What’s “And Another Thing?” I don’t know, I’m going to kind of make it up as I go along. In general, there are a lot of movies – or even just scenes from movies – that I feel have been written off unfairly. This column will be a place for me to vent my love for these unjustly maligned bits of cinema history. What form it will take beyond that is anybody’s guess.
With the revamped, 3-D-ified Clash of the Titans about to do a big ol’ bellyflop at the box office – I would have made the same prediction about Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie, so don’t listen to me – I decided to set my sights on a not so popular scene from the original, when Perseus mounts Pegasus in order to follow the vulture carrying Andromeda's spirit into the swamps.
(You thought I was going to write about Bubo, didn’t you? Nope, Bubo sucks.)
I'm more concerned with imagery here than plot, so my apologies if you haven't seen the movie yet. Out of anything in Clash of the Titans, this sequence stands out, more so than even the battle with Medusa or the Kraken. I've read and heard comments that this is not a favorite passage for Ray Harryhausen lovers. Many find the stop motion clunky, but not in that soulful way that the best of Harryhausen animation is clunky. I can't help it, though. This 'everything and the kitchen sink' barrage of stop motion, mattes, helicopter shots, and real horses and people hits me just right. This is a great 'flight' sequence and a great chase sequence. It's content is surreal enough to make the obviously unrealistic effects fit in just fine. Like all the best parts in the movie, this scene feels out of some ominous dream almost forgotten upon waking.
I don't love Clash of the Titans, but this sequence is worth a look:
Ben