War Goddess

The idea of women in battle seems to always draw men to the screen. After Thunderball in which I participated, I remain distressfully unimpressed with Director Young's haphazard portrayal of a classic theme. It seems to come apart at the seams.

It's saving grace (to me) was the portrayal of the Amazonians ...at home. The sequence in which the young Amazons live amidst the warriors becomes more natural and intimate to this viewer. In particular the little five or six year old blond Amazon played by Mary Scott O'Connor was heartwarming She came across as feisty, vibrant and ready to challenge the world compared to the "Queen" who walked through her role as if she were with 'valley girls' on a shopping spree.

The 'Greek Army' portrayed by actual Spanish Army soldiers and extras was a far cry from the Greek Warriors of an antiquity we all come to expect on the screen. For my money, I'd give the little blond Amazon star billing over most of the other so-called warriors out to exterminate all but the breeding stock of the male gender. The repetitious axe visuals might be more suited to the next generations 'Texas Chain-Saw Movie' ... give the kid credit and move on. Fred Vallachi was wise in gathering and casting the youngest Amazons from the hinterlands and ex-patriot communities of Spain.

This movie does NOT take itself seriously, I figured that out in the first three minutes. An opening title informs us "This movie happened, if it happened at all, about 3000 years ago." That means it takes place in 1000BC. What's wrong with that? Well the heroes are Roman soldiers and the Roman empire did not begin until 750BC. Therefore these soldiers represent an empire that will not even exist for over 2 centuries! I'll bet no one went to see this movie for a history lesson though. The real heroes are Amazon warriors who have to mate with men once a year or they will die out. Practicing selective breeding they only mate with tough Roman soldiers and they make love while chanting "Men are pigs, men are filth." (Which is something I and the other girls in my sorority did in college. I guess some traditions never die.) No monsters, dragons or giants. The battle scenes are okay and there is a mud wrestling scene that all the men will enjoy. If you want a plot that makes sense, or at least pretends to, try any of the HERCULES movies.

What can one expect of a film about raving amazons from 1973? I expected something really terrible but it wasn't at all as bad as I expected. The basic story of a competition between two female leaders is kind of silly, but it has not at all the campy weirdness one would expect with all these big breasted women doing naked oil wrestling, throwing javelin, riding on horses, sleeping together, fighting, et cetera.

There are even sincere dialogues, nice looking sets and mass fight scenes. It has the looks of an expensive film. The story line of Antiope finding affection of a man, and being troubled by it, is not very interesting, but believable in a sense, also thanks to the reasonable acting by Angelo Infanti. All other acting is not very good, but never the cringing kind of bad.

But how to watch this? It is not too bad to get the predicate 'camp'. It is not funny enough to be a comedy (only a slight bit, when women are torn between aversion and lust for men). And it is certainly not factual to be enjoyed as an historical drama, as many others already have pointed out.

And what about an erotic film? There are pretty women in it, often naked. But the characters themselves HARDLY seem to enjoy sexuality. They have to ENDURE it in order not to die out. Which was perhaps the whole joke of the film, I guess, but only director Terence Young could have told us that. I rate this 5/10.

If you want to see some naked women, riding horses, throwing spears, female warriors fighting each other or with men, or Angelo Infanti eating an apple in almost any scene, this is the film for you. A pile of barren beauty contest and they gave for making this film. There is even a pathetic ballet scene that takes place in a cave. The whole movie is boring. Except maybe the fighting scene between Antiope(Alena Johnston, a beautiful blonde) and Orytheia(a not so beautiful Sabine Sun but, she was the wife of the director, Terence Young). Luciana Paluzzi, the beautiful Fiona from Thunderball(directed by the same Terence Young), has a small role as Phaedra . Riz Ortolani's music (which is very talented) is not great in this one.

First: this movie is from 1973 and not 1974. The sequel is made in 1974 "Amazzoni - donne d'amore e di guerra, Le" and not in 1973. There is also an third movie, a comedy made in 1975.

The movie "Guerriere dal seno nudo, Le" have I seen in the cinema when I was 15 years old. At that time the movie was rated 18 years but lucky that I get in. Why this movie was rated 18 years have I never understood. You don't see any pornography or parts of human body in blood. But maybe the idea that the Amazon women must killed the men after they have mate. Also they killed the babies when it's a boy but you don't see anything.

It's now 30 years later that I've seen the movie but still it's in my mind. The beautiful women who fight in a training camp and battle against men. Never have I seen so professional women fighters as in this movie. They fight with sword and are dressed in a erotic war clothes. There a an lot of Latin look-a-like women in this movie and is a pleasant to see them. The sexual parts of the movie are not very great. You see some parts of nudity and that's it. Enough to see the movie with your children if you want to tell them how children became to this world.

The 2 sequels of this movie: The second is poor follow-up and have not satisfy me. It go about killing more men without any reasons. The third is great but have an another kind of genre. It's a comedy about an karate fighter and a large men who come in the area of the Amazon women. In a funny style they fight against the Amazon women. It have impressed me not very much. IF SOMEONE KNOW THE TITTLE OF THE THIRD MOVIE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.