Clash of the Titans Movie Review

With a cast that includes Laurence Olivier (Zeus), Claire Bloom (Hera), and Maggie Smith (the sea goddess Thetis), it seems outrageous to suggest that Harry Hamlin (Perseus) does the best job, but it sure looks like the “real” actors took the job just for the bucks. As with any Ray Harryhausen opus (and this was his last), we're really here for his stop-motion effects. Perseus, on a mission from god, must battle some of Ray's best on his way to rescuing the adequately beautiful Judi Bowker (Andromeda) from the monstrous and wet Kraken. Well equipped with a helmet of invisibility, a tacky sword that will at least cut through anything, and naturally the famous shiny-as-a-mirror, necessary-as-hell god-given shield, Perseus has to deal with Charon the ferryman of the dead, relieve the snake-headed gorgon Medusa of her head (Ray's scariest sequence ever), and even gets to mount the winged horse Pegasus. Edit out the constipated acting of the Olympians and the Hound'll double the rating.

1981 (PG) 118m/C GB Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Claire Bloom, Ursula Andress, Burgess Meredith, Harry Hamlin, Sian Phillips, Judi Bowker; D: Desmond Davis; W: Beverley Cross. VHS, Beta, LV MGM, MLB