Ulysses vs. Jason & The Argonauts

Recently I watched the 1594 Kirk Douglas film, “Ulysses”, which is about the famous Greek hero of the Trojan War.   Thankfully it was shorter than “Spartacus” and easier to tolerate.

Basic story.   A long time ago, Greece and Troy were at war.   Troy was a big city in what is now called Turkey, in the far northwest corner, now known as Hisarlik, close to Canakkale.  It had HUGE walls (huge, I tell you, no one has bigger walls, they were fabulous – we totally got Mexico to pay for them) which the Greeks couldn’t deal with.  So our good friend Ulysses (also known as Odysseus) came up with the brilliant idea of leaving a huge wooden horse behind as a “whatever, we lost” gift.   Like idiots, the Trojans opened their gates, pulled in the horse, and at night the Greek soldiers hidden inside got out, opened the city walls, and let their comrades in to sack and destroy the city.  Game over for Troy.

However, in doing so, Ulysses pissed off Poseidon, aka Neptune, the god of the sea, and so he had a bit of trouble getting home to Ithaca (an island off the west coast of Greece), to his wife Penelope and his now-grown son Telemachus.  His major problems were (A) cyclops (one-eyed giant) who trapped him and his crew in a cave, (B) Sirens who sing, and (C) the sorceress Circe, who turned his crew into pigs.   Ulysses was able to overcome all of these, though it took him 10  years – on top of the 10 years the Trojan War lasted – to finally get home.  His wife was VERY patient.

Finally at home, he had to rescue his wife from a crew of horny suitors trying to replace him.  He did so firing an arrow through a row of axeheads.   Happy ever after.  Aside from Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn is in here as the most arrogant and capable competing suitor. 

Ulysses is not to be confused with another famous Greek mythological hero, Jason, as in “Jason & the Golden Fleece” and the Ray Harryhausen film, “Jason & the Argonauts”.  This stop-action animation film from 1963 is cited by Tom Hanks as his favorite film. 

Jason was a Greek hero who had a ship called the Argo, staffed by his crew of Argonauts.  His goal was to get a Golden Fleece (golden sheep skin) guarded by the Hydra (multi-headed dragon).  Jason also (A) fights huge golem Talon, (B) rescues blind dude harassed by harpies, (C) gets through the crashing rocks, (D) fights skeleton warriors raised from dragon teeth, and (E) hooks up with sorceress Medea.   It seems there was a cyclops in this film too.

Both had a quest, made more difficult by monsters and magic, and both aided and opposed by the gods and goddesses.  The Jason movie had far more special effects, thanks to Harryhausen, though there was plenty of magic in “Ulysses”.  Oddly, the same actress, Silvana Mangano, played both Penelope and Circe.  Both are worth watching and enjoying, particularly if you’re a fan of Greek mythology.