When these myths weren’t being adapted directly, they influenced numerous other movie stories and symbols. Not for nothing is the Greek messenger of the sea, Triton, the Little Mermaid’s father in the Disney version. Nor is it a surprise that “My Fair Lady” was based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” which was inspired by the Greek myth. (Look that myth up — it’s nasty!)
Tales of Odysseus, Perseus, Orpheus, Hercules, and others entertained generations of moviegoers. So, I’m devoting this notebook to some of those films. Though I won’t see “The Odyssey” until Monday, I’ll hedge my bets that Nolan and your Boston buddy Matt Damon are taking a solemn, somber look at Odysseus’s quest.
I, on the other hand, am going in a completely different direction. Get ready for a lighthearted take on cinematic Greek myths featuring Schwarzenegger, skeletons, and singing men of constant sorrow.
Since you’re probably expecting me to, I’ll mention Brad Pitt as Achilles in “Troy.” Let’s not speak of Wolfgang Peterson’s epic slog again. It’s enough to make “The Iliad” author Homer say “D’oh!”
My introduction to Greek mythology came from two H’s: High school and Harryhausen. Ray Harryhausen was the stop-motion animation genius whose work enthralled both my parents’ generation and mine. I experienced this multi-generational enjoyment firsthand when my folks took me to the Hudson Mall Twin to see Harryhausen’s last F/X job, “Clash of the Titans.” The film celebrates its 45th anniversary this year.
Truth be told, I was far more interested in the other movie that was playing at the Hudson Mall, Mel Brooks’s “History of the World: Part I,” which also opened the weekend of June 12, 1981. There was no way in hell my mother would have taken me to see Mel’s R-rated movie, so I was stuck with Zeus and the other PG-rated gods on Mount Olympus.
At least I got a little nudity, a gnarly beheading, and a lot of exposition about who’s doing what to whom in ancient Greece. It’s a grand soap opera wrapped in togas. A pre-“L.A. Law” Harry Hamlin stars as the frequently shirtless Perseus, one of many sons Zeus had with a mortal woman. Screenwriter Beverley Cross details Perseus’s adventures with sea monsters, flying horses, and Medusa, the snake-haired queen who throws the deadliest shade this side of Argos.
American actors Hamlin and Burgess Meredith are outmanned by a sea of British performers: Maggie Smith plays Thetis, Claire Bloom is Hera, and a silver-wigged Lord Laurence Olivier chews his usual scenery as Zeus. Hampshire native Judi Bowker is feisty fun as Perseus’s cursed love interest, Andromeda.
With all those British accents, it’s no wonder social media went bonkers over the American accents in Nolan’s movie. This movie probably convinced them that the Greeks sounded like veterans of the Old Vic.
No matter! Not even a game Dame Maggie in full “Downton Abbey” snark mode could compete with Harryhausen’s creations. His team brought life to Medusa, gigantic scorpions, Pegasus, and (most controversially) a clumsy robotic owl named Bubo who existed in the wrong millennium. Harryhausen also released the Kraken decades before it came for Captain Jack Sparrow in those “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that “Clash of the Titans” made money at the box office, not an easy feat when you consider it opened the same day as “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Nearly two decades earlier, Harryhausen created his most impressive Greek mythology set piece, a battle between men and a skeletal army. “Jason and the Argonauts” told the story of Jason’s quest for The Golden Fleece. Those angry skeletons scared the hell out of me as a kid, giving me an irrational fear of skeletons that I have to this day. That sequence is more impressive than most of the CGI stuff I see nowadays.
Another of Zeus’s kids, Hercules, had many cinematic incarnations. Back in 1970, a then-Mr. Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger made his debut in “Hercules in New York.” He was billed as “Arnold Strong” in the credits. He was also dubbed by another actor. The movie’s plot has nothing to do with any stories from ancient Greece, and the overall product is very, very bad.
Also very, very bad is 2014’s “Hercules” with Dwayne Johnson as the eponymous hero. We’ve got some Brits in this one, too, most notably John Hurt and Ian McShane. McShane is the only thing worth watching here, and the story is based more on a comic book series than Greek mythology. We do get the Nemean lion, however, as well as the inclusion of Hera’s horrific revenge on Hercules’s family.
Disney fared far better with 1997’s “Hercules,” an amusing animated feature poking fun at celebrity and the studio’s capitalistic greed. James Woods played Hades as if he were a Hollywood agent, and Hercules was the Michael Jordan of ancient Greece. He even got his own version of Air Jordans. Herc’s story was occasionally interrupted by a Greek chorus of muses who belted the hell out of the gospel-inflected score by Alan Menken and David Zippel. Those ladies are played by a bevy of Broadway vets, including LaChanze and Lilias White.
Speaking of muses, Olivia Newton-John played Terpsichore, the muse goddess of dance, in the 1980s disco disaster, “Xanadu.” I don’t know what she was up to on Mount Olympus, but in this movie, Terpsichore’s goal is to open a roller disco with Gene Kelly. The title song’s opening line, “a place where nobody dared to go,” referred to movie theaters where “Xanadu” was playing; this future cult classic was a major flop when it opened.
I’m hoping that “The Odyssey” is as good as the best version of the myth so far, the Coens’ 2000 road-trip comedy, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Yes, the movie with George Clooney and that great T-Bone Burnett soundtrack album is a take on Odysseus’s tale. Don’t believe me? The Academy nominated the Coens in the category best adapted screenplay. Like the song Clooney lip-syncs in the movie says, I will be a man of constant sorrow if Nolan’s movie shipwrecks itself on the rocks of the Sirens.
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.
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