To be honest, if you want to read a better written tribute to the great special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen, who died today aged 92, you’ll probably be better off checking out my review of the documentary Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan, because I am personally rather shaken by the fact that one of my cinema heroes has passed away. The guy hadn’t actually made a film since 1982, but he always seemed around, constantly giving interviews [and me constantly watching his movies], and it seemed he would live forever [just like his films will]. Yes, he understandably looked and sounded a little frail of late, but whenever talking about his art, his eyes would light UP and the sheer warmth of his personality [I have read and watched more about Ray than is probably healthy, and I have never read or heard a bad word about him] would take over, as if were some kindly Greek god, once a creator of life and a worker of miracles, whose time, like Zeus and Poseidon, may have passed if you go by things like dates and ‘fads’, and even that dreadful word ‘progress’, but whose achievements truly are immortal.
Ray fed the dreams of my youth, a kid not so much interested in the present or the future [yeah, I ‘dug’ Star Wars like everyone else, but something was missing] as in the magic of the past, a past whose myths and legends, in my opinon, tell us more about old cultures than recorded historical ‘fact’. As I got older, certain obsessions, from Godzilla to Dracula, went out of fashionf for certain periods, but never Ray’s films. I saw Clash Of The Titans at the cinema four times, a record for me. Perhaps a bit of me inside had an inkling it would be his last film. I personally think it is very sad that Ray felt that his type of film was going out of fashion, and on that point I respectfully disagree with him. He was deeply hurt by the many awful reviews that Clash Of The Titans received, despite it being a commercial success in 1982 [the early 80’s really were the best time for family movies weren’t they?], and despite the fact that many films which are loved by the film-going public are savaged by critics who prefer to bury not to praise, to semi-quote Charles Dickens.
Ray has been, in a way, present in countless films since 1982 – his influence can be seen all over the place and truly cannot be understated, and yet perhaps paradoxically his absence has been sorely felt. Even if you actually like the remake of Clash Of The Titans [and I will admit that I rather enjoyed the sequel, and also admit that such films do in some way continue the tradition of family fantasy entertainment, of which Ray played a huge part, to take you away from mundane reality and thrill and inspire], there is no way, in my opinion, that its CG creatures have any of the awe of his animated models. They may look more ‘real’ [though I debate that too], but cinema is an artifice anyway, everything is fake, while in most CGI there’s no feeling, no personality, in what we see. In all of his creatures, from the Ymir to Talos to Medusa, you see Ray’s personality, and that, I think, sums up more than anything the genius of the man who spent years of his life slaving away alone in his workshop, usually taking about three months to create just five minutes of cinema magic which will thrill kids of all ages forever.
Thankyou Ray, for the pleasure your movies have brought to my life, and will continue to do so, until my ‘time’ also comes.
And look out for reviews of his masterpieces Clash Of The Titans and Jason And The Argonauts in the next couple of months!
I don’t know if these are Ray’s top five scenes, but they’re the first I think of.
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