Die Irrfahrten des Herkules

Muscleman fights sea monsters and Amazon warriors, then returns home to find a race of giants living in a valley, into which fellow countrymen are being thrown as punishment for opposing a usurper king and his consort.

Goliath against the Giants is another of those typical peplums bolstered by pace, good production values, Brad Harris, fine cinematography and superb location work - there's a beautiful sequence where our heroes walk across a desert and the valley of Janopah where the giants live is an impressive mixture of bleak crags and volcanic ash. However, its downsides is its tendency to languidness and having muddled elements. The red-head appearing from nowhere was confusing. There's a lack of sharpness in the plot, but overall not a bad entry in the world of peplum. Things liven up in the last thirty minutes with a lady placed on a rack, gladiator spectacles, Goliath appearing and facing a lion, giants, lizards. Fernando Rey as the usurper King Bokan is a right sadistic cretin who likes to have citizens tossed down a cliff into the smoky lair of the giants and dragons. His character is played with some hammyness.

As for the monsters, the giant sea lizard (an iguana superimposed on the image, and quite a lethargic one who didn't do much accept stare at the hero and wait to be killed) in the fog was well done, in terms of the atmospheric fog and its build-up, and the "giants", who are guys 10 centimeters taller than the protagonist, is a disappointment, though. They look like cavemen with daddy bods.

First leading role for Brad Harris - A sandal film about Goliath

Yes, you read that right! This sandal film, which was released in West German cinemas on December 8, 1961 as DIE IRRFAHRTEN DES HERKULES and is also known as "Goliath contro i giganti" and "Goliath Against the Giants", is not a Hercules film, but was called that for marketing reasons. In his first leading role, the American bodybuilder Brad Harris, who was discovered as a film star as a visitor to the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, plays the figure of Goliath, who experiences various adventures in a kind of mythological magical world. The film was directed by Guido Malatesta, and alongside Sergio Sollima, Gianfranco Parolini also wrote the script. As a director, he would make many more films with his super star Brad Harris.

The king was murdered in Beirath. His insidious advisor Bokan (Fernando Rey, best known from "Brennpunkt Brooklyn / The French Connection" (1971)) wants to persuade the king's daughter Elea (Maria Fie / Gloria Milland, born in Sardinia in 1940) to be the victorious war hero Hercules/Goliath (Brad Harris ) is her father's murderer. Elea senses that this cannot be true, flees to the muscle-bound hero on the ship and has to go through many adventures with him before the real regicide can be unmasked.

Other roles include: Nello Pazzafini (1934-1996), who developed from a football player to a stuntman to a sought-after supporting actor and later played well by Bud Spencer in "Sie nannten ihn Mücke / They Called Him Bulldozer" (1978) and "Banana Joe" (1982). Should be beaten. The former rugby player Mimmo Palmara (1928-2016) who appeared in the two Hercules films by PeplumSuperStar Steve Reeves (1926-2000) as his opponent and as his stunt double. The child actor was Gianfranco Gasparri (1948-1999), who as Franco Gasparri was supposed to become the star of the trilogy about "Mark il poliziotto" (1975), but was unfortunately paralyzed after his serious motorcycle accident in 1980.

The film was shot in Spain and in the Cinecitta studios. The equipment often doesn't seem that convincing. You couldn't really keep up with Steve Reeves' films, even when it came to the script.

In the film, Goliath has to fight against a sea monster, the Amazons, a gorilla, lions and giants. Brad Harris (1933-2017) has a lot to do in his first leading role, which was to be followed by many more. The special thing about this actor was that he could do his own stunts and was later the stunt coordinator in many of his films (including the many German adventure films in which he appeared). This gave him a successful film career until the 1980s.

Definitely recommended for all fans of the peplum genre as the "birthday" of genre star Brad Harris!

This was a movie that I had never heard of until I was looking through Letterboxd for horror from Italy from 1961. This was the last one from this country and year that I hadn't seen so I decided to watch it. It helped that I had seen a couple other of these 'sword and sandal/sorcery' movies recently as well.

Synopsis: muscleman fights sea monsters, a horde of giants and a tribe of Amazonian warriors.

For this movie, we start at the end of a war that has been waging for 5 years. Goliath's (Brad Harris) army has finally won and is looking forward to returning home. The problem is that the king they were fighting for has died. In his place, Bokan (Fernando Rey) has usurped the throne. Goliath goes into his tent that night and is attacked by assassins. He defeats them and learns they were sent by Bokan. They realized they sent back word of the victory and Namathos (Fernando Sancho) is worried by returning to their city, they will be met by guards. Goliath decides to take men and a ship to get there before word reaches the city.

During this journey they discover a boy who has pledge his loyalty to Goliath when his family was wiped out during the war. They also stop off at an island to fetch water and find a woman left as a sacrifice to Poseidon. Her name is Elea (Gloria Milland) and she knows more than what she is letting on. The journey doesn't get any easier. As the synopsis states, they face a sea creature and run into a tribe of Amazon warriors. One of them is named Daina (Barbara Carroll).

All the while, back in the city we have Bokan trying to do what he can to rule and to end his greatest threat. He is helped by Diamira (Carmen de Lirio). He also has the giants under his rule that were banished by Goliath. They are used as a punishment to those that defy the king. Goliath thought the fighting was over, but he has more that needs to be taken care of before there can be peace.

That's going to be where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is some brief information about these movies. I learned that Goliath is interchangeable with Hercules and even Samson. It is just a name that people can recognize and get them into the seats. I don't know if any of them are even connected as well.

With that out of the way, we have an interesting story here. I think this captures the world of this time well. There weren't long stretches of peace and a lot of wars going on. From everything I gathered, this is a fictional world we are set in. The name Spartan is thrown out there, so these could be ancient cities that I don't recognize. It doesn't seem like it though. This would be a scary time to be alive. Goliath was fighting for his king and doing what he thought was right. While he's gone, the king dies and we have Bokan who takes the throne. He's evil in the sense that he is power hungry. I can't be fully on Goliath's side though here. It does seem they are using imperialistic beliefs for the war. It does make me wonder, being that this is from Italy and Spain, since they had the history of the Roman and Ottoman Empires. It makes me wonder if the intended audience is holding the admiration of the power they had in the past.

Moving from that, this movie on the Internet Movie Database is listed only as adventure. On Letterboxd, they've included horror. For the latter, this is in the loosest sense. It only falls in there due to the sea creature we see. I guess the giants as well, but I'll get back to them. The effects for the creature are great. It is a normal sized lizard that is superimposed. It doesn't look great, but I have a soft spot for this technique. In a sense, this could be considered a kaiju film. Getting back to the giants, they are guys that are about the same size as Goliath. They make for a formidable foe for him, but the term giant here is loose. We do also get another 'giant lizard' in their valley as well. I don't mind this though, especially for the period. They seem to be borrowing from mythology of a few different places, but just taking story elements to use here.

The rest of the effects are fine. The fight scenes aren't that elaborate, but they look real enough. I do have that slight issue where people are waiting since the choreography wasn't that great. This doesn't ruin it as we are still early enough in cinema and there is a safety issue. Aside from that though, I thought the cinematography was done well enough in capturing the time they are trying to set this for me as well as how they fought then.

Then the last thing to go into here would be the acting. Harris has a good look for Goliath. He doesn't need to do a lot with the performance so I'd say he was fine. Milland is quite attractive. There is depth to her character that worked for me. Rey is good as our main villain. He is aided by de Lirio who is manipulating him as well. Carroll was good along with Pepe Rubio and Sancho. Overall, the acting is fine. No one stood out as great, but this is more about the adventure we are on than the characters themselves.

In conclusion, this is a solid and fun movie. I enjoy these 'sword and sandal/sorcery' films. They are using ideas that are still relevant today and I'd say that this one is even more grounded than the other two I've seen at this time. The issues they are facing are a bit more realistic. The acting we get is fine. No one stands out, but no one has a bad performance either. I like the effects they use for early cinema. The choreography in the fight scenes aren't great, but it isn't an issue necessarily either. The soundtrack also fit for what was needed. For me, I'd say this is over average for me and hovering just going above that stance.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

An interesting overlap of various Mediterranean storylines that are initially confusing (no spoilers) but combine for an interesting film. It's one of several "Goliath" films of its time, though not all with Brad Harris or following the same plot. They're all about "Goliath the Conqueror" (who at times is portrayed as a dark Grecian type and at other times is portrayed as a fair Visigoth type) saving tribes in Greece, Damascus and other areas. Take a look and see which is your favorite storyline. This is one of mine.

The question I'm asked is why do I watch movies like this with any frequency? The answer has to do with the monsters and the fact that many of these things throw everything at you except for the kitchen sink, and that's only left out because it wasn't invented yet.

After a war ends Goliath prepares to head home, except that Bokan, the regent of his country has sent assassins to kill Goliath since he is the only one who could take the place of the dead king, a fact that would put Bokan out of a job. Bokan is not standing for any opposition to his rue and he pitches anyone who doesn't like him into a valley where giants live, Giants who were put there by Goliath years before.

Trying to get home faster Goliath and his friends try to go by sea but get waylaid on the voyage.

Its at this point that the movie throws in everything except the kitchen sink, and perhaps aliens, as Goliath has to face a storm at sea, sea monsters, assassins, Amazons, a gorilla, lions, weird torture devices, gladiators, cave men and giants. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what. Best of all the whole thing is told spectacularly and with a decent budget, something that is missing from most movies of this sort.

My only complaint is that it gets a bit draggy in the middle for a couple of minutes, but other than that this is a really good mindless adventure.

If you want to see a movie with everything give this a try.