Hercule se déchaîne

Hercules, the legendary hero with almost superhuman strength, returns to his hometown of Arpad after many years. The city is now ruled by Queen Knidia. With the wicked guidance of the domineering minister Menistos, she ends up oppressing and tormenting the people. Hercules decides to put an end to this tyranny and sides with the rebelling masses. Blinded by a hunger for power and hatred, Menistos now does everything they can to capture Hercules- dead or alive.

Brad Harris - who bears a passing resemblance to Kirk Douglas - plays Hercules in this typical peplum which, predictably, has familiar tropes. An evil villain, oppressed people, a useless Queen, dungeons, feats of strength, schemes and a test - which features a battle with a lion and a gorilla. None of these face-offs are that thrilling. The gorilla is a man in a suit and moves like he's drunk. The other action scenes are better, Brad Harris makes a good Hercules, gets a bit intense and angry towards the end, but it's Serge Gainsborg as the evil minister who steals the thunder. There's the usual bevy of beautiful women and grand schemes to overcome the bad guys. Discriminate viewers will not be too impressed, but I enjoyed it, finding its pace fairly brisk. The finale is quite rousing.

This movie begins with "Hercules" (Brad Harris) riding in a chariot and suddenly being ambushed by a group of men. Upon defending himself, the leader recognizes that it is Hercules that they are attacking and yells for his men to withdraw. Hercules then proceeds to his destination, which is the city of Arpad, to pay his respects to the king. However, when he gets there, he is informed that the king and all of the other counselors he knew previously have all died. The new ruler is the king's daughter "Cnidia" (Mara Berni), who he knew when she was a child and who quickly falls in love with him when they meet again. Unfortunately, although she believes that she is in control of the city, the fact of the matter is that her lead adviser, "Menistus" (Sergi Gainsbourg) is actually calling the shots, and nothing happens without his consent. That said, the one thing he doesn't want is somebody like Hercules appearing out of nowhere and disturbing the status quo. Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that the entire movie seemed to be both routine and predictable, which caused it to seem rather dull. Likewise, the dialogue--which was initially in Italian and dubbed into English--seemed extremely basic which didn't necessarily help in that regard. Although it might appeal to die-hard "Sword and Sandal" fans, I personally found it to be somewhat boring and therefore rate it as below average.

The generic "Hercules" plot can be found here. This plot is set in a tyrannical kingdom where an evil ruler, often a queen, faces a revolt from freedom-loving rebels. Not surprisingly, the queen casts lustful eyes upon Hercules and tries to win him to her side but he's more attracted to one of the queen's handmaidens who turns out to have ties to the rebels. The queen then resorts to magic spells to temporarily cloud Hercules' mind but he soon comes to his senses and joins the revolt, usually enduring some bondage, torture, and tests-of-strength along the way. The ruler is overthrown, the rebels are victorious, crowds cheer, and Hercules gazes lovingly upon the handmaiden. There are only minor variations to this plot in "The Fury of Hercules." The queen, for instance, is more misguided than evil, and Hercules never once winds up in chains, but all this is still familiar enough to confuse with a dozen other sword-and-sandal productions. If there's a distinguishing factor here, it's Idaho-born Brad Harris who has not only the body of Hercules but also a good-looking face. His acting is adequate and his personality passable. One wishes he had better material to work with. He should, for example, have more scenes in which he's completely bare-chested. Get rid of that strap over his shoulder! Weasel-faced Serge Gainsbourg, so villainous in "Revolt of the Slaves," does the same sort of job here.

Here we go again, Hercules has another evil ruler to deal with. That is nothing unusual - this time is an evil queen. The queen wants Hercules but our hero is in love with a pretty and sweet milkmaid.

Standard, typical stuff. Nothing that really makes this Hercules film stand out of the crowd.

Mid to late 70s to the very early 80s I recall watching a couple, three or four of the Hercules films and I really enjoyed them. Going back to watch them all these years later I find they are not nearly as good. I guess viewing the films from the eyes of a child in those years of my life these movies seemed big, glamorous and very heroic.

These days, all I can see is a poor script - cheap bad lines and boring story, bad camera work and some not so great acting. I see some nice costumes, sets and props - sometimes some good action - and I think those are the same things I actually saw as a kid, but as an adult I can see the whole picture and it's mildly entertaining.

2.5/10

In THE FURY OF HERCULES, it's Brad Harris' turn to toss grown men around like so much pizza dough, as the human boxcar of the title.

This time out, Big H saves a queen from a pirouetting pair of ballet assassins. The grateful queen takes Herc into her private chambers and into her confidence. Alas, she turns out to be a royal bossy boots, enslaving the populace! If she's not bad enough, her underlings are even worse!

Now, wearing a cream-colored, one-piece mini-dress for spring, H-Man must free the slaves. But first, it's time for the obligatory "test of strength", wherein he battles a lion and a rather sickly looking go-rilla, before tangling with another muscleman in a cage match to the death!

Soon, our gargantuan hero is moving 5-ton slabs of stone, on his way to deliver the downtrodden. All, while wearing the latest in red, beach cover-ups. When a band of hillbilly-ish cavemen attack, we get to see him go completely berserk-ules!

Harris does a decent job playing the big lug. Fans of the genre know the routine, and all of the necessary elements are in place...