Hercules the Avenger (1965)
"La sfida dei giganti" (original title)

Director:

Maurizio Lucidi

Writer:

Lorenzo Gicca Palli

Stars:

Reg Park, Gia Sandri, Giovanni Cianfriglia

Cast

Cast overview:
Reg Park	...	Hercules
Gia Sandri	...	Regina Leda
Giovanni Cianfriglia	...	Anteo
Adriana Ambesi	...	Deyanira (as Audrey Amber)
Gianni Solaro	...	Teseo
Luigi Barbini	...	Xantos
Franco Ressel	...	Eteocles
Luigi Donato	...	Timoniere
Marisa Belli	...	Regina dei figli del sole
Corrado Sonni
Mimmo Poli	...	Gerone
Giulio Maculani

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

impostor | arms tied overhead | son of god | bare chested male bondage | sword and sandal | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

13 August 1965 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Hercules the Avenger

Company Credits

Production Co:

Plaza Film, Schermi Riuniti

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Edited from Hercules and the Captive Women (1961)

User Reviews

cut and paste your way to excellence!

Hercules the Avenger is by far the best single entry in the muscleman genre I can recall. The charge against it made by critics - it is a cut and paste of two previous Hercules films, with some added new material to make it appear fresh - misses the fact that this cut-and-paste approach solves one of the central problems of the sword-and-sandal movies. With most of these films, the middle third sags horribly - usually involving a sappy love story or arcane political intrigue or both (queen falls in love with Hercules and her evil brother plots against them, etc.) It's often hard to hold on through this to watch the exciting finale. Hercules the Avenger cuts all that crap from the source films, and adds a rather brisk narrative of a Hercules impersonator bullying his way into power. (It should be noted that this episode also functions as a distant but pointedly critical remark on the rise of Fascism in Italy.) This also sets up a fine final wrasslin' match between the real Hercules and his impersonator.

In a narrower focus, I might also add that further editing has improved individual scenes borrowed from the other films. For my money, the mutiny scene here is much better than it first appeared in Hercules and the Captive Women, since it has been tightened with the reduction of several characters and their plot complications.

There are also floppy monsters, creepy underworld atmospherics borrowed (literally) from Mario Bava, an entire city destroyed, and the usual amount of lovely babes in revealing gowns. Since no one expects any of these films to compete with The Seven Samurai - or even with The Magnificent Seven - it seems a bit picky to hold the film's borrowing from other films against it.