KING OF THE GLADIATOR MOVIES by Dave Goode

After more than 60 years since HERCULES (1957) was released the actor most identified with the role is Steve (no relation to George) Reeves. Remarkably the Mr.America (1947), Mr.World (1948), and Mr.Universe (1950) winner only played the mythical muscleman in two movies HERCULES (1957) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959). Though he would play similar characters in other movies.

One of my favorite non-Hercules Steve Reeves' movies is GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959) about the Lombard invasion of Italy. Reeves plays a character named Emiliano a.k.a Goliath who rages a guerilla war against the invading barbarians after his father is slain. Reeves physique never looked better on screen than it does in this flick. Especially in the scene where he is put through a trial of strength. Also appearing in this flick is sultry Chelo Alonso. If Reeves was the king of sinew & sandal flicks then Alonso was the queen.

Another favorite was THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959) based loosely on
the novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. This one has Reeves playing the Roman legionnaire Glaucus returning home from war. He discovers his father has been murdered and swears vengeance on the killers. Along the way he falls in love with a Christian girl who he will end up defending in the arena.

As I grow older it becomes harder for me to remember what the first Steve Reeves movie I ever saw was. I'm going to go with THE SLAVE a.k.a THE SON OF SPARTACUS (1962). Reeves plays Randus a Roman centurion. This flick is an unofficial sequel to the Stanley Kubrick epic SPARTACUS (1960) that starred Kirk Douglas as the rebel slave leader. Randus upon learning that he is the son of the former gladiator takes up his father's battle against slavery. Interestingly enough Reeves didn't play a super-human hero in any of these films like he did in the Hercules flicks.More of a gladiator hero like the type Richard Harrison would play in later movies in the peplum cycle.

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CLASH OF THE TITANS by Dave Goode

Not to be confused with SAMSON AND HIS MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964) , which it quite often is , HERCULES ,SAMSON AND ULYSSES is a favorite of fans of the sinew & sandal genre. But don't let that title fool you. This is the Hercules and Samson show. Ulysses is little more than a spear carrier in this flick. It's the two legendary strongmen that carry the movie.

KIRK MORRIS

Not  exactly an official sequel to HERCULES (1957) and HERCULES
UNCHAINED (1959). But all three were directed by Pietro Francisi who also had a hand in the writing of the screenplays. And the actors all seem to be playing characters as presented in those two movies with Kirk Morris replacing Steve Reeves as Hercules. But seriously...who can stand in for Steve Reeves?

ILOOSH KHOSHUE

Aside from Morris you have Iloosh Khoshue under the name Richard Lloyd portraying the Biblical hero Samson.

LIANA ORFEI

And there is beautiful Liana Orfei as the seductive Delilah. A veteran of the genre Orfei is perfect as the woman whose name has become synonymous with betrayal. Interestingly enough her cousin, Moira Orfei, would essay the role a year later in SAMSON AND HIS MIGHTY CHALLENGE.

production still from the film

The story has Hercules and Ulysses battling a sea monster. Caught in a storm after killing the beast they are thrown off course and end up in Judea. There Hercules is mistaken by the Philistines for their enemy Samson after he kills a lion with his bare hands. The two strongmen are tricked into battling each other before teaming to fight the common enemy.

The highlight of this flick is the clash between Hercules and Samson as the two heroes throw each other through walls, throw boulders at each other and bend iron bars around each other. For those of us in a pre-CGI world this was as close as we really got to two super-humans duking it out. I still like it more than the clash of the Kryptonians in SUPERMAN II.

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