The legendary tale of Jason and the Argonauts is told in a rather rambling, but reasonably entertaining fashion in this Italian sword & sandal flick. Carey, as King Jason, doesn't appear right away as the action begins in his homeland of Thessaly while Carey is already en route to retrieve the fabled golden fleece. He needs to reclaim the fleece to appease Zeus and stop Thessaly's volcanos from destroying everything. Girotti, as his cousin Orfeo, has seized Carey's throne and would also like to seize his wife Rodann. While she does everything she can to stave off Girotti, Carey and his men face countless hazards and hardships, both on the open sea and on practically any land they touch. They are battered with wind, rain and high waves, endure thirst and starvation, get caught up in an island of witches and also engage a deadly Cyclops in battle before finally reaching the fleece. Even then, their troubles aren't over since Girotti has taken over and now doesn't even want them to come back! Carey does an okay job as Jason, being one of the few stars of the genre who actually had some acting experience before finding himself in a tunic. Girotti is an appropriately menacing and slimy figure. Rodann is close to Carey's age, but for one reason or another looks like she could be his mother! Carey's crewmen comprise one of the all-time whiniest and most pitiful band of sailors, continuously griping or moaning about one thing or another. The budget for this film isn't bad at all, with several striking scenes. There's also a heavy ladle of camp, never more so than when an enchantress takes Carey on a hysterical "ferry" ride from one side of her living quarters to the other in a ludicrous little motorized water cab! Girotti also tosses off a line that's something like, "My love for her rages inside me like an open furnace". The most agonizing thing about the film is a positively endless sequence portraying Carey's climb up the side of a mountain to get the fleece. He inadvertently finds a shortcut, but then has to scale a gigantic statue! (Even then he seems to take the long way up to the fleece's location!) Also rather trying are the blatherings of the character Orpheus, who takes a wound to what appears to be the pubic area and then rattles on and on even then. The continuity in the editing is unusual, perhaps even incorrect. At the film's start, reference is made to the Argo having been gone a year, yet when the Argo is shown, they still seem to be in the earliest stages of the voyage! Still, the film manages to be entertaining, especially to those who like armor and toga-style movies.
Review of The Giants of Thessaly
