Hero of Rome (1964) User Reviews

Peplum based on historical characters : Scevola and the Kings Tarquinio and Porsena

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 17 October 2007]

The king Tarquinio is banished from Roma . Mucio Scevola (Gordon Scott) married to Clelia goes to Porsena's headquarter and demonstrates his courage by burning himself a hand , for that reason is named Scevola (the left-handed) . Tarquinio (Massimo Serato) unites to Lars Porsena (Roldano Lupi) , king of Etruscos . They ask to Romans as hostages a group of young women (Gabriella Pallota , Maria Pia Conte). But Aronte(Antonini) , Porsena's son , enamored to Valena (Pia Conte) frees her and she passes the river Tiber . Meantime , Scevola hides his hand into an iron glove and begins the fighting .

This is an enjoyable sword and sandals movie with historical backstage , action , a love story , battles and spectacular scenarios . Gordon Scott is top-notch , as the historic hero who finds many dangerous situations while attempting to save Rome and his true love , Clelia , of several risks . Strong and robust Gordon Scott was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury , Brad Harris , Kirk Morris , Reg Park , Mark Forest , among others , whom to seek fame and fortune acting absurdly as muscle mythological figures , but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . He played another historical character : ¨Coroliano , hero without country¨ with battle stock shots taken from this one and directed again by Giorgo Ferroni , a Peplum expert (Conquest of Micenas , Trojan war) . The motion picture is based on true events but has not prospect historical . The real deeds are the following : Tarquino(534-509, B.C.) was the seventh and last king of Roma and he governs tyrannically . The rape of Lucrecia by his son caused a riot and he was overthrown , the Roman Republic was proclaimed and he actually disappeared . Rating : Better than average Peplum fodder and better than most Sword and Sandals movies , thanks to Gordon Scott and slick direction by Giorgo Ferroni .

An Act Of Bravura

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 4 December 2010]

I am in agreement with the reviewer who says that most peplum pictures involving the Roman Empire start with the era of Julius Caesar and go through the pagan and Christian eras and then the fall. There are very few involving the original kingdom which was simply Rome and its suburbs and the Republic that came from it.

Modern historians are not in general agreement as to what constitutes myth and what constitutes fact in the early days. Two stories of the early Republic are combined into one film in Hero Of Rome starring former Tarzan Gordon Scott.

Scott plays Mucius Scaveola, the last name translated means left handed. He became such for an act of incredible bravura. When he went into the camp of the Etruscan king who was besieging Rome and missed assassinating him. When captured and ordered to be put to death, Mucius thrust his right hand, his sword hand into a flame and held it there for several seconds. The Etruscan king was so impressed he set him free.

The second story is the overthrow of King Tarquinis the seventh and last king of Rome. Tarquinis simply went into exile and out of history like Francois Villon or Jean Lafitte. But here the two stories are combined and as these stories are legend, the Italian filmmakers just did a little legend combining.

According to Wikipedia the Roman history Livy is the source for all of this. No other sources survive so his word has to be taken. Nevertheless Scott does a good job and Hero Of Rome is definitely a cut above the glut of peplum pictures from the early Sixties.

Pretty blah historical drama

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 15 March 2009]

The city of Rome is under siege from an enemy army. After failing to slay the leader of the opposing army, brave General Mucius (a solid and credible performance by brawny erstwhile Tarzan Gordon Scott) mutilates his right hand by sticking it in a fire. However, Mucius does manage to develop a truce with kindly King Porsenna (well played by Roldano Lupi) and his noble son Arunte (likable Gabriele Antonini). Alas, the evil, treacherous and unscrupulous General Tarquino (a fine performance by Massimo Serato) goes out of his way to foil said truce so he can become the tyrannical ruler of Rome. Sound gripping and thrilling? Unfortunately, this film's potentially stirring plot gets greatly undermined by Giorgio Ferroni's pedestrian direction and Antonio Visone's extremely talky script. The plodding pace in particular saps much of the momentum and excitement from the meandering narrative. Moreover, the infrequent rough'n'ready swordfights are for the most part staged with precious little flair. Only an impressively massive last reel epic battle set piece finally manages to bring the picture to life. That said, both Augusto Tiezzi's crisp cinematography and especially Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's robust'n'rousing score are up to par. As an added plus, Gabriella Pallotta as Mucius' loyal fiancé Clelia and Maria Pia Conte as the fetching Valeria are quite easy on the eyes. Watchable, but overall kind of dull and instantly forgettable.

Simple film version of legendary Roman heroes Mucius Scaevola and Cloelia

[frank_olthoff · 16 September 2001]

Among Italian peplums of the period around 1960, there were some concerned with Roman legend, including "Coriolano, eroe senza patria", which was also helmed by Giorgio Ferroni. "Il colosso di Roma" is another example.

After having overthrown their king, Tarquinius Superbus (Massimo Serato), Rome is a young republic. Tarquinius tries to regain his throne with the military assistance of the Etruscan king, Porsenna (Roldano Lupi). Film sets in with Romans suffering from hunger, and top-notch soldier Mucius first securing the arrival of a corn transport, then deciding to kill Porsenna. In the king's camp he kills the wrong man, is captured, but proves his boldness by voluntarily burning his right hand in an open flame. The tiny, but crucial story about Roman bravery, which originally has a noble youngster as the failing killer, is generously embellished and furnished with a muscular experienced military leader as Mucius instead, played by ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott.

As the story progresses, it is interwoven with another heroic character from Latin legend, Cloelia, who is presented as Mucius' fiancée. She is among the hostages produced to secure the peace with Porsenna, but organizes the escape across the River Tiber when they find themselves betrayed. Her rôle is performed by one of the countless second-rate beauties of Italian screens, Gabriella Pallotta.

Although it may be deemed interesting to illustrate a national saga of yore, the film's pathetic hero-worship seems out of date for the mid-sixties. Still, monumental adventures were fashionable, and Italy's writers happy with any adaptable material. It is almost surprising how much of the legend's original idea can be recognized.

Expectations of a grand epic, as nurtured by the heavily orchestrated opening credits of nearly three minutes, are not at all lived up to by the following 82 (in the version I saw) minutes. Achievements are hardly average in all categories, although cinematography (Augusto Tiezzi) and score (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino) come from peplum's most experienced artists. Not even its best-hated villain, Massimo Serato, is really credible as Tarquinius. Fighting scenes are well staged, although some of the material seems to be taken from other films, too.

Amusing at first

[pninson · 3/10 · 28 October 2005]

In the U.S., very few films have been made about Rome that were not set in the time of Julius Caesar or shortly thereafter. Hollywood's sword and sandal epics mostly have a Christian theme, which makes it difficult to get into earlier Roman history (Spartacus was probably the first exception to this rule, and encountered some resistance in Hollywood because it did not have Jesus in it).

It's interesting to see at least one picture that not only takes place before the time of Caesar and Christ, but is set when Rome was only one city among many on the Italian peninsula, and had just ousted the hated King Tarquin and formed the Republic.

However, this is not a historical film; it's peplum, and while the production values aren't rock bottom, the acting and characterizations are cardboard. I can only imagine what the dialogue was like in Italian, but with wooden English dubbing it's very campy. I got a few good laughs out of it at first.

I haven't seen many films of this genre, having missed most of the Hercules movies of the 60s. It's amusing up to a point, but as the film goes on, it gets somewhat boring.

One thing's for sure: if I'd seen this movie when I was ten years old, I would have loved it. At that age, I went for anything with Romans and swordfights in it. So at least, this flick brought back some childhood memories.

It's OK But Flat

[Rainey-Dawn · 4/10 · 20 January 2017]

As far as the story goes, it's another one of those that had the potential to be good but falls flat on it's own script. Cinematography is ordinary, choppy at times. Directing is questionable, some of the shots are really bad. Acting seems okay, I can't hear their real voices it's originally in Italian and it's dubbed it into English but as far as I can tell the acting is fine. The voice actors did okay with the dubbing.

It's just flat, drab. It's not bad at all but really needed a bit more action to "dress it up". What action there is in the film is fine.

Once again we have out of this world costumes for the men, the Roman soldiers mainly (as usual). Standard stuff on the women. There are some cool prop weapons as with all peplum films.

4/10

If he dies, others will follow, but Rome must be saved!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 20 January 2024]

Bad dubbing on this peplum film has the name of Valeria often sounding like Maleria, a name no noble ancient woman wouldn't want to have as her legacy. It's just one of many comical elements (all unintentional) that focuses on a treaty of the new Republic to take ten hostages from the most noble of the previous regime (a line of kings) in which all those selected are young women. Gordon Scott plays a supposedly real life hero of the early republic (5th century BC), Gaius Mucius Scaevola, while Massimo Serato plays Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last in a line of kings.

I give this credit for presenting a subject of ancient history otherwise not covered many times on film, and it's best to just take what is covered liberally and not necessarily as fact. As a film as a whole, it has a few truly exciting moments, but at other times comes off as nothing more than a toga party during the day in the countryside. Prints of this film vary in quality so that will impact the impression if the weaker one is viewed.

Likeable

[nightroses · 7/10 · 2 September 2019]

This film was pretty good, for it's time it has a lot of sword fighting and action. I'm not sure what other reviewers are complaining about. Of course it won't have too much violence as it was made in the 60's and it isn't a horror film. Of course it won't have too much CGI because they didn't have the technology back then. Yes of course they won't have boobs because this isn't a porn film. The story is better than a lot of other Hollywood films made today, and more easy to follow, and makes sense. The costumes are awesome and much went into the armour, The 60's Italian film wasn't big enough to have too much lavish sets and it's fine as it is. A product of it's era. People complaining about the women's costumes are being silly now, because Roman women did used to dress this way and their hairstyles were the most gorgeous.

A FIST OF STEEL

[bcarruthers-76500 · 6/10 · 3 February 2019]

These Peplum Studios movies based on ancient historical characters always seem to be better produced than their regular run of the mill sword and sandal 60s sentimentality. The version of this movie I saw was on DVD in widescreen 16:9 format and the print and sound quality seemed to be in quite good condition considering its age. It comes across as a min-epic based on the legendary hero of Rome, Gaius Mucius Scaevola, which lives up to a lot of expectations. Some gorgeous women are in it including the beautiful Gabriella Pallota as Cloelia. Mucius or Lucius, as he sounded like in the dialogue is a warrior played by Gordon Scott, our friend who played Tarzan from 1955 to 1960. He shows off his muscle man duties like picking up "heavy" plastic logs and throwing at the enemy soldiers. The rest of the movie is filled with a whole lot of battle scenes. Some of which I'm sure I've seen before. All in all it's a decent movie. The story was solid, well paced and the acting decent. What more can a man and his kids ask for? And Yes. There were no dragons or monsters in this one Brian Carruthers.

The first 2 minutes

[heliopause · 3 October 2005]

What singles out this feature is the grandeur of the first 2 minutes. What follows is a presentation typical of so many other works of this genre. The musical overture towers over this work like a mountain over a rolling plain.

The musical overture, written by A. Francesco Lavagnino, the great prolific Italian composer of this era, is another inspiring work that convinces one that this composer could have been a giant among classical composers of an earlier time.

Another feature, Duel of the Champions, contains an overture of similar stature written by Lavagnino. So, enjoy the first 2 minutes, and if you like movies within this genre, you may find this entertaining as well. After all, Gordon Scott is a pretty good substitution for Steve Reeves.

What a brave man!!!!

[bcarruthers-76500 · 6/10 · 25 January 2019]

In this movie Gaius Mucius Scaevola, the heroic general goes down in history by being remembered by his act of bravery. When captured bythe Etruscans in 508 BC he puts his right hand, his sword hand, into the flames rather than become a traitor. That meant he had to use his left hand from then on and "Scaevola" today means " left handed" in Italian. Mucius saves his beloved Clelia from the tyrant Tarquinius, the last king of Rome who he kills in a duel and saves the newly Roman republic from their Etruscan overlords. This by far a better " Sword & Sandal movie with a love story, plenty of action, battles with spectacular scenery surrounding a historical backstage. Our hero Mucius, (Gordon Scott) played Tarzan in five films of the Tarzan series between 1955 and 1960. bcarruthers-76500

Italian Peplum Movie with Gordon SCOTT

[ZeddaZogenau · 6/10 · 18 February 2024]

This Italian sword and sandal film tells a story from the early history of Rome. It's about the transition to the Roman Republic. It was directed by Giorgio FERRONI, who also made WHO BREAKS...PAYS (1975) with Brad HARRIS and Giancarlo PRETE.

In 510 B. C. In the 4th century BC, the Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Massimo SERATO) is expelled from Rome, which of course he cannot tolerate. He seeks support from his colleague King Porsenna (Roldano LUPI) in order to recapture Rome together. But the Romans are very motivated to defend their new freedom. The hardened fighter Gaius Mucius (Gordon SCOTT) sets out to eliminate the opposing kings. When that goes wrong, he holds his right fist into the fire and is henceforth nicknamed Scaevola (left-handed). Of course, that's not the end of the story, because Mucius, who is only left-handed, is still urgently needed...

After leaving Hollywood, Gordon SCOTT made one sword and sandal film after another at Rome's CINECITTA. This is quite successful in the numerous fight scenes, but offers too few surprises to be remembered for a long time. Gabriella PALLOTTA, Gabriele ANTONINI and Maria Pia CONTE can be seen in other roles.

Hero of Rome

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 28 January 2024]

Mucius, a Roman soldier who is virtually a one-man army, goes on a suicide mission to assassinate the Etruscan king Porsena, who is besieging Rome. Mucius kills the wrong man, and to demonstrate to his captors the bravery of the Romans, he holds his right hand in a fire. Porsena, who isn't such a bad guy after all, is impressed and lets Mucius go. Porsena's treacherous ally, Tarquin, demands that ten Roman women be delivered as hostages during a truce. One of the girls is Clelia, Mucius' fiancee, whom--of course--Tarquin desires. When the girls discover that Tarquin is plotting against the Romans, they escape by swimming down the Tiber with the help of a floating log. Further plot complications ensue. Mucius teaches himself to use a sword with his left hand, thus earning the nickname Scaevola ("the left-handed"), and devises a wicked-looking piece of custom-made armor to protect his maimed right hand and forearm. There is a climactic battle, during which Mucius and Tarquin agree to settle the matter by one-on-one combat.

Gordon Scott, sporting dark hair and a beard, convinces as a Roman and puts his physical prowess into action during the lively sword fighting sequence. Plot is heavy, things get slightly bogged down with talking, but it's decent enough with an intriguing storyline and plenty of battle scenes. Liked the part where Scott trains his left arm in sword fighting and devises a device for his hand. Massimo Serato as the treacherous and unscrupulous General Tarquino is a standout, who prefers war and intends to severe the truce in half. Fairly entertaining.

"The city is crawling with dirty traitors!"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 20 October 2022]

Set during the earlier days of Rome before their empire days this is a reasonably good peplum with the usual mighty thewed warriors, beautiful maidens in svelte garments, loads of legions legging it about, political discussions and dollops of intrigue. Our hero Mucius is played solidly by muscular Gordon Scott. As the chief villain Massimo Serato is most hissable playing Tarquin the ousted ruler of Rome. Gabriele Antonini also does well as the sympathetic Arunte. Special mention must be made of A. Francesco Lavagnino's epic score which he was always good at, and the film looks attractive in 'Eastmancolor' and widescreen. The only jarring note is the use of footage from other similar films but otherwise it's an entertaining movie.

Though I was peeved when Maria Pia Conte's character Valeria was fatally arrowed. I liked her.