Los gigantes de la Tessaglia

This was the American dubbed version entitled The Giants Of Thesally.

This movie whisks you away to a magical land of far far away, where men were real men on boats, women were slightly thinner men on boats, and real women stay at home to deliver plot dumps whilst staring wistfully off into the middle distance.

Badly made, appallingly edited, poorly dubbed, with effects that only 1940s BBC sci-fi would admire, yet bizarrely, very nicely scored.

Brought to you in No Continuity-O-Vision!

Goes well with a few beers and laughs.

Not the greatest movie of its kind, but far from the worst. Certain things are low points. Like continuity. Its so so. When a terrible storm hits the Argos you'd expect the deck to pitch and not be stable. As the movie moves from one part of the story line to the next certain things seem to be left out. But for the most part these things are nonessential and their lack does not make the thing hard to follow, so the loss is minimal. But the upside ... The sets and costumes are well done. The movie, despite the lack of continuity in spots, flows well and is easy to follow. The dubbing, this flick being Italian, is OK. Dubbing, I think, can never be better than just OK. When a person speaks in one language and then the thing gets dubbed in another, well, the mouths and words are never going to match up all that well. But the folks who did the dubbed voices did their job very well. They carry the emotions that go with the plot and characters very well. In fact thats probably the best aspect, technically speaking, of the whole film. The choreography is pretty good. Fights actually look, more or less, like fights. The one eyed monster is campy style cool. The plot is fair for a movie about Jason and his friends. Its not hard to watch. If you like this genre I think you'll enjoy this movie.

Pretty average spectacle of the crank 'em out kind that showed up every weekend when I was about six or seven.

Mickey Hargitay musta been busy greasin' up his biceps or frolicking around with Jayne and Reeves wanted good money so they opted for Roland Carey who despite a decent chest is very colorless and blah.

The plot is as thin as pizza but serves well for the usual blend of fight,flounder and flex.

TO it's credit there is some good fantasy music,a hilarious one eyed gorilla,a wacky witch and the requisite harem dance.

If you got some pals that are good with the MST3K style of back talk you'll have plenty of fodder here.Fans of SOuth Park will hardly resist a remark or two about Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride.

If your a fan ,check it out otherwise forget it unless you want something to clear the kids out of the room.

Rare Peplum pearl featuring Roland Carey and Massimo Girotti

After his stint as a stuntman for Burt Lancaster in "Trapez" and a foray into German local films ("The Country Doctor"), the attractive Swiss actor Roland Carey (1933-2019) was ready for leading roles in the sandal films of the Roman film industry. Unfortunately, this film from 1960, which was only released in West German cinemas on March 6, 1964, didn't really hit the mark. Director Riccardo Freda (1909-1999) later distanced himself from his own work for unspecified reasons. Elements from the Jason and Odysseus epics were mixed too unfavorably.

Jason (Roland Carey), the King of Thessaly, sets off with his mentor (Massimo Girotti, 1918-2003) and his Argonauts to Colchis to search for the Golden Fleece. His wife Creusa (Ziva Rodann, born in Haifa in 1933) is left alone and has to fend off the intrusive advances of Adrastus (Alberto Farnese). The Argonauts (including Raf Baldassarre and the physically very impressive Greek bodybuilder Takis Kavouras) experience a number of adventures fighting monsters and beautiful women. On the island of the beautiful Queen Gaia (Nadia Sanders) the men experience their blue miracle. The lovesick young man Euristeus (Luciano Marin) particularly stands out. Ultimately, Jason manages to steal the Golden Fleece from the red giant. The men happily return to their native Thessaly, where they still have to defend themselves against Adrastus and his men. Victims are inevitable...

There is action in this film, but it lacks the necessary cohesion. The story is too thin, and apart from the great Massimo Girotti ("Ossessione" (1943), "The Last Tango of Paris" (1972)), the actors can't make up for it. Roland Carey also remains all too pale and can only score points with his outstanding looks. He didn't have a really big career in Rome, but he did make a few films.

Nevertheless: A thoroughly enjoyable pastime, and not just for genre fans!

Elaborate sets, imaginative monsters, bloody battles, and the usual quota of oiled hard-bodies fighting over sultry beauties, "Giants of Thessaly" is a coherent and well-produced entry in the 'peplum', or sword and sandal genre. Here, the evil Adrasto (Farnese wearing a great beard sans moustache) is plotting to overtake Thessaly and forcibly acquire the yummy-mummy Creusa (brief international starlet Rodann) as his wife, but must first persuade the kingdom that his cousin and rightful ruler King Jason (Carey) is not returning from his treacherous journey to recover the coveted golden fleece.

Jason and his argonauts battle a giant cyclops, a mysterious island of witches masquerading as beauties, and encounter talking sheep as they bumble their way to glory and return to Thessaly to find Adrasto on the brink of taking Creusa as his wife. It's formulaic but satisfying nonetheless. Carey isn't quite as ripped as his contemporaries Reg Park or Brad Harris, but he still seems to charm the ladies.

Some bloody battles (check out the guy with the arrow through his ears), a ubiquitous dancing scene and even a sermon on the virtues of first true love, there's surely something for everyone if you're prepared to ensconce yourself in this unique brand of Italian film-making.