Reviews & Ratings for
The Barbarians More at IMDbPro »

6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Goofy lunacy clad in sword and sandals, 28 December 2004

Author: ridleyr1 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

First off, I wasn't expecting a lot out of this movie. Sword and sandal flicks aren't known for their high quality. Secondly, it was directed by Rudolph Mate, famous for having helmed the Tony Curtis classics, The Black Shield of Falworth and The Prince Who Was a Thief.

But nothing could have prepared me for the sheer loopiness of this charmer. All the scenes play as if staged for a proscenium, everyone stiffly posed (and posed is right), facing in one direction, twisting their heads to talk to the person beside them.

There is a minimal storyline. The Carthaginian army/navy? (they don't make it clear) invades a small Celtic island. The Carthaginian forces (all 20 of them) quickly conquer and take as hostages the son and daughter of the king. This is Revak (Jack Palance) and his sister. On the boat going back to Carthage, the evil general decides to humiliate his captives and has both of them brought up on deck. This is when the movie goes from the ridiculous to the sublime. The evil general growls, "Dance for me, captive!" as he grabs the sister's dress and rips it off her. Little sister twinkletoes spirals daintily out of her dress, to reveal that underneath she is wearing the exact same outfit, only in a mini-skirted version. The Carthaginian forces (all 20 of them) stand in a straight row at the back of the scene, making bad guy noises, while Palance chews on the scenery at his end of the stage set. Twinkletoes pulls out a huge knife out if her little outfit (where was it?), and very carrrefulllly - scratches the general's face with it. (Huh?) The Carthaginian forces (all 20 of them) growl a little. Palance is swallowing whole chunks of the scenery. Twinkletoes is disarmed by the general (thanks for helping out here, Carthaginian army), and finally does a little dance, reminiscent of a high schooler who has read a book about Isadora Duncan. The evil general goes INSANE with lust. He snatches Twinkletoes's arm, and informs her that her next dance will be in his bed (GASP!). Inexplicably, he immediately lets go of her so that she can skip to the other side of the stage to inform Palance that she would rather die. Palance pauses as he is sucking down the backdrops to say goodbye. She then scampers back to stand on the railing. The Carthaginians (all 21 of them - I'm counting the general too this time) say things like, "Stop her! Don't let her go!" But NOBODY MOVES!!!! Twinkletoes does a neat little pike into the water, and I have to pause the movie so I can catch my breath from all the laughter.

And this is only in the first 20 minutes! It just keeps getting better and better. Like the scene where Palance comes face to face with an elephant, and obligingly arches his back and throws his arms wide so that the elephant can easily pick him up.

Not to be missed.

3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
My initiation to Swords and Sandals cinema, 22 June 2009

Author: GJValent from Chicago, IL, United States

I was at my cousins house when this telecast started. He proclaimed,'Rivak the Barbarian, this should be good'! So, we watched it. According to the IMDb info, I have the title correct, and, if the date is right, I was ten years old. I don't have that many memories of pre-1960 TV, so, this is right on the cusp. It was my first viewing of, (future Oscar winner), Jack Palance. Perfect facial features for a 'barbarian'. I recall an early line of his, something like,'what in the name of creation is that', upon his first sighting of an elephant. That's about where the memories end. Apparently it was on NBC before hardly anybody, (including us), had color TV. It led to a mid 1960s fandom of Hercules type flicks on TV.

0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
THE BARBARIANS aka REVAK THE REBEL (Rudolph Mate', 1960) **, 5 April 2011

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

Jack Palance was one of the Hollywood stars to work most prolifically in Europe and, since the 1950s and 1960s were the cinema's Epic heyday, he was often asked to appear in this type of fare. The film under review, in fact, was the first of 3 he made in quick succession (and increasing merit) – with the others being SWORD OF THE CONQUEROR (1961; which shortly followed this viewing) and THE MONGOLS, dating from the same year.

Incidentally, since REVAK THE REBEL was better-known as THE BARBARIANS, I decided to watch a triptych of films by that name (one made prior to it, in 1953, and the other much later i.e. 1987, but all emanating from Italy)!; that said, REVAK itself has a fair number of significant credits allotted to Hollywood veterans – apart from director Mate' (who would later make the superior THE 300 SPARTANS [1962]), we have cinematographer Carl Guthrie and even scriptwriters John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin! Unfortunately, the copy I acquired was far from optimal as the color of the print was so washed-out that the visuals came off almost as black-and-white: the only previous time I recall such a drastic deterioration was while watching DESERT LEGION (1953) – curiously enough, another spectacle from this era.

Anyway, as for the film itself, it proved rather a disappointment – a pale (read: low-brow) mix of perhaps the cycle's two most accomplished examples, namely BEN-HUR (1959) and SPARTACUS (1960). In fact, heir to the throne (of the Celts!) Palance is taken hostage by the invading Carthaginians (led by Guy Rolfe) but soon reduced to a mere slave – after his sister had already committed suicide on facing the prospect of being defiled! The rest sees him gaining allies, all similarly disgraced, within the court (a Roman noblewoman and an officer-turned-gladiator-trainer, as well as a Spartan mercenary) in order to turn the tables on his captors; in the meantime, his rebellious spirit also catches the eye of his nemesis' own sister. Still, the film ends up supplying far more talk than action (mainly relegated to the climactic bloodthirsty bout, which also has the leading lady marked for death, spared and ultimately dumped by the hero) and, as I said, basically hinges exclusively upon Palance's trademark intensity for the mild interest the picture elicits from its intended audience.

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