Maciste gegen die Kopfjäger

Who are these people? Where are we going? Are we the good guys or the bad guys?

This film has its stints of non stop action and mayhem and even more and more padding of either someone or a large group of people moving from point A to point B. It is hard to miss the kempt hair of Maciste (personally I prefer a chicken sub to cheesesteak) as he combats the merciless Headhunters. Note Nello Pazzafini playing one of the tougher baddies who also appeared in Danger!! Death Ray (Nello sure was in a lot of films!). More amusing stuff includes Amoa's Easter Egg hat hair, village bonfires, and death by archery. Also, one of the wackiest moments is the less than stellar choreographed dance to appease the gods by Amoa's right hand maiden Moana.

Not exactly up alongside the Hercules films, but fun in a goofy sort of way.

Fave line: "Then what happened?"

COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS stars Kirk Morris as Colossus (aka: Maciste). He must leap into action right off the bat, to save the inhabitants of a small island from a volcano. He even uses his enormous boat to relocate them!

Oh no!

While Colossus is out looking for water, the entire tribe is abducted by men with checkered placemats on their heads! Colossus will soon meet up with these guys again, along with their queen. We know she's the queen because she wears a sequined tea cozy on her noggin.

Said ruler tells our huge hero about some headhunters that have been giving her trouble. Colossus winds up helping her and her placemat people against these napkin-domed savages, giving him ample opportunity to flex, and crush things.

How could anyone ever tire of watching grown men throw each other around?

Morris isn't bad in his role, but he's certainly no Mark Forest!

Make sure not to miss the odd, somewhat disturbing "wedding dance", performed by a woman in some sort of tutu! Annnd, yes, saints be praised! There are bongo drums!

This is transcendent entertainment, folks!...

For Italy and the world, handsome and muscular Kirk Morris slips into his Herculean loincloth, as "Maciste". He saves part of a tribe from the catastrophic blow-up of their island. Mr. Morris befriends less muscular Demeter Bitenc (as Ariel). Their splintered tribe sails to a new land, but has trouble mixing in with warring inhabitants. Morris tries to save beautiful Laura Brown (as Amoa), a tribal queen, from marrying the man who blinded and kidnapped her father.

Guido Malatesta's "Maciste contro i cacciatori di teste" was inappropriately re-titled "Colossus and the Headhunters" in the translation from Italian to English. There are some good sets and moderately exciting sequences. Some of the footage may be flown in from another movie, but it is nicely inserted. Morris makes a good enough "Maciste"; as you might expect, this isn't a film to showcase one's acting prowess.

**** Maciste contro i cacciatori di teste (1960) Guido Malatesta ~ Kirk Morris, Demeter Bitenc, Laura Brown

Remember the first time someone put a stink bomb in your backpack, and when it broke it ruined everything in there and for the rest of the year your bag, books, and gym clothes still smelled like stink bomb?

Remember when there was that time you had the number 2 emergency and just couldn't make it to the restroom in time?

Remember the first and last time you grabbed the milk jug out of the fridge, opened it and with out hesitation quickly grabbed a couple quick chugs only two realize that it was no longer milk and had spoiled a few days ago?

Remember that feeling you got the first time you got pulled over by a police officer and you knew you were totally screwed and there was no way you were getting out of this one?

Remember the first time you really had a nightmare, and it really nearly scared you to death? Maybe you had sleep paralysis and thought you were being held down by some unknown presence and couldn't move, breathe or scream?

Do you remember any of that?

This is one of Kirk Morris' best movies. A simple "hero" story where he shows up out of nowhere and save an entire race of displaced people. Reg Lewis was supposed to star in this movie but backed out at the last minute. If you watch the opening scenes you can see Reg running towards the volcano. He can be seen in a few other place throughout the movie.

I posted several stills on this site. They were straight when I sent them but IMDB turned them sideways for some unknown reason.

You will enjoy watching this movie.