My Harryhausen thesis is that he is one of the most influential filmmakers in the last fifty years. It's hard to think of another mid-century filmmaker
whose impact and and influence is as pervasive today as that of RH (Disney and Hitchcock also come to mind. Many of today's top filmmakers corroborate this
idea (I am collecting these quotes for an article):
Peter Jackson: "If it hadn't been for SINBAD and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
and MYSTERIOUS ISLAND... there would be no LORD OF THE RINGS and no KING KONG remake."
Tim Burton: "One of my earliest memories of going to the movies was seeing JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS on the big screen. I think from that moment of...I was hooked into wanting to make movies...my love for stop-motion began with RH..."
George Lucas: "His earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much...
I had seen fantasy films before, but none of them had the 'awe' that RH movies had."
Steven Spielberg: " Everything he did influenced me...."I salute him every day."
James Cameron: "As a kid I remember a couple of milestones of awe and wonder in movie
theaters...the vistas of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and the creatures of Ray Harryhausen...
THE TERMINATOR owed is roots to the skeleton fight in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, which I saw when I was seven years old."
Guillermo del Toro: (speaking of HELLBOY) Part of me wanted to make a Ray Harryhausen
movie for a new generation."
John Landis: "He is truly the auteur of the work - even more than the directors or the authors of the screenplays. Ray has generated a whole library of films that were unbelievably influential to an amazing number of people who are making pictures today."
I view the the RH films as "star vehicles" for RH's action-effects sequences
which RH conceived, directed, and personally created. In 1959, the skeleton sword-fight
sequence of SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD was the special effects fields equivalent
of a moon landing - with an impact so strong among budding filmakers that its influence can still be seen in many of today's fantasy/adventure movies.
It's hard not to see the weaknesses in some of Ray Harryhausen's movies. But the effect of his sequences has been seismic.
Peter Jackson: "If it hadn't been for SINBAD and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
and MYSTERIOUS ISLAND... there would be no LORD OF THE RINGS and no KING KONG remake."
Tim Burton: "One of my earliest memories of going to the movies was seeing JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS on the big screen. I think from that moment of...I was hooked into wanting to make movies...my love for stop-motion began with RH..."
George Lucas: "His earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much...
I had seen fantasy films before, but none of them had the 'awe' that RH movies had."
Steven Spielberg: " Everything he did influenced me...."I salute him every day."
James Cameron: "As a kid I remember a couple of milestones of awe and wonder in movie
theaters...the vistas of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and the creatures of Ray Harryhausen...
THE TERMINATOR owed is roots to the skeleton fight in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, which I saw when I was seven years old."
Guillermo del Toro: (speaking of HELLBOY) Part of me wanted to make a Ray Harryhausen
movie for a new generation."
John Landis: "He is truly the auteur of the work - even more than the directors or the authors of the screenplays. Ray has generated a whole library of films that were unbelievably influential to an amazing number of people who are making pictures today."
I view the the RH films as "star vehicles" for RH's action-effects sequences
which RH conceived, directed, and personally created. In 1959, the skeleton sword-fight
sequence of SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD was the special effects fields equivalent
of a moon landing - with an impact so strong among budding filmakers that its influence can still be seen in many of today's fantasy/adventure movies.
It's hard not to see the weaknesses in some of Ray Harryhausen's movies. But the effect of his sequences has been seismic.
