Posted on the Facebook page for the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation:
The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.
Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genre's best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.
The first indelible Harryhausen experience I had was seeing the skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonauts on cable as a kid. Harryhausen's work is a fundamental influence on many of my favorite films and filmmakers, and it's why the effects in movies like Jurassic Park look so good, and hold up today. The skeleton fight from Jason:
He had a long life, and thankfully saw an enormous swell of popularity that I think comes in large part from the rise of the internet. When I worked for the Alamo Drafthouse, I tried and failed to get both Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury together to present "the two Rays" with Fantastic Fest Lifetime Achievement Awards. Neither was well enough to travel, and now they're both gone. I wish that I had the ability, venue, and audience to throw a weekend-long, all-Harryhausen festival.
The only way I can crystalize how much Harryhausen's work meant to me is by saying that his version of movie magic helped my dreams grow, and my imagination follow suit.
Below, I've put together how to seek out his some of his best-known movies on disc and streaming, with trailers where I could find them. To my wife's chagrin, I may be spending the Amazon store credit I have on further filling out my Harryhausen shelf.
The Valley of Gwangi
The Valley of Gwangi
I'm particularly partial to this "cowboys and dinosaurs" movie that people don't know as well as the others listed above. If you've never seen it, you can sign up for the trial of Warner Archive Instant and watch it on your TV via Roku or in a browser window. I bought the DVD the moment it was available from them. I would kill for a Blu-ray, but those cost a ton of money to make. The DVD looks great, and the HD stream on WAI is gorgeous.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
It Came from Beneath the Sea
20 Million Miles to Earth
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers
One Million Years B.C.
7th Voyage of Sinbad
All of these are part of a really solid box set that Sony put out in 2010. They're all piled high with extras, which are all quite thorough. The transfers are all great, too. I'm heading over to Fry's to see if they still have copies of the 2010 Sony box that include the figurine of Ymir.
Jason and the Argonauts
Jason and the Argonauts
Sony's Blu-ray looks as good as I think this movie can look (the above grab is from the disc), and it includes dual commentaries, one with Harryhausen himself plus historian Tony Dalton, and the other with Peter Jackson and effects guru Randy Cook. There are interviews and other solid featurettes included as well, and it's rare you find the Blu-ray for more than around $15.
Mysterious Island
Mysterious Island
Unfortunately, the only time this was on Blu-ray was by way of Twilight Time, whose releases are limited to 3000. You can find it second-hand for nearly $100 on the secondary market, but I would never recommend you go for that. You can buy it digitally from iTunes in HD for $15.
Clash of the Titans
Clash of the Titans
A grainy, but cleaned-up transfer is worth the sub-$10 price you generally find for the Blu-ray that WB put out just in advance of the awful remake coming out. An added bonus to ordering from Amazon: you can watch the movie for free via Amazon Instant Video once you've ordered the Blu-ray.