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Clash of the Titans

PG Released Jun 12, 1981 1h 58m Fantasy Adventure Action List
64% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Perseus (Harry Hamlin), son of the Greek god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), grows up on a deserted island. His destiny is to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), who will someday rule the city of Joppa. But as long as the satyr Calibos (Neil McCarthy) -- who uses a giant vulture to kidnap Andromeda's soul every night -- is alive, no one can marry her. Perseus travels to Joppa, where he must defeat Calibos and other mythological monsters to rescue Andromeda.
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Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans

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Critics Consensus

A goofy, old-school sword-and-sandal epic, Clash of the Titans mines Greek mythology for its story and fleshes it out with Ray Harryhausen's charmingly archaic stop-motion animation techniques.

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Critics Reviews

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Derek Malcolm Guardian Children of all ages will come out happy enough, I would imagine. Dingy colour, a pretty rotten script and the two-hour length were my main complaints. But it was fun while three-quarters of it lasted. Dec 29, 2021 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Apart from some fine slimy creeps in the Medusa episode, it's bland and toothy, with a narrative that gets bogged down in short-term action. Aug 17, 2020 Full Review Variety Staff Variety Clash of the Titans is an unbearable bore that will probably put to sleep the few adults stuck taking the kids to it. Jun 27, 2008 Full Review JoAnn Rhetts Charlotte Observer Clash of the Titans is more fun than a '50s fur, forbidden fruit and fin flick has any right to be... Harryhausen's stop-action menagerie is unflaggingly engaging. May 3, 2023 Full Review Phil Edwards Starburst For me, Clash of the Titans fails as a film because its dramatic structure is so unsound. Jul 27, 2022 Full Review Philip French Observer (UK) Earthbound, remote, banal, insecure, its actors as stiff as the monsters the special effects man, Ray Harryhausen, has created for them to fight. Dec 30, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Twiggy H A timeless classic throughout the years - with clever use of film making from decades ago (something some modern film truly lacks and could really do with keeping at). The acting is totally fine for what the film was depicting of an ancient mythical story. As much as ancient mythology stories go, it does however seem ridiculous that Hera doesn't just do the decent thing for EVERYONE and just punish Zeus for having caused so many problems - now that would justice, and i await that film to be made. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/11/24 Full Review Cees T Evil inconsistent gods. Why not stop Calibos yourselves and spare many innocent lives? 3/10 - No good. Watch Star Wars ep 4 instead. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/24 Full Review Blu B A Fantasy Adventure Cult Classic. It's suprisingly pretty well made all around despite flaws. The special effects by R.H. are pretty good overall especially in the second half with the Medusa and all. But other times like the seagull at the start and other times can be laughably bad and I can't imagine some of these looked good even in 1981, I mean Star Wars was out for 4 years at this point. lol But the stop motion has a lot of character to it and you can tell in lots of effects even the ones that don't look as good a lot of effort when into it and that still shows decades later. The stupid golden owl though....I can't. The costumes, sets, camerawork, locales are all memorable. Olivier and Harry are solid and Harry especially is suprising how good he is at being charming innocent but also quiet stoic as well. Meredith is good as well. The love interest isn't bad but a bit forgettable. This has a lot of charm to it with some bad acting at first but settles down once Olivier shows up. As said before the special effects sometimes are terrible but are terrible in a very charming way. This doesn't have a lot of action in it until the final 20 minutes or so and is really character driven and a bit of susense also. The Medusa fight was easily the best part. This also has barely any dialouge in the late second half and becomes very visually driven which works in it's favor. It comes out of nowhere but works mainly because there isn't much action until that point. Most of the problems are in the first half especially the very start. This kind of assumes you already know a lot about greek mythology and if you don't you'll be lost for a bit as this doesn't explain much. But once it stays focused on Perseus it's easy enough to follow and works! The charm really goes a long way here. Anyone who is a fan of fantasy films, anicent adventures, any actors in this, a fan of R.H., the director, or even sword and sandel epics will like this. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/28/24 Full Review Joseph C it might be a mixed bag with today's animated stop motion technology but is still a credit to film history. Clash of the titans is a classic adventure with once again Ray harryhausen at the top of his game. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/14/24 Full Review Paul L One of the greatest movies from my young generation! I used to love watching this movie after getting out of the pool or first thing in the morning.. second only to starwars! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/09/24 Full Review He-Rex One of the great fantasy adventure films of the '80's. So much fun! My favorite of Ray Harryhausen's work Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/29/24 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Perseus (Harry Hamlin), son of the Greek god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), grows up on a deserted island. His destiny is to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), who will someday rule the city of Joppa. But as long as the satyr Calibos (Neil McCarthy) -- who uses a giant vulture to kidnap Andromeda's soul every night -- is alive, no one can marry her. Perseus travels to Joppa, where he must defeat Calibos and other mythological monsters to rescue Andromeda.
Director
Desmond Davis
Producer
Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer
Screenwriter
Beverley Cross
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp., Warner Home Vídeo, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Titan Productions
Rating
PG
Genre
Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 12, 1981, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2008
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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