I remember 1st seeing this amazing special effect when I was a kid 30 years ago, and just absolutely being mezmorized by the realism and haunting creaking sound of the grinding metal. To this day still the coolest special effect ever seen on film! The master Harryhausen, with all the computer technology 40 years later, they cant even come close to his genius!!!
shareYou guys are talking about this scene right? ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5Ic6VAJPjo
I watched the movie again last weekend and damn, that scene always has me on edge. The way Talos turns his head, he then carefully gets off the pedestal, leaning against it to find his balance after ??? of years of immobility. And then he appears from behind the cliff to the shock and horror of the crew. Talos going for the kill, still struggling a bit to get into his stride. The crew then rowing for their life, thinking they can escape him, and then Talos stepping in from the right hand side of the screen. Awesome!
voting history: http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=629013
There is something fascinating about watching stop go animation compared to CGI effects, it gives a sense of power and strength to the creature. Recently saw The Hulk and his power was not convincing, he seemed like rubber and light in weight, rubbish.
shareYes, CGI has no weight or gravity to it. Look at the very *beep* Transformers etc.
shareWhen I was really young (around 3 or 4) I used to believe the Talos scene was shot on our local beach, the cliffs do look kind of similiar. My Sons recently took to watching this film, he loves it too :-) He especially loves the Talos scene and the skeleton fight.
"Welcome to your doom!"
It probably helped that I lived in Italy as a tyke and grew up semi-near the area they shot the movie, but I always felt like I was not so much watching a movie but real events that had actually happened at some point. It made it all the more terrifying for me.
The part that really sent home the most immediacy and realism for me was when Talos reaches down and drags his hand across the sand, barely missing those fleeing sailors who look terrified out of their minds. Excellent acting (to empty air) for those Italian extras and compositing.
It also felt to me as a kid that a lot of the sailors were surely killed when he shook them all off the ship. Years later I was actually disappointed to learn (upon watching a little closer) that there was one fatality (and one which would easily have been avoided had the character shown more common sense). Realistically I think there would have been a lot more people killed or maimed mainly by their broken boat being tossed down upon them. Also I found it impressive that every single member of Jason's crew could swim.
Also I found it impressive that every single member of Jason's crew could swim.
rat_sandwich & Aylmer - that would be amazing for a child's imagination! I used to kind of imagine that me and my friends were always The Goonies and that it was us in most films. Maybe most kids do similar things?
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This reply is a bit late, but I wanted to say that a great deal of the effectiveness of that scene is from Bernard Hermann's brilliant, grinding musical score.
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
Yes its a great sequence.
Love that bit in the treasure chamber where Hylas hears the creaking from above and remembers Jason's warning.
But that line: 'It must have been the wind' followed by the sound of the movement as Talos turns his head to look at them.
It is menacingly brilliant.
Talos and the skeletons were scary in a fun sort of way. In 1963 and now.
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Haha nice to see this board is alive with posts. One of those movies I watched dozens of times as a kid along with Clash of the Titans.
My favourite part was Talos without a doubt, it was the scary thought of a huge bronze statue coming after you and the creepy metallic sound of his movement. I used to have a metal fire place that made an exact replica of the sound which I used to imitate him! Funny looking back now
If you never fail, you're not trying hard enough
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I agree. Talos is one of Harryhausen's greatest creations and my favorite movie monster of all time. I'd also like to point out that I'm one of the younger generation who didn't see this in the theaters.
Brother Maynard, bring forth the holy hand grenade!
That was *metal* in all the best senses of the word. ;o)
Ozy
And I stood where I did be; for there was no more use to run; And again I lookt with my hope gone.
The Talos scene is pretty much all I watch the movie for now.
The shot where he turns his head is brilliant. It reminds me a lot of "Halloween" when Michael sits up & turns his hand in a similar fashion (I wonder if John Carpenter was inspired by this). Actually, they walk the same as well.
Talos = terrifying. Brilliant FX, miles ahead of the time. Just watch Clash Of The Titans which was filmed 18 years later, the FX are truly inferior!