Die Revolte der Sieben

This is a rogue's yarn of a rebellion against the cruelty of oppression somewhere in Asia Minor in the 4th century B. C, or so the headlines tell. Nothing fits into any historical context, and even the names of the characters suggest anything but Greek: Axel, Rubio, Leslio, Rabirio, Kadem - all the names are anything but Greek. Yet they are some kind of a fugitive gang oppressed by Macedonian mercenaries, and Leslio succeeds in liberating his brother Axel, who apparently has been in exile for a number of years. Together with five liberated slaves, one of them being a versatile inventor, they plan a major coup against the oppressing establishment by stealing all of its gold, and they actually succeed with impossible plans. There is a girl also who is the ruler Rabirio's intended queen, but she has a relationship in the past with Leslio, so she gets mixed up in the intrigues. There are a lot of glorious fights with as many people dropping dead as in any modern splatter cinema, and the intrigue is wholly superficial and ridiculous, in the same vein as any Indiana Jones or Errol Flynn film but in miniature. The music is good, and that's the only really good thing of the film, which is built entirely on bombastic clichés with no characters of any real human interest at all. It could have been worse, though.

A truly thunderous Peplum with agreeable ensemble cast as well as stirring action . IV Century , B.C. , Athens has fallen under the powerful Sparta and terror expands along Middle East . Macedonians rule over Sidon , in modern day Lebanon , and there governs the ruthless Rabirio . Some patriots hidden in shelters located in the mountains fight for their freedom . Leslio (Tony Russel) enlists a group of prisoners (Renato Baldini , Livio Lorenzon , Barta Barri , José Marco , and the bouncing Cris Huerta) to carry out his plans , and thanks to a great amount of money , he frees them . They getting their freedom from prison , and then help Leslio to get freedom his brother Axel . Meanwhile , Axel (Massimo Serato) is imprisoned by the Macedonians led by the tyrant despot Rabirio (Gérard Tichy) . The magnificent seven attack the detachment and the fortress where is imprisoned Axel . Thanks his courage Axel escapes and joins forces with the Magnificent seven , he unites his six rebel to rid itself of the scourge , to fight the patrician ruler . Seven rebels are faced at every turn by enemy army and they assault tax collectors who brutally invade villages under the pretext of collecting taxes . Later on , the brave group robs a valuable treasure and throw it from a tower . Soon after , in the enemy court Leslio posing as an architect and he falls in love again with his former sweet-girl named Lydia (Helga Liné as the old flame) and then must rescue her from slavery and death .

Peplum or ¨Sword and Sandals¨ remake to Akira Kurosawa's classic ¨The seven samurais¨ and John Sturges's ¨The magnificent seven ¨ , it's an adventure film with all the ingredients as action , suspense , comedy , amusement and typical confrontation between good guys and bad guys . The picture allows for periods of humor and calm in which to establish characters punctuated by viscerally exciting bursts of action . It contains fights , sword-play , adventures and some touches of light humor . It culminates in the spectacular climatic battle between the Spartans and the enemies with horse stampedes included . This is a B-film that was released in several countries in doublé programmes , as the UK as a double bill with The Devil-Ship pirates (1964) . Ample support cast with most of the actors are relative unknowns and formed by muscle-men and regular Spanish/Italian players from Western and Peplum , such as : Tomás Blanco , Massimo Serato , Pedro Mari Sánchez , Jose Marco , Chris Huerta , Renato Baldini , and Gerad Tichy as malicious ruler , among others . As comic relief appears Bernabe Barta Barry , a sympathetic secondary playing a corpulent man who uses a boomerang and Livio Lorenzon who invents a Gatling-gun-type weapon that fires arrows . Good production values with breathtaking final battle full of extras and horses , and matte-painting , nice maquettes and scale model by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio . It's shot in the area round Madrid , Manzanares Del Real , Colmenar Viejo and La Pedriza where in the 60s were filmed several epic movies as ¨El Cid¨ , as well as lots of Westerns and being a Spanish/ Italian co-production , efficiently financed by Italo Zingarelli . It packs atmospheric score by Carlo Franci with catching musical leitmotif . Evocative and colorful and cinematography by Eloy Mella .

The motion picture produced by Chamartín Studios was regularly directed by Alberto De Martino . He managed to make a fluid and filled with thrills , duels , attacks , and shots , though average . He was an Italian craftsman , working from the 60s in all kind of genres and B movies . As he directed Peplum (Secret seven , Spartan gladiators , Invincible gladiator , Valley of stone men) , Spaghetti Western (Django shoots first , Providence , Charge of seven cavalry) , Warlike (Dirty heroes) , European spy genre (OK Connery , Operation Lady Chaplin) , and Terror (Miami Golem , Tempter , Horror , Holocaust 2000) , among others . Rating : 5.5/10 acceptable and passable , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Peplum sub-genre , this one remains lightly watchable .

This flick belongs to a cycle of films starred by seven heroes whose main hit was ¨I Sette Gladiatori¨ or ¨Gladiator 7¨ by Pedro Lazaga with Richard Harrison , Livio Lorenzon , Tony Zamperla , Joe Marco , Enrique Avila , Barta Barry , Antonio Molino Rojo , Gerard Tichy , this film bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Gli Invincibili Sette" or "The Secret Seven" or "Los Siete Invencibles¨. It's followed by other films in similar style such as the ¨The ten gladiators¨ trilogy formed by ¨I dice gladiatori (1963) by Gianfranco Parolini with Roger Browne , Jose Greci and Dan Vadis and followed by ¨Spartacus and ten gladiators¨ and the third outing titled ¨Triumph of ten gladiators¨ or ¨Il Trionfo Dieci Gladiators ¨ again by Nick Nostro .

Bear in mind I saw this when I was about 12 years old, and this film was thus viewed through the eyes of a child. I haven't seen it since and even doubt it has been screened on UK TV.

This was, I am sure with hindsight, a typical foreign sword-and-sandal escapade, with a loose script, and poorly dubbed. As a 12 year-old, I thought it was magnificent! I can only really recall a couple of scenes, one with a Gatling-Gun-type weapon that fired arrows, and another where the titular 7 were trying to escape a tower on a cliff via a home-made catapult.

Before the days of glittering special effects and multi-million pound budgets, this was the thing Saturday morning cinema was made of. Two films (I don't recall the other one I saw that day)and thrills all the way.

Sadly films such as these will rarely ever get a TV screening, and never satisfy 12-year-olds these days, and the world is probably all the poorer for it. Such nostalgia, huh?

Greece is under the power of the tyrant Rabirius, against whom rise a few patriots led by Axel. But he is taken prisoner and condemned to die of hunger and thirst. His brother Leslio engages the services of a group of prisoners who know what it is to fight and do not fear anyone, and together they release Axel. Leslio wants to dissolve the group, without listening to his brother that begs him to join the fight for freedom.

The Secret 7 - or the Invincible seven - is a mix of the dirty Dozen and Magnificent 7 and the heist films. It's a spirited peplum adventure that leans towards Errol Flynn/Crimson Pirate with its humour and inventiveness than the usual serious ones with a well-muscled hero. The heroes here have normal physiques, two are Brothers and the other five are middle-aged prisoners. It moves at a fair clip, has plenty of action, a western-style horse stampede, and an interesting ancient Gatling gun spitting arrows. Helga Line adds some glamor quotient when she appears, which, unfortunately, is limited. Definitely one of the better peplums.

I am still a fan of sword and sandal movies and would love the chance to see this movie again.Even if it was 40+ years since I last saw it(and may cringe at it). I remember at the time there were a few'Magnificent 7' type of b-movies around at the time.I recall one of the7 invented a boomerang on a rope!Also the baddies had cool black and gold uniforms,and were called Mercenaries(the first time I had heard this term used). Although this hardly rates as a review,I would hope it raises enough interest in this and such like movies that were the mainstay of my pre colour-TV days spent in flea-pit cinemas,where you could watch double-features more than once-unlike today's cinemas where staff empty the theatre after each show.