fantastical threats as only the oldest tales could conceive of.

A classic of my father's childhood, this 1963 picture, like Micmacs, randomly appeared to me and proved so entertaining I ended up watching the whole film by accident. Oh, man, no joke, Jason and the Argonauts is one of those prime examples of why people invented movies; why cinema can be so exponentially magical!

(Coincidentally, I have recently heard that Hollywood is still actively trying to make a new live-action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe film. I suppose those lousy studios will infuse the piece with a sarcastic tone, unconvincing CGI effects, and some forced moral that rings hollow to my ears. What a shame that my prediction has too much of a chance to come true, because this film is a marvelous template for such an adaptation: pure all-ages fantasy, adventure, heroism, and visual delights).

Unfortunately, there are a few too many flaws in the piece, especially in the third act, that keep Jason and the Argonauts from reaching its full potential. There is far too much set-up for Jason's origin solely for the flick to outright give up on these early, major plot points and pull down the curtains. The evil conqueror, Pelias, takes over the Greek land Thessaly, and, despite his brutal efforts to prevent future catastrophe, learns from his oracle that he will one day be killed by a man with one sandal. Sure enough, as consequence of his wicked deeds, the prince, Jason, survived Pelias' slaughter and later saves his enemy from drowning, ending up with one sandal in the process. He tells Pelias, whom he strangely does not recognize as his nemesis, that he plans to rally the people of Thessaly against their tyrant. Yet, before he can do so, Jason tells Pelias he must make his people believe in miracles again; that the gods have not abandoned them.

So, to send Jason far from him and to his doom, Pelias tells Jason about the Golden Fleece, a magical artifact with healing powers, and advises him to seek this prize. Sure, Pelias' son will get there first, with orders to kill Jason, but this twenty-minute or so set-up for the actual voyage means nothing when, by film's end, the fates of Pelias, Thessaly, and the Argos' return home are never resolved. The film ends before solving these problems as if a sequel was planned. Also, Hera is contracted by her husband, Zeus, king of the gods, only to help Jason five times. This great limitation on instant resolutions is appreciated, but Jason uses his five prayers before the film even reaches the halfway point, making the plot feature a bit underwhelming.

Another issue is that, for much of the plot, Jason and the Argonauts focuses on the titular characters. The piece is a dude-picture in a positive way, save for one dissenter or two. Just a bunch of affectionate he-men out for adventure to get their names in future legends going on a remarkable odyssey, facing up against and beating impossible odds, monsters, and obstacles. Alas, as Argonauts' release date places the flick definitively in the "oldy timey picture" category, at the start of the third act, a "love" interest comes in: the princess Medea of (in this case, problematic) myth. So, like any other film from this decades-long era, Jason and Medea fall in "love" without a genuinely romantic scene. Great. The crew heads to her land where the fleece is being guarded by a whole nation; so taking the fleece would be stealing. But the crew of simplistic heroes has no problem becoming a gang of vandals, when, prior, the tale was about non-malignant adventurers. Great. Medea has no reason to trust Jason but still frees him and his shipmates so they can steal the fleece and sail away together. Grrreeaat.