Samson (1961)
"Sansone" (original title)

While traveling through the kingdom of Sulom, Samson is arrested and finds that the queen no longer reigns and that a power-mad warlord and his army of mercenaries now controls the kingdom.... See full summary »

Director:

Gianfranco Parolini

Writers:

Oscar D'Amico (screenplay), G. Madison (story),

Stars:

Brad Harris, Sergio Ciani, Mara Berni

Cast

Cast overview:
Brad Harris	...	Samson
Sergio Ciani	...	Macigno aka Hercules (as Alan Steel)
Mara Berni	...	Romilda
Serge Gainsbourg	...	Warkalla
Luisella Boni	...	Janine (as Brigitte Corey)
Carlo Tamberlani	...	Botan
Irena Prosen	...	Mila
Franco Gasparri	...	Mila's Son
Manja Golec
Romano Ghini
Niksa Stefanini	...	(as Nicola Stefanini)

Storyline

While traveling through the kingdom of Sulom, Samson is arrested and finds that the queen no longer reigns and that a power-mad warlord and his army of mercenaries now controls the kingdom. Samson teams up with some of his one-time adversaries to battle the usurper and restore the rightful queen to power.

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Plot Keywords:

samson | mercenary | army | dictator | hand to hand combat | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Adventure

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Samson

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinematografica Associati (CI.AS.)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

SAMSON (Gianfranco Parolini, 1961) *1/2

Despite the title, this scrappy sword-and-sandal epic has nothing whatsoever to do with the famous Biblical character; the film's producers seemed to want to emphasize this by having our hero (Brad Harris) sporting a short-cropped coiffure but at the climax they couldn't resist having him demolish a temple single-handedly (and faster than you can say "Victor Mature") by pushing away at the columns!

This kind of film was a dime a dozen during this period in Italian cinema and, even if some quality product did emerge during its almost 10 year tenure, unfortunately, this isn't one of them. Perhaps its worst element is the unfunny comic relief provided by the hero's fat sidekick – particularly since this was hardly necessary, given that the film was already an unintentional laugh riot on its own! An indication of the film's haphazard quality is the fact that another pal of Samson's is sent on a secret mission around the middle section…but we forget all about him, till he mysteriously reappears at the end to cheer the victorious Samson!! Most surprising of all here, however, is the presence of French crooner Serge Gainsbourg as the chief villain (not that his acting career ever went anywhere after this)!