Mourning a genius

I don’t go to movies much anymore, and that’s a shame. I still watch a lot of movies; I just don’t “go” to them. As my brother, who teaches film, would tell you, if you’ve only seen a movie on your TV screen, you haven’t seen the movie. Movies are designed to be seen in a large, dark room with lots of strangers, on a huge screen, far bigger than even the largest HD TV. Watching it at home is a serious compromise at best.

I agree with him, and there are a few films that I make a real effort to see in the theatre. Avatar was one. The Lord of the Rings trilogy constitutes three more. I wish I had seen Life of Pi in a theatre. I wrote not long ago about the absolute thrill of watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen for the first time in maybe 40 years.

Another thrill I remember is watching Coney Island being destroyed by the eponymous monster of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. I’m not sure I saw it in its first release (1952) but I know I saw it in a movie theatre at some point, and of course I watched it on late night TV several times. It was the best monster movie ever and created in me a lifelong love of the genre.

A film I definitely saw on its first release in the movie theatres was 1958’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. There were monsters in this one too, and sailors and sea battles and heroes fighting their way to victory. I was enthralled.

Both these films, as well as Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, One Million Years B. C. and The Clash of the Titans (among others), had special effects by the great Ray Harryhausen, who died yesterday at the age of 92.

He added tremendously to my love of movies over the years, and though he may not be a household name to most Americans, anyone who loved film knew and admired his work. Yesterday’s piece in the New York Times quoted Tom Hanks saying at the 1992 Academy Awards that "the greatest movie of all time was not Citizen Kane or Casablanca but Jason and the Argonauts." Directors of famous special-effects laden movies from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Peter Jackson all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Harryhausen.

As do I. He will be missed.