El coloso de Rodas

Technically master director Sergio Leone's debut, The Colossus of Rhodes wasn't his first foray into swords-and-sandals epics. He was famously the second unit director for Ben-Hur and had to take over the reigns himself for The Last Days of Pompeii. Although he's known now for his Westerns, he certainly had a little niche going at the start. Unfortunately, there's fundamental flaws with that niche and it just doesn't hold up to today. Bland characters, bland story. It takes itself too seriously and ends up overly camp. It wants to have a camaraderie about war but it comes off awkward and childish ending with meaningless conflict and catastrophe. It's an interesting film and relatively watchable but it's terribly dated. While it has the pace of his subsequent films, it has none of the grit or tension. The most disappointing aspect is that the photography is incredibly flat. While the frames take a massive expanse for a debut, there's no depth and the sets are just obvious. Well, at least he got better.

5/10

Now that this film is at last available on DVD (having never been issued on tape or laserdisc), more people will get a chance to see it and hopefully it will be better appreciated. Until now, the only way to see it was to wait for it to show up on TCM, which happened once or twice.

While this is Sergio Leone's first credited film as a director, you won't see the hallmarks of the distinctive Leone style. He's working here more as a director for hire, just as Stanley Kubrick had done the year before with "Spartacus." Rory Calhoun is woefully out of place, his hairstyle wildly anachronistic (full of that greasy kid stuff), he grins idiotically at inappropriate moments and gives his inane dialogue all the gusto it deserves. The story is fairly straightforward, although refreshingly free of the ersatz piety that infects so many epic Hollywood films of the era. There's a lip-smacking taste for brutality, as some of the heroes are fiendishly tortured; this appears to have been a hallmark of Italian epics of the time.

Where this movie works --- and it does --- is in the spectacle itself. You might not think that set decoration, production design, costumes, and cinematography can carry a picture, but in this case these elements are so well done it more than offsets Calhoun's dorky performance and the weaknesses of the plot. Bear in mind when you watch this that Leone did not have a computer to work with. Everything that you see had to be built or painted, and it's remarkably effective.

The film is perhaps a bit overlong, but the story has enough energy to carry the action sequences and bring all those incredible sets to life. The supporting cast is good enough to make up for Calhoun, although the dubbing is poorly done.

It's not as sophisticated as "Spartacus", but it's certainly more effective than, say, "Clash of the Titans." If you like sword-and-sandal films, this one is well worth your time.

In "Airplane," when Captain Oveur asks young Joey, "Do you like gladiator movies?" he is slyly and salaciously referring to films like "The Colossus of Rhodes." While technically not a gladiator movie, Sergio Leone's directorial debut is rife with scantily clad men whose rippling muscles and impeccable abs are fully exposed while they wrestle with each other or undergo whippings, torture, and bondage. The national pastime of Rhodes must have been doing crunches and lifting weights, because even the mature men have flat tight stomachs and bulging biceps. Meanwhile, the women, while lovely of face, remain chastely clothed and relegated to the sidelines. The homo-erotic visuals of this tale of ancient Rhodes call into question the film's intended audience. Were there enough closeted gays in the early 1960's to make a success of mediocre movies such as this?

Despite some good action sequences that hint at Leone's directorial talents, the film's dialog is stilted, the special effects dated, and the performances generally wooden. In desperate need of judicious editing, the film drags on far too long, and the plot sags in the middle. American actor, Rory Calhoun, a fading western hero who was obviously hired only for his name, wanders through the proceedings like a stranger in a strange land in more ways than one. Portraying the Greek Darios as an American on holiday, Calhoun remains nonplussed in the face of death, torture, and the lures of beautiful women. Decidedly less buff than his Italian counterparts, Calhoun nevertheless overwhelms men whose physical strength obviously exceeds that of his own lean build. Perhaps his attire gave him self-confidence. The stylish mini-togas with colorful scarves thrown over one shoulder and white, laced boots to the mid-calf make Calhoun resemble Captain Marvel more than an ancient warrior.

When viewers tire of Calhoun's costume changes and the sight of bare male flesh, they can amuse themselves watching the actors' mouths move without once matching the words that they supposedly utter. In the scenes between Calhoun and Lea Massari as Diala, there is little doubt that neither performer knows what the other is saying. Calhoun recites his lines in English while Massari recites hers in Italian, which was later ineptly dubbed. However, even Italian sandal epics can be entertaining, and "Colossus" is no exception. If expectations are kept low or the viewer is an undying fan of Rory Calhoun, then "Colossus" provides some camp moments and decent action in addition to its legions of male Italian bodies.

Leone served his apprenticeship in film by assisting various Italian directors as well as Walsh, Wyler and Melvyn Le Roy… By the late '50s he was writing scripts for gladiatorial epics, the genre in which he first gained directing experience, and took over "The Last Days of Pompeii" when the director Mario Bonnard fell ill before directing alone "The Colossus of Rhodes." Not until 1964, however, did he establish himself as a true original with his first film in what would come to be known as the Man With No Name trilogy…

"The Colossus of Rhodes" begins in the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea 280 B.C.

Rhodes is celebrating a proud day in her history… A magnificent statue will now dominate the seas… But the Colossus was erected in blood and the people in Rhodes do not want slavery… The chief of the rebels, Peliocles (Georges Marchal) needs a man like that visitor Dario (Rory Calhoun), who's a great warrior in Greece…

Thar (Conrado San Martín)—who is in love with Diala (Lia Massari)—is no longer content with the power Serse (Roberto Camardiel) stupidly bestowed upon him… He wants this beautiful island to sell to Phoenicia, than he'll be the reigning monarch… Of course the rebels don't have enough men to attack them openly…

There's only one plan, to enter the Colossus… But the Colossus is impregnable…How could they hope to get in? Rhodes' best soldiers are imprisoned underground… A heavy gate seals the only exit… This gate can only be opened by a control in the Colossus…

If you want to see how the Colossus is a huge trap don't miss this Sergio Leone's directorial debut

Word was that director Sergio Leone who stepped in during 1959 and took over directing "The Last Days of Pompeii" with Steve (Mr. Hercules, himself) Reeves wanted to make a sword and sandal film...at that time Italy was churning out the musclebulgers by the dozens.....Steve Reeves with that physique carved from granite was the king of these musclebulgers.....and to a lesser degree by another musclebulger named Mark Forrest. Leone employed all the members of "Last Days of Pompeii" he could hire....the one exception was he wanted Steve Reeves with that bulging physique to star but Reeves was committed to making "The Giant of Marathon" and "The Great White Warrior" and was not available.....How did I get this info??? I knew a friend of Reeves who talked to him and how Leone liked him and offered him the role in Colossus...... Rumor was a rather handsome but undernourished John Derek was the choice for Dario in the lead role...but a feud developed between Leone and Calhoun who was making another costume "epic" nearby in Italy was suddenly available. Calhoun had made his reputation during the 50s making westerns and was hired......anyhow, story is a typical Italian sword and sandal epic of evil rulers, mob scenes, tortures with whips and chains and a few lovely women to look at.....main story line concerns a giant erected statue called the Colossus which stands over the entrance of the harbor to the island of Rhodes in 280 BC. The Colossus drops oodles of fire and brimstone from it's bottom on any invading ships and invaders who try and enter unwelcome...... Calhoun in leading role as Dario looks out of place....he has that greased up hair do from the 50s he wore and those white shiny boot sandals he had on...ugh!!!! Lea Massari his off and on again love interest is very wooden with a large skin blemish right in the middle of her forehead!!! Where was the make up department????? Massari has all the charm of a wooden box and little to no sex appeal.....in most sword and sandal movies the women are skimpily dressed to the extreme to attract the male audience.....in Colossus the women are covered with full length togas and long dresses....go figure.....Mylene Demengeot who co starred with Steve Reeves in "Giant of Marathon" would have been a better female leading lady for this film....anyhow....there are still legions of sword and sandal fans out there who remembers all those gladiator films....the genre was resuscitated briefly in Russell Crowe's 2000 film "Gladiator".....word was the director wanted Steve Reeves to come out of retirement and play a role but Reeves was in declining health at the time and could not commit....so sad to see the king of these S&S films decline the role......only real criticism is this film is about 20 minutes or so too long coming in at 2 hrs and 15 minutes.......still not bad to see for sword and sandal fans.