Benutzerrezensionen

Well what can you say? It was silly. Unintentional of course. However this kitsch-like presentation works because of how cheap and ludicrous it is. Some things have got to be seen to be believed and this 80s take on "Hercules" has plenty in store. One sequence just sticks in mind, other than that meaninglessly grand opening. Hercules taking on a vicious bear. Cool! However how it's executed had me snickering. Actual bear footage spliced together with someone donning a very convincing bear suit. How to end it. The bear suit being flung into outer-space. It's just part of the tragedy that occurs… you know for dramatic effect.

"Hercules" is a low-grade, straight-laced good vs. evil sword and sorcery epic mainly consisting of echoing voices, tacky optical FX, colourful decors (sometimes miniatures) with moody lighting and some atmospheric illustrations / confrontations. The production did drum up some striking images amongst it's cheap sets / effects, but despite that it wasn't principally all that creative in presenting the material. How it plays out, is like a cosmic chest game between the gods. Hercules (the champion of men) must rescue a princess from being sacrificed and encounters obstacles along the way. Some odd moments (like the tin-bot monsters) and lame dialogues. Lou Ferrigno as Hercules has the physic, constantly flexing and twitching his muscles. Wooden, but fitting. William Berger milks it up in the villain role and Sybil Danning looks fetching, but has bite with her villainous turn. Brad Harris and Mirella D'Angelo also appear. Pino Donaggio scores the bombastic soundtrack. Director Lugi Cozzi does a clunky job, but keeps it moving along at a smooth pace. Ham-fisted, but charming entertainment.

This movie is bad...but not so bad that you don't enjoy it. In fact, your eyes are glued to the screen in anticipation of what bizarre twist they are going to perform next on Greek/Roman mythology. Robot hydra and robot centaurs that shoot lasers are simply too amazing to be missed. The writer of this film must've been autistic and simply wrote the first thing that came into his head. It is DELIGHTFUL! Certainly, if you cannot sit through a bad movie, you should avoid this one; however, as bad movies go, this is an epic...a mighty effort of special effects, bad writing, poor dialog and what looks like a single costume shared by every female member of the cast. No woman in this movie wears anything substantial below the belt...even Dedalus, who for reasons unknown, is a woman in this film.

If your children see this movie, please remember to tell them that the movie has absolutely NOTHING to do with the actual myth of Hercules, Minos, Circe or even Ursa Major (the great bear).

Use as directed...

Cheesy greatness from Cannon and those geniuses Golan-Globus combines post-Star Wars science fantasy with 1960s Italian sword & sandal movies. The pre-credits history of the universe is highly informative. I never realized that's how it all came to be. My teachers were liars. Lou Ferrigno is an impressive sight to behold, for sure. Each of his pecs is bigger than my head. Zeus looks like Jon Stewart with a crown and fake beard. Sexy Sybil Danning isn't in this nearly enough but is enjoyable when she is. Ingrid Anderson is gorgeous and her revealing outfit in the latter half of the movie made me drool.

The dubbing, special effects, sets, and costumes are all cheap but fun. The stop-motion mechanical monsters are beyond cute. The highlights of the movie are Hercules' many impressive feats of strength, such as hurling a bear into space and creating the constellation Ursa Major or pushing apart two bodies of land and creating the continents of Europe and Africa. Again, my teachers were liars. Watch baby Hercules kill the snakes -- that poor baby didn't understand what the heck they had him doing!

This is an entertaining movie. I really don't see how you cannot find it fun to watch. Granted, most of that fun comes from the unintentional comedy it produces but that's still something, right? If I have to watch a movie that is technically and artistically lacking in any kind of quality, I would rather it be a movie like this that has some comedic value than some boring A-list movie that has me sitting on my hands the whole time.

Hercules directed and written by Luigi Cozzi stars the great Lou Ferrigno as the title character and takes great liberties with his story. It's aimed squarely at kids, with its colorful characters and even more colorful special effects. What i liked about it was the steady pacing, the absolutely weird musical cues and Lou's solid, if perhaps too straight performance.

Forget all you know about Herc, this film stands on its own. Some of the old tale is here, baby Herc does crush snakes sent by his stepmother Hera and he does grow up peacefully not knowing why he's so strong. An early battle with a giant bear is well-shot. Lou certainly looks the part, unlike some other actors who tried and he isn't that bad with the dialog, which is very ripe.

In this version Herc's great love is Casseopeia, played by the very easy to look at Ingrid Andersson. I so wanted to get that veil off her face! Herc must win her hand by competing in a series of bizarre rites of Strong. Including the classic cleaning of the stables. Which is a great sequence using miniatures and super-imposition. Even the rocks look heavy and real for a change! Still Zeus, and at least one actor, Claudio Casselinni, was understated, wants the sides of good and evil to be balanced, so Herc and Cass are separated.

Not to fear, Herc soon hooks up with sorceress Circe, played by another beauty in a barely there outfit. She aid him in his celestial quest to conquer the evil of Thera and save Cass from being a virgin(!) sacrifice!

The set for Thera, the green isle of Atlantis actually, is one of the best I've seen outside of Star Wars: Episode IV, its truly a great work of lighting and miniature sets, complete with a flame-wielding colossus. Herc's great strength is no match for the witch Adriana (called Ariana in my version,) played by the buxom Sybil Danning, but his great heart is, he's loyal to Cass. This all leads to a duel with the evil King Minos, who wants science to rule the world at the expense of all emotion. Their duel with Herc wielding the sword of Zeus and Minos the fire sword of Atlantis is great. The finale is spectacular and I love Herc's ending line to the rescued Cass. and check her final outfit, wow! "How do I know you're really Casseopeia? Or are you Adriana is another form or Circe reborn?" She responds "I am all and none of them. I am the one who loves you!"

Cool movie, what I didn't like was the cheesy robots, they simply looked bad! Also why was Daedelus, the God who helps Minos, played by a woman? Some elements of the plot were confusing. Still this a great family adventure, the hero is great the girls are lovely and there is nothing objectionable save some light violence. If you're looking for a fun movie that doesn't require too much brain power, this is it!

George Littman's comment (12 Aug 1999) really sums it up best: This is a kid's movie.

I actually remember going with my dad to see this movie it's opening week. I was a whopping 6 years old. Wow, did I think Hercules was one coolest movies. Even the silly metallic robots (what's the Greeek word for Evil Robot?) were cool.

Would I watch it on late night cable for old-time's sake? Perhaps. Would I ever pay money for this? Maybe when I have a 6-year old of my own...

I loved this movie, as well as Lou's Sinbad. One of my favorite features of the movie was the "dialog of the nod." If you watch most of the expository scenes you'll see the camera close-up is on the listener, not the speaker. So what you get visually is the reaction of the non-speaking actor. This seemed very consistent through the movie.

I figured this trick was use to make dubbing in any language possible without bothering to lip-sync. But once you notice, it get pretty hilarious.

The sound effects when Hercules throws the bear into space (it bounces around to the sound of a pinball machine) is another great cinematic moment; we watched this one scene half a dozen times, laughing our heads off.

Italian cinema had featured musclemen heroes as early as 1912's QUO VADIS (Ursus) and 1914's CABIRIA (Maciste) before making them truly their own and, by turns, seemingly invincible or buffoonish caricatures during the heyday of the peplum cycle around 1954-65. This, then, is yet a later variation clearly sparked by the recent spate of Hollywoodian mythological epics like CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) and CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1981) but giving the old formula a new twist by sprinkling it with a dash of special effects wizardry a' la the STAR WARS saga! This shouldn't come as all that surprising when one realizes that its director is best-known for the infamous STAR WARS (1977) rip-off, STARCRASH (1979) – although, to be fair to him, he is also responsible for one of the unsung gems in the giallo canon, THE KILLER MUST KILL AGAIN (1975) and, at least, one other highly intriguing (and very rare) movie, TUNNEL UNDER THE WORLD (1969) which was also his directorial debut. Ironically, however, Cozzi only took over the assignment (from original director Bruno Mattei) when the producers were dissatisfied with the box office performance of the latter's previous film for them, THE SEVEN MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS (1983)!

Anyway, although I clearly recall watching this version of HERCULES (and its sequel; see below) on Italian TV at Christmas time in the late 1980s, the details of it all were so hazy in my mind that I virtually remembered nothing of the narrative other than that Hercules gets to do battle with several mechanical monsters and that there was a lot of footage of stars and planets and the like. Indeed, the film starts with a lengthy, potentially heretical prologue about the start of creation which, apparently, had everything to do with Zeus and the rest of the Greek gods colonizing the moon eons before the Russians did (by way of ultracheesy visual and sound effects) and nothing at all to do with…but this is not the right place to start debating the existence of God or otherwise – lest this review gets confused with another anti-THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007) argument!

TV's THE INCREDIBLE HULK and former "Mr. Universe" Lou Ferrigno certainly looks the part of the mightiest man alive but, unfortunately, can't act a lick and rarely changes his facial expression throughout the generous 100 minutes of screen time! He is abetted by a lovely Cassiopea (Ingrid Anderson – whose first and only film this was before going briefly into TV and then quitting for good!) and sultry villainess Sybil Danning and the supporting cast features a decent roster of both veteran and nascent Euro-Cult figures like ex-peplum beefcake Brad Harris, William Berger (as Hercules' No. 1 nemesis, King Minos), Claudio Cassinelli (as Zeus, Hercules' creator here – out of pure light, no less! – rather than his natural father), former Helen Of Troy Rossana Podesta' (her penultimate film, playing the rebellious deity Hera), Gianni Garko and Eva Robbins (as Berger's enigmatic scientific acolyte, with an unbelievably campy costume to match).

Once one accepts the film's bizarre notion of setting the old Greek legends in outer space, this gets to be a veritable "so bad it's fun" show which possibly has few peers: an elaborately staged (relatively speaking), bloodthirsty coup d'etat early on comes to naught when the tyrant is never seen again in the rest of the movie!; Zeus's giant hand emerges from within a waterfall to catch Baby Hercules in his tiny boat inside which, however, are two snake-like creatures whom the infant soon squeezes the life right out of!; Hercules is adopted (in full-on Clark Kent fashion) by a family of simple folk and he is soon farming the fields single-handed via unwieldy contraptions but, when his putative father gets mauled by a grizzly bear, our Herculean hero gets so upset that he hurls the beast straight out into orbit and instant immortality as one of the stars in the constellation (I kid thee not)!; next up are a trio of mechanical assailants which, however, expire even before one gets to have a real good look at them (which is just as well, I guess as, otherwise, one starts to wonder why the weapon Hercules uses to dispatch one of the monsters looks suspiciously like a modern-day giant anchor)!; then Hercules tries his hand at a jousting tournament wherein he holds a dozen contestants simultaneously with their backs to the wall by means of a giant log which, once it serves its purpose in gaining him the championship title, also gets hurled into outer space!; later, Hercules sets his eyes on the veiled Cassiopeia and, to prove his worthiness, he cleans up the dilapidated stables (housing a thousand stallions we're told) with the aid of a nearby flowing river! I don't have time to go into all the other labyrinthine trials Hercules goes through before meeting up with King Minos for a hilarious confrontation with lightsabre-like swords but, in case you were wondering who was responsible for dividing Earth into the various continents, enquire no further! Oh, and he does get to ride a horseless chariot, too – by roping a rock and throwing it as far as...well, 'tis Hercules we're talking about after all!

This Italian-made would-be epic – which also features a suitably rousing Pino Donaggio score – was a Cannon Group production (namely Israeli film-makers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus) and followed hot on the heels of the similar THE SEVEN MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS (my memories of which are even more lost within my subconscious) which reunites Ferrigno, Danning and Harris from HERCULES; the latter must not have done too badly at the box office because other films of its ilk came in its wake: not just the sequel but also SWORD OF THE VALIANT (1984), THE BARBARIANS (1987), MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987) and the troubled SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1989; also with Ferrigno).

This movie is HILARIOUS!! The acting is terrible,the plot is non-existent , and the special effects are laughable.Any hint of ACTUAL mythology was chucked out the window...and THANK THE GODS!! Whats left is a movie so completely off the wall and mindless that I laughed the whole way through. I mean, did you SERIOUSLY think that a movie with THIS cast would be stellar..NO!! You know going into it that the movie is gonna suck, you expect it , and this film delivers. THIS MOVIE TAKES YOU TO LEVELS OF SUCK THAT FEW DARE EXPLORE!!! Hercules ,god bless him,actually THROWS a bear into outer space. Thats right!! It's that wrong...but it feels so right.This is definately MST3K quality viewing.TWO thumbs way up...

Almost nothing about this movie makes any sense. Baby Hercules is put in a boat and sent down a river. He is found by people who don't know who he is yet they call him Hercules, and that's the part that makes the most sense. There was so little story that there are several extreme slow motion scenes to ensure that the movie would be over an hour long. Don't waste your time on this mess.

Sword and Sorcery, D and D, whatever you want to call it, it was a genre unto itself back in the day. And this, this is one of the defining movies of that genre, like it or not. I, myself, am a huge sword and sorcery movie, comic, and TV show fan. I own many things relating to Conan and started a 'barbarian brothers' website when there was no info on them to be found on the internet. So, naturally, the fact that this movie is cheesy, campy, and just plain over the top appeals to me. And, as an amateur bodybuilder and longtime fan of 'classic' bodybuilding- of which Lou is an integral part, I enjoy this movie as one of Lou's best. Every other comment has given the basic plot, told about the special effects and so forth. But, I just want to say, If you are into this particular genre, this movie is a must have. The coloring, scenery, effect, sounds and especially the magnificent muscles of Mr. Ferrigno make it very enjoyable. It's not so much like sipping champagne and dining on caviar as it is like having beef jerky and pop. But, hey, sometimes you just crave some calorie rich fun food! It is now available on a double-sided DVD with Hercules 2- which, yes, is even more over the top.

This is definitely such a "hey, WTF?!" bad movie, you wonder why it was ever made at all.

For all the special effects, there's very little real money getting spent here - the poverty shows in the costumes and make up and virtually unadorned sound-stages, but primarily in the casting; not only are the actors and extras incapable of convincing performances, but there aren't enough of them! This is the most underpopulated version of the ancient world I've every seen.

Although there are references to the actual Hercules myths, there is also a lot of loony rewriting of Greek mythology; apparently there's a point to it all - an attempt to comment on the conflicting universes of classical magic and the coming age of 'science,' which point reaches conclusion in the film's sequel. Unfortunately, the science is pretty bad; and the magic doesn't work so well either.

For all that, there are moments of amusement throughout the film, the babes are hot, and the film did salvage the fond memories of the old Italian Hercules film cycles from getting completely lost. And one last point - when the Aussies decided to put together "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys" TV show, they actually used the visual style of the Ferrigno films as their reference, just playing it up for laughs.

Hercules is a masterpiece of b-grade (well, maybe c-grade) cinematography, standing proudly next to Ed Wood's "Plan Nine From Outer Space" and his other brilliantly stupid stuff. Of course, it is not a movie for mainstream, as well as it is not a movie for people without well-developed sense for humor. To enjoy it, you must drop your seriousness, be open-minded and remember that this is a comedy. It doesn't matter that the author didn't meant it as a comedy, far from it, it makes it even more funny. Every single second of the movie is pure dadaism, complete negation, comparable to Monthy Python's works. It makes you ask all the time: "Why??? Why is are the ancients monsters fighting with Hercules robots (and using laser)? Why does Zeus look like submissive Santa Clause? Why does Hercules, after every fight, take his dead enemy and throw him into space? Why is the main evil-guy speaking about "the come of the mighty phoenix" when there never appears anything like that? And was the scene with bear meant seriously???" The stunning idiocy of the author and incredibly bad performance of all the actors are making this movie simply fascinating. It is one of the worse films I have ever seen, but at the same time, I laughed this much only when watching Monthy Pythons, Ed Wood's stuff and the speech of Czech Mr. Premier two weeks ago. I strongly recommend to check it out.

Lou Ferrigno stars as Hercules the muscle-man who battles a sorceress and others to save the princess who he loves, and who he plans to marry (After cleaning out horse stalls.) in this disastrous epic of Greek mythology, bad special effects and horrendous dubbing. Where do I even start with this one? Aside from the hilariously bad special effects (The throwing of a bear in outer-space is truly laughable in its stupidity.) and the lame fight sequences you have what is the one of the worst movies ever made. Seriously. The film's sole redeeming quality is that it is just so hilarious. I mean this movie is guaranteed to make you bust a gut, otherwise you don't have much of a sense of humor. Let's face it bad movies such as this, sadly don't get made and while this movie is completely awful, fans of really bad cinema will be laughing all the way to the bank. For five dollars this is well worth the price. So bad it makes Gymkata seem like Die Hard.

* out of 4-(Bad)

Former Hulk star Lou Ferrigno stars in this entirely lame low budget Italian version of the myth. This has nothing going for it. SFX, acting, directing, story. All terrible!

Luigi Cossi who brought us the rather splendid, gut exploding opus, Contamination, here delivers the tale of the mightiest man who ever lived - Hercules! Interestingly however, despite the rather splendid Greek mythology at hand, Cossi instead opts for a bizarre sci-fi themed version of events involving robot monsters and Gods in space(!) Um....anyway, moving swiftly on, our eponymous hero is played here by none other than the awesomely ripped Lou (The Hulk) Ferrigno who proceeds to show us exactly just how mighty he is by throwing a bear into space(!) and breaking sword blades mounted on chariot wheels on his manly thighs(!) Woah!!! What a man!!!!

Quite rightly highly regarded in bad movie circles, this is to put it mildly, something of a bloody mess. Still, on a positive note the ladies here are all truly mouth watering to behold, including the ever sexy Sybil Danning......mmmmmmm!!!!!!!!! Hell, more than reason enough to at least have a watch me thinks.

The movie begins with nothing less than the creation of the world. In case you believed something else, now you know: the Earth was created from a broken jar, and the Greek gods lived on the Moon. Minos (William Berger) once stole the throne of Thebes, but the rightful heir, young prince Hercules, escaped after killing two electric snakes by short circuit (don't ask). Years later, Hercules (Lou "Hulk" Ferrigno) is back, so Minos sends clumsy metallic toys to kill Hercules. That doesn't work, either. The sorceress Circe takes Hercules all the way to Hell and back, so he can challenge Minos. Sybil Danning plays Minos' bad girl in this trash classic, while genre veteran Brad Harris appears as King Augeias. The actors became aware of what they'd gotten themselves into, obviously. Especially Claudio Cassinelli (as Zeus) and William Berger look like they'd burst into laughter as soon as director Cozzi shouted "cut". Cozzi's rendition of "Hercules" with Lou Ferrigno is so hilariously funny that no-one should miss it from his personal list of "10 worst movies of all time". A must-see for its neon lights disco effects, and a must-listen as well with its beeping electronic noises, and OTT symphonic music like poor man's John Williams meets Carlo Franci. A less entertaining sequel was produced entitled "The Adventures of Hercules".

A bar I frequent shows bad movies without sound during the week. This was one of them.

It is "Hercules", an Italian atrocity from 1983 starring Lou Ferrigno and some other people who don't have much to do except stand in front of tacky backdrops and provide exposition.

This movie is terrible. Ferrigno is not an actor, but he does have enormous pecs, and this will fascinate you for about five minutes. The special effects are embarrassing and strange (robotic monsters terrorize Hercules and so on). The sets are a notch above Ed Wood territory, and the disco lighting throughout is bizarre and distracting.

Still, for lovers of camp, this is kind of a must-see. It's not a long movie, and with a couple of belts you will probably enjoy yourself. Ferrigno even without sound obviously has some kind of speech impediment, so this adds to the schlock factor considerably.

High point: the sword fight with disco lighting on the swords ala Star Wars. But that is one of many. The robot creatures look like children's toys, and the costumes look tawdry and cheap.

Amazingly, this got a sequel, which I will never see. One of this Hercules is enough.

OK for kids, but expect them to laugh at it if they can stay awake..

Cannon Films made two Hercules movies with bodybuilder champion Lou Ferrigno. This is the first (and better of the two). The early 80's was the time for fantasy movies (and in my opinion some of the best movies in the genre were released in that period). This is not one of them. But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the Hell out of this. Hercules is similar (and rips off ) the much better Greek mythology epic Clash Of The Titans. As a film, Hercules is a mixed bag. This was made on the cheap in Italy and has horrible acting, overdubbing, dialogue and subpar storytelling. However, in opinion Lou Ferrigno is perfectly cast as Hercules with his million dollar muscle bound physique. The movie is outrageous and very entertaining with great visuals, f/x and score. The blend of sci fi and fantasy actually works well here and is much better than some other attempts to combine the two genres in this period (Yor, for example). The film is somewhat of a guilty pleasure and is one of the cheesiest entries in the genre easily. As a kid, I thought this was the best thing since sliced bread. As an adult, I found this entertaining for other reasons. Sybil Danning's boobage alone is worth the price of admission. For 80's fantasy action, Hercules delivers big for some supercharged cheesy entertainment. There is not a dull moment to be had with this insane B fantasy flick.

OK now people. I have seen some real turds in my day, but this is the supreme master. El King Turdo, if you will.

This is a bad movie made good by such a pitiful attempt at film making, but beware - there are instructions to make it through and have a story to tell... More than likely extreme boredom is needed, or maybe some kind of liquor to numb the effects of being blatantly assaulted by such utter trash.

Next, you need to fast forward through about the first 15 minutes of the movie. Start it up when Hercules is a baby and left to float down a river. Thats where the movie officially starts because thats where it actually begins to become watchable in a ridiculous way.

This movie is a real treat if you can sit through it from that point on. The horrid acting. The laughable special effects. The appalling soundtrack. The ridiculous story and scripting. (The peak of the movie: Hercules fighting a grizzly bear, ends up throwing him into outer space.) Basically, pure comedy that is sure to provoke some dissapointing groans. Some nice looking women too, but like the last reviewers said: "The cleavage can't even save this movie."

This movie needs to be seen and definetly needs the 1(awful) vote on this site. This film needs to be voted into its proper place as THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!

Lou was awesome in this 80's flick of awesomeness!! The entire cast was great too! I just really enjoyed this movie and will watch it over and over again. Movies today have lost their substance so I'm an older movie fanatic!! Two thumbs way up!!❤️❤️❤️ FYI Lou still looks great!! The effects were good for the 80's and the story came together very well! I love the costumes, dialogue and effects. I love any movie with Lou in it frankly but this one's my top favorite and all his other movies come right after that! This a good Sunday family time movie. I watched it with my teen boys and even they agree that for the time, the story and overall movie was awesome! I highly recommend this film to cinema buffs. I don't like to call these movies b- movies or whatever because they all tried to be great movies, it's just sad some folks can't see through the era and truly enjoy the movie. So get the family on the couch, get some popcorn and press play on the Hercules movie!!

Bodybuilder (and TV's Incredible Hulk) Lou Ferrigno meets Greek Mythology! Yet another retelling of Hercules has bearded, bare-chested muscleman in a battle to save a princess from wizard and mad scientist King Minos. World-domination is awfully tough on a K-Mart budget, so one tends to sympathize more with the wizard than with Hercules. US-Italian co-production is dumbfoundingly square and sorry; word has it that producer Menahem Golan wanted to make an R-rated, sex-and-violence actioner, but was swayed by Ferrigno who was courting the family market. For reasons still unclear, Pino Donaggio composed the score (apparently after Ennio Morricone dropped out). Ferrigno, deaf in real life, had his lines dubbed by an actor who sounds like he's narrating a ride at Disneyland. Sybil Danning as Adriana gives the only noteworthy performance (stories of how she tried to seduce her married co-star behind-the-scenes are more entertaining than the film itself!). NO STARS from ****

This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

The screenwriters of this film must have surely thought that it was a brilliant idea to merge robots with Greek mythology, it's a shame that their consideration was wrong because it is actually a terrible idea, but really how can you come up with something like that and thinking that this stuff could really work and be nice to look at, for heaven's sake, the film is so strange and particular that in the end it's even entertaining but still it's really bad and you can't overlook everything that's wrong with the film.