War Goddess

This movie's greatest selling point is the sex. There is tons of it, even for an exploitation film. I wouldn't go out of my way to review this if that was all it had to offer though. It presents minimal plot yet an interesting take on politics in the city of Amazons. Most impressive of all however, is the acrobatics.

For some reason, women in American movies at this time were, more often than not, poor fighters. Even in the 80's, Sandahl Bergman, the queen of fantasy adventures, could just barely pass as someone trained with a sword. She was in at least three I can think of in which swordplay was important to her character, yet she never once sold me that she could use it. Against the odds, every major and minor character in War Goddess can fight. On foot, horseback, and in mud, these women can wield any weapon and perform any feat. It's very impressive.

The storyline is rather stupid, with the silly anti-Women's Lib back ground (women can not do without men, see…). But the movie in its original full unrated version contains two or three of the most erotic soft core lesbian scenes ever. The women are strong but very good looking (this was shot before any silicon stuff came to pollute nudity). The camera work is of course excellent (director Terence Young). The first memorable scene consists of a topless oil wrestling fight to decide who the next queen will be. There is also a long savage nude fight with the same competitors which ends with cute kissing. This probably the only mainstream movie to picture women wrestling with a strong erotic overtone.

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.

A very strange and anachronistic movie of 1973; it feels like it should have been made a decade before, at the height of the sword and sandal boom. As for Terence Young directing...who knows?! I saw the English dub, which is pretty bad, but then so is this overlong and rather aimless film. It highlights Amazon society, following their new queen as she engages with a male tribe for procreation, but the acting is limited at best and the dialogue pitiful. Some nice acrobatics here and there and one battle scene, but the focus throughout is on showing skin, most notably in an explicit nude catfight, so this is more a skin flick than anything else.

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.