Jason and the Argonauts (1963 Dir. Don Chaffey Animation by Ray Harryhausen)

Perhaps the most iconic display of Skeleton Warriors on film is 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts. Director Don Chaffey and stop motion animation wizard Ray Harryhausen deliver an exciting climax to what is for the time a special effects tour de force. The Argonauts are basically Greek mythology’s equivalent of The Avengers. Up to this point they’ve defeated bronze colossi, teamed up with gods, killed a hydra, and even managed to defeat harpies (not those kind of harpies, you can never defeat those, only keep them at bay with ointment). This is the 1963 equivalent to the Avengers fighting a horde of aliens on a grassy savannah with much less money, time, and manpower. Harryhausen took four months to construct and animate the sequence featuring seven skeletons which only lasts about 3 minutes of screen time. In previous films Harryhausen developed a technique called “Dynamation (include hyperlink to )” Allowing actual filmed footage to interact with his animated sequences creating a near-seamless, dynamic interplay between live action actors and miniatures.