Italian Peplum & Fusto Movies: The Good, the Bad & the Epic

[Arizona Colt]

HERCULES & THE BLACK PIRATE 1964 aka SANSONE CONTRO IL CORSARO NERO aka SAMSON AGAINST THE BLACK PIRATE

Alan Steel(Hercules/Samson), Rosalba Neri(Rosita), Andrea Aureli(The Black Pirate), Piero Lulli (Don Rodrigo), Nello Pazzafini

After defeating the Black Pirate and his men in a sea battle, Hercules falls in love with Rosita, the daughter of Don Alonzo. He disapproves of the son of a fisherman marrying the daughter of nobility and Hercules leaves the castle to return to his home village. Don Rodrigo secretly plots the death of Don Alonzo to usurp his power as ruler of Valencia and to also win the hand of his wife, a former lover of his before she married into royalty. Rodrigo sides with the Black Pirate to fulfill his plan. Eventually, Hercules must once again do battle with the malicious pirate as well as duel with the conniving Don Rodrigo to save the King, Rosita and his kidnapped daughter, Alma.

One of a handful of hybrid peplum movies this one very similar to the slightly better HERCULES & THE MASKED RIDER (1961/64) and even borrowing much of that films score. Ciani played second fiddle to Mimmo Palmari in that movie and considering when it was made, Ciani hadn't become a proven commodity in the genre. Like that film, there is an even stronger THREE MUSKETEERS vibe going on this time with some sea battles and decent sword fights. Though it's nothing spectacular, HERCULES & THE BLACK PIRATE is a decent timewaster but will more than likely be soon forgotten after you've watched it.

Steel (Sergio Ciani) is obviously suited to these roles but he never emotes when the scene calls for some strong reaction unless it involves fisticuffs. He was apparently popular as he continued to get roles for a number of years in movies that didn't require throwing logs or big rocks around. Other movies with Ciani are SAMSON & THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963), THE REBEL GLADIATORS (1963), HERCULES AGAINST ROME (1964), the popular cult film HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964), the terrible SAMSON & HIS MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964), SLAUGHTER ON THE KHYBER PASS (1970) and FAST HAND IS STILL MY NAME (1972).

Neri is as sensual as ever as Rosita. Like most all beautiful women in these movies, she isn't given much to do but dote after the hero. Women in these movies were either damsels in distress or were wicked villainess's plotting the downfall of the hero's. Neri can also be seen in KINDAR THE INVULNERABLE (1964), HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1963), ARIZONA COLT (1966), DAYS OF VIOLENCE (1967) and in far more revealing roles like THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT (1973) and SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1973).

Lulli is again excellent as the cunning bad guy Don Rodrigo. While I prefer Arturo Dominici from the earlier, similar movie, Lulli suffices and would make a career out of playing despicable villains most especially in spaghetti westerns like the SARTANA series and THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO (1969) among many others. Lulli did get to play a hero in the Dan Vadis fusto movie THE TRIUMPH OF HERCULES (1964).

Frequent peplum and Euroater actor Nello Pazzafini is a bit jarring here with his black face role. Not sure if he's supposed to portray an Indian or someone with a dark, dark suntan.

Future Euro cinema heavy Giovanni Cianfriglia has a brief duel with Ciani upon his return to Alonzo's castle after the opening defeat of the Black Pirate. This fight is actually better than the one at the climax of HERCULES THE AVENGER (1965) between Cianfriglia and Reg Park.

The set design is passable and the budget allows for a castle set as well as a couple of ships. The action scenes aren't stupendous but do showcase some fair fisticuffs that are a bit better than the sword duels. Some of the stunts are good and Hercules (Samson in the Italian version) gets to take part in some superhuman displays of strength despite the Elizabethan time period in which the film is set. Not as fun as HERCULES & THE MASKED RIDER (1961/64) it's a decent diversion if you've nothing better to watch.

[Arizona Colt]

COLOSSUS & THE HEADHUNTERS 1963 aka MACISTE CONTRO I CACCIATORI DI TESTE aka THE FURY OF THE HEADHUNTERS

Kirk Morris (Maciste), Demeter Bitenc (Ariel), Laura Brown (Queen Amoa), Ines Holder (Asmin), Frank Leroy (Kermes), Nello Pazzafini (Guna)

Directed by Guido Malatesta

Taking refuge on an island, Maciste and a group of survivors find the remnants of the Urias tribe whose city was demolished by an enemy tribe of vicious headhunters. After the Urias are attacked again, Maciste and Ariel travel to the ruined city of gold taken from the Urias to locate the captured King Olibana. Blinded by the traitorous Kermes, King Olibana is forced to give his daughter to him. Maciste must put an end to the savage headhunters and free the Urias as well as Queen Amoa.

The film begins with an island about to explode from a raging volcano. This is stock footage from FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (1962) also directed by Malatesta. The scenes of people dressed in cave man attire are at odds with the subsequent shots of the toga dressed participants. Not a good sign to start your movie with stock footage from a lower tier fusto movie (you even see a shot of Reg Lewis carrying Margaret Lee away in his arms!), things don't improve much from here. Not long after arriving on the island, Maciste gets put down by an arrow while the villains take his friends hostage. Maciste then finds out that this tribe of people are not the villains after all. Instead, a group of headhunters are the real brutes of the story and they deliver on the moniker, too. Their camp is riddled with heads on large poles and frequently chop off the noggins of their captives.

Morris doesn't really do much here as Maciste. He pops in from time to time to show off the requisite strong man skills inherent in these films and saves most of his superstrength deeds for the finale. The movie is already a brisk 77 minutes long. No one is particularly memorable here but the film goes by fairly fast and the action scenes are pretty decent for the most part. The island setting offers a nice change of scenery from the usual coliseum's and marble pillars. Morris was apparently popular back then as he did a fair number of these movies including HERCULES, SAMSON & ULYSSES (1963; in which Morris sports a beard), SAMSON & THE SEA BEAST (1963; where he battles pirates) and THE CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS (1965). Morris seemed to always be sucking his gut in for whatever reason possibly to poke his chest out more.

Malatesta also directed the above mentioned and better FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (1962) aka MACISTE AGAINST THE MONSTERS and GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS (1961). So far of the films I've seen of his, Malatesta is a fairly mediocre director with some decent films to his credit.

Not one of the best entries in the genre but it is good for a few laughs. One of the funniest scenes takes place during the wedding scene. A dancer (Moana) is brought out to perform and the lady doing the routine looks totally disinterested and probably isn't a real dancer anyways. The violence level is quite high in places with people being shot with arrows in the eye and throat and lead henchman Pazzafini putting one poor fellow into a full nelson before burying his face in a pit of fire.

The picture quality is nice on this Filmax DVD from Spain and it's 2:35 widescreen. The sound for the English track is right loud and clear during the bulk of the film then towards the end, the audio is muffled a bit. The Spanish audio sounds newly created for this release. Forced Spanish subs are below the black bars when the English dub track is selected. The title on the film is the FURY OF THE HEADHUNTERS moniker. For peplum fans or completists only. A casual fan would be disappointed by this one as the violent scenes aren't really enough to recommend it.

[Arizona Colt]

GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS 1961 aka GOLIATH CONTRO I GIGANTI

Brad Harris (Goliath), Gloria Milland (Princess Elea), Fernando Rey (Bokahn), Barbara Carroll (Daiena), Fernando Sancho (Namath), Nello Pazzafini (Jagoran)

Screenwriters: Gianfranco Parolini, Sergio Sollima; AD: Romolo Girolami; 2nd Unit director: Jorg Grau; Music by Carlo Innocenzi

Directed by Guido Malatesta & Gianfranco Parolini

Away fighting in a war for five years, Goliath plans to return to his homeland after learning King Argastese of Beyrath has been dethroned with the evil Bokan taking his place. After rescuing a mysterious and beautiful maiden on the island of Ayallus, Goliath and his crew are attacked by a sea monster. His ship destroyed, they end up on the beaches of Veyrath where more dangers ensue including a motley of giant men whom Goliath banished to the valley of Janafar. On his quest to restore his homeland, Goliath must battle assorted monsters and armies of soldiers to eradicate the treacherous Bokhan.

Original director Malatesta was replaced by Parolini after he lost control of the production. Parolini was able to get the film back on track and the resulting film proved to be a hit both domestically and internationally. While the bulk of the film is of a higher quality than the usual Malatesta movie, the chaotic nature of the film shows that enough of Malatesta's scenes remain in the final product. There are enough monsters and action for several fusto movies combined. The finale seems to never end with the city of Beyrath being liberated then Goliath goes after Jagoran before dueling with the giants of the title when out of nowhere, another dragon shows up(!) Earlier in the film, Goliath's ship is destroyed by a sea monster which in some shots is a real lizard inside a tank of some sort. A rather detailed upper torso of the lizard is also utilized for the action shots with the actors. Aside from the fakeness of the bits using the real lizard, the sequence is well handled. Irregardless of what many reviewers may say, I find the hydraulically controlled monstrosities in Italian muscleman movies to be quite well designed some of the time They're clearly fake, but a lot of care went into their creation and most should remember that this was in Italy in the 1960s. They couldn't match most US productions in the budget department and had to make do with creativity. In addition to two dragons (probably the same creation refurbished to look different), there's also an army of Amazons, a huge ape creature, an attack by some lions and the giants of the title.

Brad Harris is perfect for these kinds of movies and is one of the better actors to play the muscleman roles. He has a ruggedness that gives him an almost comic book appearance that adds another layer to the films of this nature he participated in. He was an American performer who also appeared in SAMSON (1961) and THE FURY OF HERCULES (1962) among his sword & sandal credits.

Fernando Sancho is almost unrecognizable as Namath, the faithful compatriot to Goliath. He is a bit smaller in weight, his hair is curly and he is without his bushy mustache seen in his countless spaghetti westerns. An unusual role to see him in for sure, he exits the picture rather early. It's a shame he didn't make a bit further in the film as he was definitely an unusual presence in a film such as this.

The gorgeous Gloria Milland is a stand out beauty with some very fine curves. Like most all other peplum actresses, she's put into harms way on mulitple occasions allowing several glimpses of her heaving chest bound within tight dresses. She also features in THE REBEL GLADIATORS (1963) starring Dan Vadis and Alan Steel and HERCULES AGAINST THE BARBARIANS (1964) starring Mark Forest.

Fernando Rey brings a classiness to his role as the evil usurper Bokhan. He attacks his role with conviction unlike most actors playing sadistic rulers in these movies. Rey is one of many bright spots found here. Nello Pazzafini rules a number of scenes as Bokhan's main heavy. He's more of a presence here than in a fair number of other peplums he featured in. In this genre, Pazzafini fluctuated from playing good and bad guys.

Again, there are some strong scenes of violence one featuring the villains tossing some men and an old woman from a cliff. We see the body (a dummy obviously but still effective) as it rolls and tumbles bones breaking as it crashes to the craggy bottom below. An arrow delivered to the injured winner of a bloody game of gladiatorial death matches and a vicious sword to a bad guys face round out the brief bits of startling violence not normally seen in the US import versions of the Torch & Toga flicks.

GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS (1961) is a very silly movie. Some of the fights seem almost like rehearsals but there's so much energy and near nonstop action that any shortcomings are easily forgiven. The film delivers lots of popcorn thrills for viewers who simply want to be entertained for 90 minutes. The film was popular enough that it led to bigger things for Parolini but sadly, things didn't work out so well for Malatesta whose resume is made up of lackluster and easily forgettable movies that are fun in their own right, but aren't of the same quality as this picture. It's also obvious a bit of money was lavished on this production. Not quite as big a budget as say GOLIATH & THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963) but more than was usually afforded movies of this type. Also of curious note are the various behind the scenes technicians such as master director Sergio Sollima who had a hand in this films script. Romolo Girolami/Gurierri who became a famous director in his own right and Jorg Grau who helmed the famous Euro horror film THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE round out the most notable and famous of this films behind the scenes participants. The musical score from Innocenzi is noteworthy especially the main theme.

The DVD from Ripley is stunning and really shows off the cinematography in certain scenes. An English subtitled interview with a highly energetic Parolini is included and is a highlight of this disc. GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS (1961) is well worth the purchase and a good time for watching with the kids save for a few strong moments, the various monsters provide a fun distraction for the young as well as the young at heart.

[Arizona Colt]

ROMULUS & REMUS 1961 aka ROMOLO E REMO aka DUEL OF THE TITANS

Steve Reeves (Romulus), Gordon Scott (Remus), Franco Volpi (Amulias), Virna Lisi (Julia), Andrea Bosic (Faustalus), Laura Solari (Rea Silvia), Massimo Girroti (Tasius Nemulias), Jacques Sernas (Cursias), Ornella Vanoni (Tarpea), Piero Lulli (Sulpicius), Giovanni Cianfriglia

Contributing Writers: Sergio Corbucci, Luciano Martino, Sergio Leone, Duccio Tessari; Cinematography by Enzo Barboni; Music by Piero Piccioni

Directed by Sergio Corbucci

Born of a God and a mortal, two babies are abandoned to a river. Nurtured by a wolf, they are later recovered by a sheperd. They grow up to lead a band of thieves in an effort to eliminate two cruel Kings-- Amulias and Nemulias, the King of the Sabines. After 20 years the two twins are briefly reunited with their mother. Before she dies, she tells her sons that they are destined to be the founders of a great city. Having fallen in love with the daughter of Nemulias, Romulus is unaware of his brothers ambitions as Remus steadily succumbs to the temptations of power and greed. King Tasius pursues the brothers and their followers both to retrieve his daughter as well as avenge the destruction of his city of Abalonga. Soon, a rift develops between the two siblings leading to a death duel between both sons of the Gods to determine the true founder of Rome.

A fine directorial effort by spaghetti western master filmmaker Sergio Corbucci. A great number of Italian technicians worked on this picture including Sergio Leone. Both Sergio's careers parallel each other (in Italy anyway). Both Sergio's worked as AD's on THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959) which led to Leone directing THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES (1961) and Corbucci handling ROMULUS & REMUS (1961). Corbucci also had a hand in MACISTE AGAINST THE VAMPIRES (1961; aka GOLIATH & THE VAMPIRES) co-directed with Giacomo Gentilomo. While it's one of the finest sword & sandal movies, ROMULUS & REMUS (1961) bears none of the marks of Corbucci's later career (although the extreme violence inherent in his westerns is foreshadowed here) but the film is directed with great care and a fine script and memorable performances by everyone.

Steve Reeves puts in possibly his best acting gig as the gentle and kind hearted Romulus. Choosing to think his way out of a fight and save those around him as opposed to his brother who cares only for his own personal gain and glory. Reeves doesn't do any superhuman feats but flexes his acting muscle as does Gordon Scott as the supercilious Remus. Corbucci carefully builds these two characters to the breaking point till avarice and sovereignty totally consumes Remus. Even at this point, Romulus doesn't want to fight his brother only when it is obvious that the two must duel does he take up arms against him. In death, Remus realizes his mistake but finds content in the notion that it was destined from the beginning.

Destiny and fate play an important role in this movie. After Remus defies the Gods by crossing the shorter route to the prophesized city of glory, he and his followers must traverse an unstable volcano. Inevitably the volcano erupts splitting the mountain in two sending everyone to their doom save for a badly injured Remus and Tarpea, the woman who loves him. As she prays for the Gods to save him, the Sabines arrive with the intentions of killing both of them. Tarpea gives the information to Tasius as to the location of his daughter. He gives his word to spare them should she speak where Romulus and the others are. When she does, the easily riled Cursias adamantly disapproves of letting them go free. King Tasius responds, "That man has his destiny...as have all of us."

The Sabines are, surprisingly, not the real villains here but Remus who eventually becomes overpowered by his ambitions to rule a city; a city by which he is willing to sacrifice all for his own gain. At the end, the Sabines join forces with Romulus and it is here that Remus appears and attempts to kill his brother to rule what is to become Rome.

Frequent Spaghetti Western villain Piero Lulli plays a rare good guy role and gets more screen time than another heroic peplum role in THE TRIUMPH OF HERCULES (1964). Steve Reeve's stunt double, Giovanni Cianfriglia also plays a small role in the film attempting to have his way with the beautiful Julia until Romulus intervenes and let's his fist explain that the lady isn't interested.

In what is essentially a chase movie in a Roman setting, Corbucci keeps the action moving at a smooth pace perfectly balancing the plot, characterization and the action sequences never allowing the film time to become tiresome. It would be interesting to learn if there were any conflicts on set between both Reeves and Scott but they work well together and both play vastly more interesting personalities than their usual brawny types. I'd definitely rate this as one of Corbucci's best films and worthy of a wider audience.

[Arizona Colt]

THE GIANT OF MARATHON 1959 aka LA BATTAGLIA DI MARATONA

Steve Reeves (Phillipides), Mylene Demongeot (Andromeda), Sergio Fantoni (Theocrates), Daniela Rocca (Karis), Alberto Lupo ( Miltiades), Daniele Varga (Darius), Ivo Garrani (Creusis), Sergio Ciani/Alan Steel (Euros), Mario Adorf (wrestler), Giovanni Cianfriglia (gladiator)

Directed by Jaques Tourner & Mario Bava (uncredited); Cinematography by Mario Bava

During a time of war between the Athenians and the Spartans, the Olympic champion and newly crowned commander of the sacred guard, Phillipides is approached to lead the fight against the invading Persians. Theocrates envisions that if he and Creusis (both members of the Athenian Council) can control the sacred guard, they can rule over Athens. After a chance meeting with Andromeda, the daughter of Creusis, Phillipides instantly falls in love with her. However, she is promised to the ambitious and villainous Theocrates. In an effort to secure dominance of Athens, Theocrates along with the exiled Athenian Hippias, plots to align with the Persian King Darius for the surrender of the Athenians. Realizing his scheme, Phillipides refuses to join the traitors and retires from the sacred guard choosing to become a farmer. When the invasion becomes iminent, Phillipides returns to Athens. To save his people and the woman he loves, Phillipides procures an alliance with their long time enemies, the Spartans to drive out the Persian hordes.

An Italian-French co-production directed by Tourner and distributed by MGM. Although Tourner gets sole credit, Bava finished the film when Tourner became ill. Despite that, the film is a high mark of the sword & sandal genre. One of the biggest peplum productions, the film is notable for some sprawling battle sequences, intricate set design (with numerous composite shots courtesy of Bava's photographic effects) and a good script peppered with some engaging cliffhanger moments.

Steve Reeves lights up the screen as the Olympic champion Phillipides whose deeds (according the opening credits) layed the groundwork for the Olympic games to come. Reeves, looking more lithe than his previous outings, plays his character as a stubborn but love sick individual. He ignores the wiles of a busty seductress whose purpose is to lure him into helping the conniving Theocrates. This love story subplot never proves detrimental to the film but instead enhances it especially during the final 30 minutes which looks to be where the bulk of the budget went.

Andromeda (played by the gorgeous Mylene Demongeot) is kidnapped by Theocrates after neary killing her father. He uses her to bring Phillipides. After securing the help of the Spartans, hope for the survival of Athens seems assured until the Spartans don't show up. Instead, the 100 sacred Athenian guard take on the Persian horde alone. They come with an ingenious plan of placing metal spiked tipped poles into the water held in place by huge rocks. when the Persian ships cross, the stakes pierce the hulls of their ships. But the Persians are not without their own weapons--the flagship has a giant spiked pincher that opens to crush the Athenian vessels in its jaws. It's here where there is some rather shocking scenes of violence. The Athenians jump into the water and the Persians fire arrows and spears at them while submerged. Blades pierce into stomachs, eyes and necks followed by the ejection of blood. The remaining Athenians make their way to shore while the Persian army close in on them. When defeat appears iminent, the Spartans finally show and turn the tide of the battle resulting in the retreat of the Persians.

The striking beauty of French actress Mylene Demongeot is one of the most lovely female stars to appear in these films and also does not appear to be wearing anything under her skimpy attire. Daniela Rocca provides some added femininity with her voluptuous figure but Demongeot has the most appeal. THE GIANT OF MARATHON (1959) has everything that makes (good) sword & sandal movies great matinee entertainment--larger-than-life heroes, feats of strength, beautiful women, insidious villains (sometimes monsters), ornate sets and big action set pieces.

Actor Fantoni is supremely villainous as the traitor Theocrates who pretends to want the greater good for Athens but in reality only wants sole power over the city and will sacrifice anyone to get it. The scene where he repeatedly slaps Karis for her failure and refusal in seducing Phillipides followed by his decree to kill her should she not follow his command is a strong scene and his demise at the end is expertly handled and imaginatively staged as opposed to the usual dispatch of the villains in these movies. Here, Phillipides duels with Theocrates atop the Persian ships mast which also binds Andromeda. Credit to the filmmakers for some damn fine action sequences. However, this film features some painful shots of violence towards horses. ROMULUS & REMUS (1961) had an immense amount of horse falls, but here these bits appear increasingly dangerous.

Future fusto star Sergio Ciani has a small role as the Spartan leader Euros whom had a fight with Phillipides in the past; it's only spoken of and not shown. Early in the picture, Phillipides watches two men beat the hell out of one another, a fight set up for his supposed enjoyment by Karis. Phillipides sees these two men as savages and not wrestlers. The winner tries to stop Phillipides from leaving resulting in the wrestler being bested. The man playing the wrestler looks very much like Mario Adorf although he is not credited but then nor is Ciani. Reeve's stunt double Cianfriglia is seen briefly as a gladiator.

A classy effort from the director of NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957), THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964) and the loose Poe adapted WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP (1965) starring Vincent Price. Ably finished by Italian master of the fantastic Mario Bava (who would get his first major horror film off the ground due to his assist here) and he also contributes some very nice photographic effects to heighten the allure of this films production. A quality peplum all around and must see entertainment for fans of Reeves and the genre in general.

***ADDENDUM***

This new DVD release, The Steve Reeves Collection, from Retromedia is widescreen 2:35:1 anamorphic. The print used has vibrant colors but the English soundtrack is clear but low as far as volume is concerned. It's still preferable over the numerous PD versions of this title currently on DVD from various companies. The music on the menu is very loud so when the film begins you'll need to turn it up a bit. This disc is paired with WAR OF THE TROJANS aka THE LAST GLORY OF TROY aka THE AVENGER, the sequel to Ferroni's THE TROJAN HORSE (1961). This second feature is also widescreen 2:35:1 anamorphic.

[Arizona Colt]

For anyone interested, I wrote a revised version of the article posted on the first page of this thread. This new piece is generously accompanied by a plethora of pics. I still plan to add more to the article soon.

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview

[Arizona Colt]

Watched THE TERROR OF ROME AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES the other night from a very nice print that was shown on TCM late last year. I just finally got around to watching it and it was better than expected. Interesting mixture of historical and fantasy in dealing with the Romans persecution of the Christians. One of the last of the genre and the last time Mark Forest played Maciste...

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Terror%20of%20Rome%20Against%20the%20Son%20of%20Hercules

Other sword & sandal reviews are linked below either six titles together per volume, or separately by title...

Volume 1 (six films)...

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Sword%20and%20Sandal

Volume 2 (six films)...

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Sword%20and%20Sandal%20volume%202

[Arizona Colt]

I refurbished this article splitting it into five parts and added some pics (and redoing some others) and additional bits here and there. Part 4 is all new stuff and there'll be one more final article to add. I was gonna combine parts 4 and 5 but was too tired to do so this morning. Parts 4 and 5 is mainly just putting a pic to a face and speaking briefly about the actor or actress with emphasis being on the women and the supporting players...

Part One

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview%20part%201

Part Two

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview%20part%202

Part Three

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview%20part%203

Part Four

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview%20part%204

[Arizona Colt]

The 5th and final part in the Peplum/Fusto Overview...

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Italian%20Peplum%20and%20Fusto%20Movie%20overview%20part%205

Also, a new review for HERCULES & THE BLACK PIRATE (1964) starring Alan Steel, Piero Lulli, Rosalba Neri and Nello Pazzafini (in black face!)

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Hercules%20and%20the%20Black%20Pirate

[Arizona Colt]

My list of the 26 Best Peplum/Fusto movies.....

http://www.coolasscinema.com/2009/12/26-best-sword-sandal-adventures.html

[stanton]

Only one film by Cottavavi?

Of the ones I have seen his were by far the best directed.

[Arizona Colt]

Only one film by Cottavavi?

Of the ones I have seen his were by far the best directed.

Taken from the sixth paragraph of the article....

The following list (strictly of the Italian sword & sandals) of movies are my own personal 'Best Of' and some entries are far more flippant and far less distinguished than others, but have endearing qualities which make them memorable in their own amusing way.

I can't see how anyone could state Cottafavi's REVENGE OF HERCULES aka GOLIATH & THE DRAGON as being better directed than either THE TROJAN HORSE, THE FURY OF ACHILLES or ROMULUS & REMUS. Not even his HERCULES & THE CAPTIVE WOMEN which is on the list. Both are enjoyable, but REVENGE OF HERCULES is mostly mediocre, IMO. But than that is your opinion as this is mine.

[cigar joe]

Nice article, it will be a great guide, when I used to go the the cinema by my self as a kid these were the typical films that were playing, on double bills on Saturday matinees, also 50's TV had these along with Westerns on the local channels, thanks 

[Arizona Colt]

Nice article, it will be a great guide, when I used to go the the cinema by my self as a kid these were the typical films that were playing, on double bills on Saturday matinees, also 50's TV had these along with Westerns on the local channels, thanks 

Unfortunately, I never got to see them, or most of the movies I enjoy on the big screen. A number of them I did, but the late 70's, early 80's were a different time. My aunt and uncle told me they used to watch the old 'Sons of Hercules' show that was on tv in the 60's.

Having seen nearly all of Gordon Scott's Italian fantasy/adventure movies, I must say he was a terribly underrated talent. He was easily the best of the strongman actors and his performances were very intense and energetic. Doing all or most of his own stunts adds a lot to his character, too. I got a pirate movie he did called THE LION OF ST. MARK which I haven't watched yet.

Oh, and if you're a Jack Palance fan, Joe, you oughta check out THE MONGOLS. I watched that one recently. Palance devours that movie in the lead role. It's kind of slow at 115 minutes, but Palance is great and he dubs his own voice.

[Banjo]

Oh, and if you're a Jack Palance fan, Joe, you oughta check out THE MONGOLS. I watched that one recently. Palance devours that movie in the lead role. It's kind of slow at 115 minutes, but Palance is great and he dubs his own voice.

Damnit that's been shown in the UK every now and again and i've always missed it.Never realised it was Italian.

I'll make sure i catch it next time.