Le triomphe d'Hercule

When the people of Mycene rise in revolt, their evil Prince Mil, his mother, Pasiphae, a sorceress, conjured up seven superhuman beings made of bronze who spread terror among the populace.

After being stripped of his superhuman strength, because of an unjust act, Hercules (Dan Vadis) still manages to take on the prince and his mother in the sorceress grotto. ... but it isn't easy ...

If it was easy, then this Italian peplum would be as dull as dishwater. And it certainly it isn't. You got a magic dagger that unleashes the Golden men whenever the villain wants to (thanks to his loving mother who happens to be a sorceress and she's hot one. Moira Ofei plays her with a theatrical coldness.), Hercules almost gets impaled by spikes, and he has to take on the golden men. Hercules also shows a dark side, which is his rage - he falls for the main villain's trickery and consequently kills an innocent man, hence he loses his power. But of course not for long. It's a briskly-paced, engaging with a spirited and well-staged fights and a penchant for the fantastical. Dan Vadis plays the musclebound hero this time around and he is quite agile in the action sequence. Loved the arena sequence with the chariot with long spikes (ouch!)

While his biceps may not have been as big as Steve Reeves of Reg Park, Dan Vadis, looking like a taller, more imposing Captain Kirk, is still a very capable Hercules. His biggest advantage may be his dexterity, as he displays more grace in his fight scenes than most of the other Hercules players.

This is a fairly brisk go around with Hercules (Vadis) battling giant men of gold while trying to protect his princess love from her evil relative.

Lackluster entry in the prolific peplum genre – these films may have been designed as mere entertainment fodder but very few examples proved otherwise rewarding. This is an even lesser achievement than THE MEDUSA AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (1963), from the same director and which I watched concurrently; however, it's basically on the same below-par level of two other such efforts I viewed in the past featuring the same muscle-bound lead, Dan Vadis, namely THE REBEL GLADIATORS (1963) and SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS (1963).

Anyway, the film sees Hercules fighting a tyrant (Pierre Cressoy from FRINE, CORTIGIANA D'ORIENTE [1953]) and saving/loving a damsel-in-distress ("Euro Cult" regular Marilu' Tolo) – nothing new plot-wise, then…except that Cressoy is in cahoots with a witch (glamorous Moira Orfei) so that he's able to unleash an army of gold-tinted musclemen to cause havoc, but they're clearly no match for Hercules. Even so, the hero's strength is sapped by an angry Zeus (via a comical jagged thunderbolt insert) at one point – eventually being restored just in time to prevent Tolo from being fatally spiked! During the climax, then, Orfei plays an optical trick on Vadis but which ends up rebounding on herself – taking up Tolo's semblance as she's hanging from a cliff, but Hercules recognizes the true heroine from the color of her eyes and Orfei perishes in the sea instead!

For what it's worth, the film includes plenty of action sequences – but, more often than not, they're rendered hilarious by way of obvious repeated footage, exaggerated death reactions and clumsy stunt-work.

HERCULES VS. THE GIANT WARRIORS stars Dan Vadis as the titular slab of bulbous-ness.

The action begins as the king has been assassinated by the treacherous Gordio. When Hercules gets involved, the eeevil sorceress, Pasiphae is called upon to thwart him. Her powers are used to create an army of giant, gold warriors in matching gold shower caps and dog collars. These behemoths start squashing the downtrodden right away.

Before Hercules can meet with these huge horrors, he must first go through the usual "test of strength", where crowds gather to watch big men whack each other with big objects. The wicked Gordio shows off his chariot, complete with 3-ft long wheel hub knives, that make the ones in BEN HUR look like nail clippers!

Big H finally gets to battle the towering terrors, treating them like seven Curly Howards, bonking them on their heads to a chorus of 3 Stooges sound effects! Unfortunately, the devilish Prince Milo has a trick up his sleeve, causing Herc to go berserk! Tragedy follows, leaving only darkness ahead. Can H-Man return, and give Milo what he so desperately deserves?

HINT: It's soldier-smashing time!

Do not miss the boffo, supernatural, return of the golden guys, throw-down showdown! It's a finale for the ages!...