As ye sow . . .

Jason and the Argonauts

(1963)

This tour de sword-and-sandal force was one of the favorite movies of my childhood, and it wasn't for the script, or for the acting, or for the direction, or even for the dangerously off-the-shoulder gown Medea (Nancy Kovack, whose name is a fair indication of the "Who?" quality of the cast) gets rescued from the sea in. No, its appeal all came from the special effects of Ray Harryhausen: the angry bronze Titan, the food-thieving harpies, the hydra-headed serpent (yeah, I know: what, you're expecting mythological consistency?), and most of all, disturbing my sleep for weeks if not months afterward, the skeletal Children of the Hydra Teeth, each sprouting from the ground brandishing a sword or spear and wielding a shield with a really cool design, which frankly looks more Roman than Greek (or Colchisian).

All the special effects look cheesy now, of course, but charmingly cheesy, and looking at those martial skeletons, I'm not going to second-guess my 10-year-old self for having been thoroughly creeped out by them.

In case you're wondering, Zeus calls an end to the narrative with Jason and Medea in love on the Argo, hinting only that the hero has other adventures ahead of him. As far as I know, no sequel was ever made centering on his faithlessness and cruel abandonment, followed by Medea's murder of their children.