Clash of the Titans (1981 film)
| Clash of the Titans | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster by Brothers Hildebrandt | |
| Directed by | Desmond Davis |
| Written by | Beverley Cross |
| Produced by | Ray Harryhausen Charles H. Schneer |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier Harry Hamlin Judi Bowker Maggie Smith Ursula Andress |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore |
| Edited by | Timothy Gee |
| Music by | Laurence Rosenthal |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Turner Entertainment) Warner Bros. (DVD) |
Release date | June 12, 1981 |
Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $16,000,000 |
| Box office | $41,092,328 |
Clash of the Titans is an American 1981 fantasy-adventure film involving the Greco-Roman hero Perseus. It was released on June 12, 1981 and was a box office hit, grossing $41.1 million[1] domestically, on a $16 million budget.[2] It was the 11th highest grossing film of the year.[3] A novelization of the film by Alan Dean Foster was published in 1981.
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures released a remake of the film in 3-D on April 2, 2010.[4][5]
Plot
King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) locks his daughter Danaë (Vida Taylor) away from mortal men to avoid a prophecy that he would die if his daughter had a son. While she is imprisoned, the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier) impregnates her. After discovering the pregnancy, Acrisius casts his daughter and her newborn son Perseus out to sea in a wooden coffin, hoping to kill both and avoid his fate. In retribution, Zeus not only kills Acrisius, but also orders the god of the sea, Poseidon (Jack Gwillim), to release an ancient monster known as the Kraken to destroy Argos, fulfilling the prophecy. Meanwhile, Danaë and Perseus safely float to the island of Seriphos.
Calibos (Neil McCarthy), son of the sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), is a handsome young man destined to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Sian Phillips) and heir to the rich city of Joppa. But cruel and destructive Calibos has hunted and destroyed every living thing surrounding the Wells of The Moon, including Zeus's entire sacred herd of flying horses (except for Pegasus). As punishment for this and his many other transgressions, Zeus transforms Calibos into a satyr-like creature who is subsequently shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps and marshes. Thetis, furious at her son's fate, vows that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, no other man will, either. Equally infuriated by Zeus's total devotion for his own son, Thetis transports Perseus (Harry Hamlin) from Seriphos to Joppa. Perseus, befriended by the scholar and playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith), learns of Andromeda and her plight: she cannot marry unless her suitor successfully answers a riddle, and any suitor who fails to answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake. Armed with gifts from the gods (a sword, shield, and a helmet that renders its wearer invisible), Perseus captures Pegasus and follows Andromeda's spirit on her nightly journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos. Armed with the answer, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos, but escapes, losing the magical helmet in the swamps in the process.
Perseus appears at the next ceremony for a new suitor and answers the riddle correctly, presenting Calibos's severed hand (with a gold ring on one of the fingers, which is the answer to the riddle) and winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. At the temple to Thetis, Calibos prays to his mother Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis tells Calibos that she cannot do so because Perseus is protected by Zeus, but she can take vengeance on Joppa. At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis herself, which angers the goddess. The statue of Thetis collapses and its head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a virgin sacrifice to the Kraken in thirty days, or else Joppa will be destroyed.
Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken, while Pegasus is captured by Calibos and his men. Zeus commands Athena (Susan Fleetwood) to give Perseus her owl Bubo as a replacement for his lost helmet of invisibility. Instead she orders Hephaestus (Pat Roach) to build a mechanical replica of Bubo as an aid for Perseus. Bubo leads Perseus to the Stygian Witches, three blind women (Flora Robson, Anna Manahan, and Freda Jackson) who tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is by using the head of another monster, Medusa the Gorgon. Once a beautiful woman, Medusa had been punished by the goddess Aphrodite (Ursula Andress) by being transformed into a horrible monster. Meeting Medusa's gaze will turn any living creature to stone, including the Kraken. She makes her home on the Isle of the Dead, which lies across the River Styx, at the very edge of the Underworld. Once there, Perseus and his men battle Dioskilos, a two-headed dog that is the guardian of Medusa. One of the soldiers dies, but Perseus and the other two succeed in the slaying of Dioskilos and set forth into the ruins where Medusa resides. One of Perseus's men loses his life to one of Medusa's arrows, while the last becomes caught in the stare of Medusa and is transformed into a stone statue. Perseus eventually manages to not only deceive Medusa with the help of his shield, but also decapitate her with his sword and collects her head, but loses the shield completely in a pool of Medusa's acidic blood. As he and his party set to return, Calibos raids the camp, drives off the group's horses and punctures the cloak carrying Medusa's head, causing her blood to spill and spawn giant scorpions. The scorpions and Calibos attack the party. After the last of his men are killed, Perseus is able to slay the remaining scorpion and manages to best Calibos, whom he finally kills with Aphrodite's sword.
Perseus, weakened by his struggle and running out of time, asks Bubo to find Pegasus. The owl locates Pegasus in the swamp, guarded by Calibos's men and the vulture. Bubo manages to scare them off, destroy the camp, and free the winged stallion. Just as Andromeda is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken, Bubo appears, trying to stall the Kraken while Perseus is seen flying to her on Pegasus. Perseus approaches the Kraken, but is knocked off, falling into the ocean. Bubo retrieves the head and delivers it to Perseus, who frees the head, turning the Kraken into stone which collapses into the bay. Perseus throws the head into the ocean and frees Andromeda. Pegasus emerges from the sea to the crowd's delight.
The gods discuss the outcome of the adventure: Perseus and Andromeda will live happily, rule wisely and produce good children. Zeus forbids the other gods to pursue any vengeance against them. In addition, the likenesses of Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus and Cassiopeia are set among the stars as constellations to forever remind mankind of the values of heroism and bravery.
Cast
- Harry Hamlin - Perseus
- Maggie Smith - Thetis
- Claire Bloom - Hera
- Ursula Andress - Aphrodite
- Pat Roach - Hephaestus
- Judi Bowker - Andromeda
- Burgess Meredith - Ammon
- Siân Phillips - Cassiopeia
- Laurence Olivier - Zeus
- Tim Pigott-Smith - Thallo
- Jack Gwillim - Poseidon
- Neil McCarthy - Calibos
- Susan Fleetwood - Athena
- Vida Taylor - Danaë
- Robert Addie - Ares
- Ellie Nicol-Hilton - Aura
- Flora Robson - Stygian Witch #1
- Anna Manahan - Stygian Witch #2
- Freda Jackson - Stygian Witch #3
Behind the scenes
The special effects used to create the various creatures in the film were done by Ray Harryhausen who employed stop motion animation. Harryhausen was also co-producer of the film, and retired from filmmaking shortly after the movie was released, making this his last main feature film.
Despite the mechanical owl Bubo's similarities to the droid R2-D2 of the 1977 film Star Wars, Harryhausen claimed that Bubo was created before Star Wars was released.[6][7]
Stars Harry Hamlin and Ursula Andress were romantically involved at the time of production. Their son, Dimitri, was born in 1980 after filming was completed. Their relationship ended in 1982.
The film's screenwriter, Beverley Cross, was married to Maggie Smith, who played Thetis, until his death in 1998. Cross worked with producer Charles H. Schneer, before, writing the screenplay for Schneer's production of Jason and the Argonauts.
Remake
Warner Bros., the current rights holder of this film (acquired from MGM as part of their pre-1986 film library), produced a remake that was released in 3-D on April 2, 2010.[4][5] Directed by Louis Leterrier, it stars Sam Worthington as Perseus, Alexa Davalos as Andromeda, and Liam Neeson as Zeus.[8][9][10]
See also
References
- ^ Clash of the Titans (1981) - BoxOfficeMojo.com.
- ^ http://theseventhvoyage.com/clashreview.htm
- ^ 1981 Yearly Box Office Results - BoxOfficeMojo.com
- ^ a b "Clash of the Titans Official site: Film poster". Clash-of-the-Titans.WarnerBros.com. February 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
- ^ a b "3-Deathly Hallows: Titans and Potter go to third dimension". Heat Vision Blog. January 27, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
- ^ Bubo- Theseventhvoyage.com.
- ^ Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life, page 270 (London: Aurum Press Ltd, 2003) ISBN 1854109405.
- ^ "Clash of the Titans Commences Production for Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures". Business Wire. April 25, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ "Medusa's Head Hiding Within Perseus' Sack? Three Blind Witches!". Bloody-disgusting.com. October 2, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ "New Clash of the Titans Remake Stills". Dreadcentral.com. October 2, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
