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I couldn't disagree more with the other reviewer. Many of the peplum films were cheapened by very long silly tavern brawls and tiresome, boring exploits of midgets. This one is done seriously and is every bit as good as the Hollywood big budget efforts such as "Demetrius and the Gladiators" and the Lang Jeffries peplums. It opens with the Roman Emperor (an obnoxious, egotistical and insecure Valentinian) and the Roman populace indulging themselves in their favorite entertainment, watching accomplished professional gladiators commit mass murder in the arena. The action proceeds at a brisk pace from then on, and we learn that those champion gladiators are really discontented former veterans, and Hargitay's loyal father,a general, was eased into a premature death by corrupt plotters at court who are hand in glove with Rome's Vandal enemies, furnishing them with supplies meant for the legions. It's a tough fight for Hargitay's character to get to the heart of the conspiracy and his life's at stake every inch of the way. Hargitay maintains the dignity of his character's upper class heritage, and as for his physique, he's much more believable than Reeves or the other muscle-bound heroes who played many of these roles. Like Lang Jeffries, Ettore Manni, Kerwin Mathews and others, he is muscular in the true classical Greek sense, not a product of 20th century gym rat culture with over-developed, distorted tree-trunk limbs looking like they were achieved by steroids. That is certainly a plus in my book. The two women in the film are also especially pleasing...with Valentinian's beautiful daughter Priscilla (Hargitay's love interest) resembling Gina Lollobrigida at the height of her beauty. And the chief plotter and Valentian's bete noir played by a very snaky woman resembling a young Barbara Stanwyck.
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