Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013

Ray Harryhausen was a visual effects creator, producer, and writer. He created his own style of stop-motion visual effects animation called Dynamation. Dynamation's beauty is in it's simplicity. Ray's visual effects style was ahead of it's time. I can attribute Harryhausen and his movies to why I'm such a movie fan today. My dad introduced me to Harryhausen films when I was just a little kid. To this day I compare movie special effects to what Ray was doing 50 years ago. Often after watching movies of today I find myself saying "It's 2013 and you can't make that more realistic? Ray Harryhausen did a better job with less technology over 50 years ago". And it's true.

Some of his most notable movies include:

'Mysterious Island (1961)'
'Jason and the Argonauts (1963)'
'One Million Years B.C. (1966)'
'Clash of the Titans (1981)'

If you have any love for classic cinema, these are must own films.


Start with 'Jason and the Argonauts'. Spend 5 mins watching the famous sword fight between Jason and seven skeleton soldiers and you'll see just how ridiculously talented Harryhausen was. His influence on modern day visual effects creators can not be quantified. Many of today's film makers pay homage to Ray in their movies. Today, Hollywood tries to recreate the success that Ray had by remaking his movies like 'Clash of the Titans'. Its lack of success shows its not easy to do what Ray did when he set the bar so high. Ray Harryhausen will be greatly missed in the industry but his influence will go on forever. Many quotes after Ray's death were made. The most notable quote was from George Lucas saying, "Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars". Nothing more need be said.