10 Movies That Pushed The Boundaries Of Visual Effects
7. Jason And The Argonauts (1963)
As mentioned previously, the stop-motion dinosaurs in King Kong proved a huge inspiration to a teenaged Ray Harryhausen, and led to some of the greatest visual effects ever seen. Harryhausen was an effects genius, honing his talents in his bedroom as a youngster before using them to bring Greek mythology alive in Jason and the Argonauts. Audiences were shocked and thrilled by the skeleton sword fight a truly iconic piece of filmmaking along with other creatures such as the statue of Talos, the Harpies, the god Triton and the seven-headed Hydra. Stop-motion had simply never been used so effectively until Jason and the Argonauts, and its success heralded a wave of further stop-motion movies including The Valley of Gwangi, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and Clash of the Titans. However, Jason and the Argonauts remained Harryhausen's proudest accomplishment: "I'm proud of all my work...but I suppose the skeleton sequence in Jason and the Argonauts gives me the greatest satisfaction. It was certainly the most time-consuming and elaborate sequence I ever designed." Harryhausen, with Jason and the Argonauts as arguably his most famous production, were fundamental to the progression of the visual effects industry: this was confirmed on his death in 2013, when both George Lucas and Peter Jackson commented that, without him, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings would probably have never been created.
Stop-motion had simply never been used so effectively until Jason and the Argonauts, and its success heralded a wave of further stop-motion movies including The Valley of Gwangi, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and Clash of the Titans. However, Jason and the Argonauts remained Harryhausen's proudest accomplishment: "I'm proud of all my work...but I suppose the skeleton sequence in Jason and the Argonauts gives me the greatest satisfaction. It was certainly the most time-consuming and elaborate sequence I ever designed." Harryhausen, with Jason and the Argonauts as arguably his most famous production, were fundamental to the progression of the visual effects industry: this was confirmed on his death in 2013, when both George Lucas and Peter Jackson commented that, without him, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings would probably have never been created.