Clash of the Titans

The 1981 American-British fantasy adventure film directed by Desmond Davis and written by Beverley Cross is based on the ancient Greek myth of Perseus. The protagonist, Perseus (Harry Hamlin), son of the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier), is cast into the sea with his mother Danaë (Vida Taylor) and lands on the island of Seriphos, where he grows up unaware of his divine heritage. The sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), seeking revenge for her son Calibos (Neil McCarthy), whom Zeus transformed into a hideous creature for his misdeeds, transports Perseus to the city of Joppa. There, he learns that Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) is under a curse and can only marry the man who solves a riddle devised by Calibos. With gifts from the gods—a helmet of invisibility from Athena, a sword from Aphrodite, and a shield from Hera—Perseus captures the winged horse Pegasus and embarks on a quest to find the answer. After defeating Calibos and solving the riddle, he wins the right to marry Andromeda. However, during the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia (Siân Phillips) compares her daughter's beauty to that of Thetis, inciting the goddess's wrath. Thetis demands that Andromeda be sacrificed to the sea monster Kraken. To save his beloved, Perseus sets out to obtain the head of Medusa the Gorgon, whose gaze can turn any creature to stone. Overcoming numerous challenges, including battles with Medusa and Calibos, Perseus returns and uses Medusa's head to petrify the Kraken, rescuing Andromeda and the city. The film features the final work of stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen, whose visual effects lend the movie a distinctive atmosphere reminiscent of ancient Greek epics.