Giants of Rome (1964)
"I giganti di Roma" (original title)

An elite group of soldiers led by the courageous Claudius Marcellus are handpicked by Julius Caesar to embark on a desperate and dangerous suicide mission to destroy the Druids' secret weapon.

Director:

Antonio Margheriti

Writers:

Arlette Combret (dialogue), Ernesto Gastaldi,

Stars:

Richard Harrison, Wandisa Guida, Ettore Manni

Cast

Credited cast:
Richard Harrison	...	Claudius Marcellus
Wandisa Guida	...	Livilla
Ettore Manni	...	Castor
Philippe Hersent	...	Drusus
Ralph Hudson	...	Germanicus
Nicole Tessier	...	Edua
Goffredo Unger	...	Varo
Renato Baldini	...	Drood
Piero Lulli	...	Pompeus
Alessandro Sperli	...	Julius Caesar
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aldo Cecconi
Maurizio Conti
Alberto Dell'Acqua	...	Valerius
Jean Claude Madal
Renato Montalbano

Storyline

An elite group of soldiers led by the courageous Claudius Marcellus are handpicked by Julius Caesar to embark on a desperate and dangerous suicide mission to destroy the Druids' secret weapon.

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Plot Keywords:

secret weapon | suicide | julius caesar | druid | soldier | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

10 September 1964 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Giants of Rome

Company Credits

Production Co:

Devon Film, N.C., Radius Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Germania was a name for Germany first used by the Romans by Julius Caesar in his commentaries on the Gallic Wars, and the name "Germanicus" was derived from that. Hence no soldier in Caesar army in Gaul would have been named Germanicus.

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Quotes

Drood: We Druids have mastered the art of torture. We are well acquainted with the human body and we know where to apply a white-hot iron to produce the maximum pain.
Claudius Marcellus: If you want to burn my flesh, do it, but don't bore me with your stupid questions.
Drood: You will pay dearly for those words, Roman. Take him away!

User Reviews

THE GIANTS OF ROME (Antonio Margheriti, 1964) **

Playing almost like a Roman-era version of THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961) – with an elite group of specially-skilled soldiers handpicked by Julius Caesar to go on a suicide mission and destroy the Druids' secret weapon – this is an agreeable time waster which is moved along at a brisk and efficient pace by prolific director Margheriti. He was perhaps the most erratic of the three Italian genre specialists (the others being, obviously, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava) who basically set the foundation of what today is referred to as "Euro-Cult"; I've now watched some 9 of his films and the most satisfying have been his 2 horror outings starring Barbara Steele – THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH (1964) and CASTLE OF BLOOD (1964).

Sensibly, THE GIANTS OF ROME does not opt to make its heroes invincible (as was usually the case in films of this type) and despite a happy ending, all but one member of the group lose their life in accomplishing the all-important mission. The "secret weapon", however, turns out to be a major let-down: though one of the Romans expresses great surprise at never having seen anything like it, a little while later the leader of the group refers to it by name as if he had been around such devices all his life! Still, the most hilarious moment of the film came when the leading lady solemnly tells our hero her life-story which includes the fate of her father, one Fulvius Lucisanus (Fulvio Lucisano being a leading Italian producer of the time, though he doesn't seem to have had anything to do with this particular title!!)…