Sergio Leone Web Board
Films of Sergio Leone => The Colossus of Rhodes => Topic started by: cigar joe on July 30, 2007, 05:15:24 PM
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I guess we can start with the definite sub genres to the peplums/Sword & Sandal films:
Egypt
Greek Mythology
Greek vs Persians
Hercules
Machiste
Roman Empire
Rome vs Christians
Rome vs Barbarians
Biblical
Arabian
any others?
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Here are some off the top of my head and some new sub genres.
Egypt - Land of the Pharohs
Valley of the Kings
Greek Mythology - Clash of the Titans
Jason & The Argonaughts
Greek vs Persians - The 300
Miscellaneous Ancient History - Colossus of Rhodes
Hercules - Hercules
Machiste
Roman Empire - Gladiator
Spartacus
Last Days of Pompeii
Cleopatra
Rome vs Christians - The Robe
Ben Hur
Barabus
Androcles & The Lion
Rome vs Barbarians - Quo Vadis
Biblical - The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Bible
Arabian - Ali Baba & The 40 thieves
Aladin
Sinbad the Sailor
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad
Barbarian - Conan
Viking - The Vikings
Arthurian - King Sthur & the Knights of the Round Table
Excaliber
Here is a link to lists I'll check them out too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_sandal
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Biblical.....The Ten Commandments, King Of Kings, The Last Temptation Of Christ
Rome.....Julius Caesar
Greek.....Ulysses
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Its funny but I used to got to quite a lot of films as a kid, I don't remember that many Westerns but I sure remember the peplum craze at the end of the 50's early 60's. I think I saw more of them along with Japanese Monster flicks than Westerns.
Off the top of my head the Westerns I remember saw in the theaters pre Leone were:
How The West Was One
The Hallaluia Trail
The Alamo
Nevada Smith
and maybe one or two more
I saw many more of them on TV
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:) If you had been five years or so older going in early fifties to mid fifties it would of been quite a difference. Amazing how those few years factor in. I didn't see too many westerns in the theater. I saw Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid in a second or third run theater when I was very young. It was few years after it had been released. Actually may of been around the time The Sting was out. I guess Jeremiah Johnson. I saw OUATITW in the early 80's at a university student theater. I remember the peplums mostly from television. They were quite popular for a long time.
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Yea it doesn't take much does it.
I think I saw "Shenandoah" with James Stewart in a theater and "The Great Locomotive Chase" possibly also
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Rome: Quo Vadis
I remember a ton of Machiste & Hercules flicks on TV too, I'd watch anything back then. ;)
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Saturday afternoons and late night NY channels 9 & 13 had a lot of the Machiste flicks and also the various low budget Hercules & Samson films.
They were auwful but entertaining. One title of there that I do remember was something like "Hercules Vists the Underworld."
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and "The Great Locomotive Chase" possibly also
I like that movie.
Very interesting flick about a little known Civil War espionage campaign.
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that film should have big budget remake or better yet something based on a similar story.
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Actually, a list of the best Sword and Sandals, would be a lot shorter then the one we have, even Colossus of Rhodes isn't that great :-[. It just feels strung together, unlike his SW years. It probably wasn't even his fault. Sort of sad for me to say as a Leone fan. Spartacus, I think, is a true masterpiece.
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that film should have big budget remake or better yet something based on a similar story.
That wouldn't be a bad idea...
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I forgot one
Demitrious & The Gladiators sequil to "The Robe".
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CJ, here's a piece I did here a while back on these movies. I have close to a hundred of these in my collection. A lot of them are so-bad-they're-good, but there's also a lot of them that are quite well done such as THE TROJAN HORSE and SANDOKAN, THE GREAT, a peplum pirate flick starring Steve Reeves (the sequel, SANDOKAN, THE PIRATE OF MALAYSIA is even better) among others. The Maciste movies were always retitled here because the distributors figured Americans wouldn't recognize who Maciste was since he was strictly an Italian hero. However, in ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS (a MACISTE movie in its original title) starring Gordon Mitchell and Chelo Alonso, the dubbing refers to Mitchell's character as Maciste and not Atlas. Roger Moore even starred in one of these believe it or not. Dan Vadis, an actor I'm sure you're familiar with, did a number of these films before working with Eastwood. Also, one of Corbucci's first movies was a fusto flick entitled GOLIATH VS THE VAMPIRES aka MACISTE AGAINST THE VAMPIRES.
http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=5590.0
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thanks, there used to be a lot of the Machiste flick on TV in the late 50's in NYC on WPIX & WOR.
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I'm watching one now BTW, a real howler entitled FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES real name MACISTE AGAINST THE MONSTERS. The only snow bound fusto movie to take place during the ice age that I know of.
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I was watching the new widescreen release of HERCULES & THE CAPTIVE WOMEN aka ERCOLE ALLA CONQUISTA DI ATLANTIDE and Gian Maria Volonte is in this movie. Hadn't seen this since I was a kid but he plays a king here. Have only just looked over the DVD so I'm not sure the extent of his involvement.
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How about it any body see any of these 50's-60's Peplums lately, they are pretty scarce except for some Sinbads recently on TCM?
AC, since you are the resident expert, which would be the most polished of the lot, especially the ones dealing with Greek Mythology, the top tier, I remember your "Good Bad & Epic" topic but it was pretty all encompassing ranging from the Ice Age to Pirates.
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Hi, Joe. I have this article here which I wrote back in late 2009. It's 26 of what I consider the best of the genre. Best as in good films and 'best' as in good, solid fun of the popcorn and coke variety. There's also highlighted links to full on reviews of a bunch of the movies. There's a few others I've seen since such as WARRIOR & THE SLAVE GIRL and THE REVENGE OF SPARTACUS I'd add. There's 32 S&S reviews posted there so far as well.
http://www.coolasscinema.com/2009/12/26-best-sword-sandal-adventures.html
But if you don't feel like perusing the article, these here I'd say were really good movies...
HERCULES 1957
HERCULES UNCHAINED 1958 (better than the first, I'd say)
HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD 1961 (Bava movie also with Christopher Lee)
HERCULES & THE CONQUEST OF ATLANTIS 1961 aka HERCULES & THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (look for a brief role by Gian Maria Volonte)
THE FURY OF ACHILLES 1962 (Gordon Mitchell is on fire here; big budget epic from Castellari's dad)
THE TROJAN HORSE 1961 (Steve Reeves big budget epic. Arturo Dominici plays Achilles here. Lots of familiar faces)
THE GIANT OF MARATHON 1959
ROMULUS & REMUS 1961 (Huge classic with both Reeves and Scott; Leone was a writer here)
THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII 1959 (Reeves again. Apparently Sergio Leone directed a lot of this movie)
GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS 1959 (no mythological stuff, but Reeves in a great adventure and Chelo Alonso is super hot; the violence level is unusually high here)
MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS 1960 (Mark Forest in early role with some shocking violence, brief nudity and arguably Alonso's hottest dance number)
MACISTE AGAINST THE VAMPIRE 1961 (Gordon Scott's first movie. Did all his own stunts and did some incredibly dangerous things during his career. He's the best actor of the bunch in my opinion. This is a fun 'Saturday Matinee' type movie)
GOLIATH & THE GIANTS 1961 (Fernando Sancho co-stars without his 'stache. Lots of monsters and absolutely gorgeous cinematography. Not serious at all, but tons of fun.
MACISTE, THE WORLD'S GREATEST HERO 1963 (Big budget spectacle has Giuliano Gemma in a major role. One of the best and a lot of fun)
Here's a link to the section where you can read all the reviews from most recent on down. Many of the ones here are from gorgeous widescreen Italian and Spanish DVDs. Most without English options, sadly.
http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Sword%20and%20Sandal
Recently, a widescreen version of MACISTE AGAINST THE BARBARIANS 1964 has been airing on cable TV/satellite a lot.
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Thanks I'll check them out if they are on Netflix O0