Ercole sfida Sansone (1963)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Pietro Francisci

Writer:

Pietro Francisci (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Action | Adventure

Plot:

Three strongmen hunt down a murderous sea monster. |

Plot Keywords:

Sea Monster | Oasis | Lion Wrestling | Greek | Hercules

Cast

Kirk Morris	...	Ercole (Hercules)
Iloosh Khoshabe	...	Sansone (Samson) (as Richard Lloyd)
Liana Orfei	...	Delilah
Diletta D'Andrea
Enzo Cerusico	...	Ulysses
Fulvia Franco
Aldo Giuffrè	...	Seren (as Aldo Giuffre)
Andrea Fantasia
Nando Angelini
Marco Mariani
Jole Mauro
Pietro Tordi
Mario De Simone
Aldo Pini
Ettore Zamperini

Also Known As:

Ercole, Sansone e Maciste (Italy)
Hercules, Samson & Ulysses (USA)

Runtime:

USA:86 min (TCM print) | Italy:93 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16

Company:

I.C.D.

Trivia:

This film was not released in the U.S. until mid-1965. U.S. fans regard it as the last of the big Italian-produced sword and sandal/muscleman epics. It was directed by Pietro Francisci, who had started the craze with his Le fatiche di Ercole (1958).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The helmets the Roman soldiers are wearing are actually disguised World War II German army helmets.

Boulder Chucking, Ancient Myth Mucking and the Clash of Two Ancient Titans

Hurrah! Sword-and-sandal silliness at its finest! Greek mythology's greatest hero clashes with the big burly one from the Bible in Judaea in this hokey, jokey fantasy flick. A low-fi, unintentionally funny film is the result, but one which is fun viewing and provides enjoyable fantasy.

Ercole sfida Sansone succeeds in its casting of the ancient strongmen with Kirk Morris and Richard Lloyd as Hercules and Samson respectively (even though, despite his ponytail, Lloyd's hair is too short for my liking to truly be the lion-beater of the Bible). Alongside our bronzed and brawny heroes is Enzo Cerusico as an unacceptably puny Ulysses. Ah well, two out of three in the casting historic hero stakes will have to do...

As for the plot in this Italian produced pic, it's all Greek to me. Hercules and Ulysses journey off to skewer a sea monster. Said fishy threat turns out to be a red herring though as the shipwrecked Greeks wash up in Judaea and end up entangled in Jewish-Philistine conflict and cases of mistaken identity. Who cares about narrative in these movies though? What really matters is that we get a great brawl between Hercules and Samson and some top sets and stupidly stagey toga drama. Add some overwrought space age sound effects and some more feats of strength and hey presto! An appealing, if not awful, ancient adventure flick.

It's pretty campy and crappy, but cheap and cheerful in an enduring way. There's enthusiasm for the mythological subject matter in Ercole sfida Sansone (or Hercules, Samson and Ulysses if you take the English export title) and all in all the film offers a decent diversion and a bit of escapism. A decent enough Hercules flick from the age of obsession with sword-and-sandal showcases in the Italian studios, if only for its two huge heroes. Ercole sfida Sansone is a silly and flawed film, but an appealing one with something to offer to those that dig ripping tales of Heraklean heroism and historic folklore.