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As Wrath of the Titans is released in cinemashere are some of the the greatest movies based on greek mythology, in historic order:

Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus (1959), which won an Oscar for best foreign film, transports the Orpheus and Eurydice tale to a favela in modern day Brazil. In myth Orpheus is a brilliant musician whose love - Eurydice - is killed by a serpent on their wedding day and is taken to the underworld. Orpheus journeys to bring her back from the jaws of death by charming the lord of the underworld with his son

Widely considered to be animator Ray Harryhausen's masterwork, Jason and the Argonauts (1963) tells of Jason and his quest for the golden fleece. One of the most impressive stop animation sequences in the film was a fight between three actors and seven skeletons which took four months to complete

My Fair Lady (1964), was an adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, which in turn was based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. It is based on the story of Pygmalion, a mythical sculptor from Cyprus, who falls in love with a statue he creates.

Starring Orson Wells and Christopher Plummer, Oedipus the King (1968) is an adaptation of the Greek play by Sophocles about a man who is destined to kill his father and marry his mother

Ulysses (1967) was based on James Joyce's modernist novel about an ordinary day in Dublin in the life of Leopold Bloom. In his novel Joyce draws paralells with the myth of Ulysses - the Greek name for Odysseus - who was a king of Ithaca and hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.

Katherine Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave starred in The Trojan Women (1971), an adaptation of Euripedes' Greek play. It follows Hecuba - the Queen of the Trojans and mother of Hector - and Andromach - widow of Hector - who must pull their kingdom and lives back together after the Trojan wars and protect Hector's son Astyanax after King Agamemnon decrees he must be killed.

Lars Von Trier's Medea (1988) is the grimly fatalistic retelling of the Greek tragedy from Euripides about the sun god Helios’ granddaughter who takes revenge on her husband by killing her children.

“Achilles only had an Achilles heel, I have an entire Achilles body”. Mighty Aphrodite (1995) is Woody Allen’s comic re- imagining of the Greek goddess of love (who had many lovers) as a modern-day prostitute whose son is a genius

Disney’s animator described Hercules (1997) as “just a naive kid trapped in a big body”. He was re-born as a Jonny Bravo-esque heartthrob, vain but good natured, in this inventively-designed musical animation about the flawed hero, which was not considered a box-office success, but the critics loved it.

Giant scorpions, a two-headed giant dog, and the deadly Medusa herself… In Ray Harryhausen’s last film, the mind-blowing special effects made this original pre-CGI retelling of Perseus’ adventures The Clash of the Titans (1981) an epic visual feast

Steeped in bluesy roots, dusty southern landscapes and weighed down by chains, the Coen brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) is a modern satirical retelling of Homer’s Odyssey.

With the gods and warriors played by some of Hollywood’s leading stars of the time, including Sean Bean and Brad Pitt, Troy (2004) was the Iliad on steroids. It was one of the most expensive films in modern cinema - and looked i

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Interesting discussion Richard. Let's see what media mogul, celebrated director and former silver screen legend STEVE MELLOW has to say about this wonderful topic.

And many, many more...  I love the Greek/Roman stories and Shakespeare.  After that- almost everything seems watered down... heh.

The best movie without a doubt - American Pie!  Oops, sorry. I thought you said geek movies.

 

I remember watching classics like Jason and the Argonaughts. Yhe 1981 Class of the Titans was so brilliant; good story and lots of fun animation. The recent one sucked.

 

The Simpsons were dotted with many references to the Greek Classics. I guess it was aesy given "Homer's" name.

 

In the Rocky Horror Picture Show, when Rocky is brought to life, he sings "The Sword Of Demecles" (spelling?)

My favorite Greek movies. Ulysses Gaze with Harvey Keitel and Landscape in the Mist. Directed by Theo Angelopouslos who died in 2012
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