The Arena

This an interesting mixture of two very different kinds of exploitation film. On one hand, it's basically a Roger Corman women-in-prison film (complete with lots of showers, catfights, and a big bust-out at the end)featuring WIP regulars Pam Greir and Margaret Markhof. On the other hand, it is an Italian "peplum" that was reputedly largely directed by its Italian cinematographer Joe D'Amato and which also stars the luscious Italian actress Rosalba Neri (aka Sarah Bay) as the villianess making her return to the peplum dramas that had made her (semi)famous in the 1960's.

As a Corman film it's not too bad. It has his usual trademark of faux feminism and gratuitous female nudity (by Grier, Markhof, and some of the other slave/prisoners)and it's very formulaic right down to the death of likable innocent(s) and the revenge plot at the end. Unfortunately, it's also a little too tame--it's certainly nowhere near as sleazy as what we've come to expect from the notorious Joe D. I was also personally disappointed at how much they wasted Neri. Not only does she not get naked (a lesbian scene with her and Grier or Markhof would certainly have been memorable), but as a villain she comes off kind of bland--not nearly what she showed she's capable of in films like "Amuck", "Top Sensation", and "Lady Frankenstein".

I guess whether you like this or not will depend on whether you're more of a Corman and Grier fan (in which case it's pretty OK) or whether you're a D'Amato and Neri fan (in which case you'll probably be a little disappointed).

Steve Carver's "The Arena" aka. "Naked Warriors" of 1974 is a highly entertaining piece of 70s exploitation that should not be missed by a B-movie fan. Produced by the almighty Roger Corman, co-directed by the king of exploitation himself, Joe D'Amato, and starring the sexiest duo of 70s cult heroines, the wonderful Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, this is pure Grindhouse cinema for lovers, and should not leave anybody bored.

Abducted from their homelands and enslaved by Romans, two young women, the Nubian Mamawi (Pam Grier) and Bodicia (Margaret Markov) from the Brittany, are, along with other female slaves purchased by the Roman owner of an arena, where they are to do domestic work and serve as mistresses/sex slaves to the gladiators. After a fight at the dinner table, however, one of their unscrupulous slaveholders suggests to have the women fight for their lives in the arena, in order to offer something fresh to the blood-thirsty audiences...

Both stunningly beautiful, charismatic, sexy and cool, Pam Grier and Margaret Markov are a true dream team in exploitation cinema (something they already proved in "Black Mama, White Mama" of 1972). Apart from Grier and Markov, the cast furthermore contains Lucretia Love ("Battle Of The Amazons", "The Sexorcist") and Rosalba Neri ("Lady Frankenstein", "Johnny Yuma"). Another cool role is that of Paul Mueller, a huge, ugly and bald Tor Johnson-lookalike, who plays an invincible gladiator. I personally also found the score pretty cool, although it is certainly not too original. The sleaze and violence are not quite as extreme as in many other exploitation flicks of the kind, but there's enough of both to entertain. Being a fan of exploitation flicks (or not) is a matter of taste, of course, and "The Arena" may therefore not be everybody's type of film. I personally love this kind of films however, and I therefore recommend this to all my fellow exploitation-enthusiasts. Especially Pam-Grier fans should give it a try!

I wish there were more actresses out there like Pam Grier. A very pretty face, a wonderful body, a tough attitude and surprisingly mature acting for a woman who was, when this "Arena" was made, only 24 years old. And Margaret Markov, her co-star here, is not far behind in any of those categories. The biggest virtue of this film are those two characters - strong, well-defined, acted with conviction. Others have compared the "Arena" with Roger Corman's WIP flicks, but the treatment of the subjects here is much more thoughtful and non-exploitative. As for the actual fight scenes, considering that most of these women probably had not touched a sword before in their lives, they did a fairly good job. Too bad the DVD is full-screen, which damages the compositions severely. (**1/2)

A rare collaboration between U.S. and Italian exploitation exponents and the result is not all that bad either: director Carver, executive producer Roger Corman, producer Mark Damon, editor Joe Dante (I wonder whether these last 2 mentioned reminisced about it at the 2004 Venice Film Festival where I saw them both at the screening of Vittorio Cottafavi's THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN {1964}!) and co-star Pam Grier on one side, and cinematographer Joe D'Amato, composer Francesco De Masi and supporting actors Paul Muller and Rosalba Neri on the other. The film supplies a novelty to the Roman gladiator subgenre – which had seen service in many an Italian and Hollywood spectacular during the Golden Age of such fare, and would of course be revived with the Malta-shot GLADIATOR (2000) – by presenting us female combatants: in this respect, it recalls the contemporaneous "Amazon Women" flicks (and the girls here are even addressed as such at one point!) also emanating from Italy.

The plot starts off with a number of them (including statuesque blonde Margaret Markov and buxomy black Grier – the two had actually already appeared together in BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA {1973; which I also own but have yet to watch} and, for the record, the former would marry Damon and retire from acting not long afterwards!) from different tribes being separately captured and sold as slaves to work for the Romans at the arena, under the supervision of Neri. Muller, then, is a politician who, as if taking a leaf from any of the Jess Franco movies he had appeared in, rapes Markov in front of his peers as a demonstration of his power! As befits its pedigree, the film is filled with wall-to-wall violence and nudity (much of it gratuitous) but also other potentially tasteless ingredients – but who can carp when everything is clearly done in fun? – such as the presence of a sissy overseer.

At first, the girls are made to offer comfort to the male combatants the night before the latter are "about to die" – but, when they break into a veritable catfight in the kitchen, the flustered organizer of the bouts suddenly sees a ray of light in order to inject new blood (no pun intended) into the worn-out formula! Soon, the women (one of whom, annoyingly, is shown to be perennially drunk) begin to realize that someday they may have to kill each other: Grier is the first to have to make this difficult choice but only after her hesitation causes an archer to shoot an arrow and wound her (the result of her not complying with the arena-goers' thumbs down)!; the victim happens to be the love interest of their trainer, a Tor Johnson look-alike(!) who then changes loyalties and determines to help the girls escape. Eventually, the latter take control of the arena and exact a terrible revenge upon their captors (but also one of their number who had ingratiated herself with the 'enemy'); when the Roman militia sets out in pursuit, they (or, rather, the two protagonists since they predictably emerge as the sole survivors) escape through the caves to the safety of the sea. The film, essentially a variation on the Women-In-Prison flicks that were very popular around this permissive time, was actually remade by Russian director Timur (NIGHT/DAY WATCH) Bekmambetov in 2001!

Nothing like seeing washed-up blaxploitation actresses further their careers with such shimmering nuggets of bile as this. She has since gone on to bigger and better things, but this film is noticeably absent from her resume.. Hmmm... I wonder why? This is just another mindless t&a flick with some dumb cat fights and forgettable characters. Except for maybe Priscium, a drag queen Roman praetor portrayed masterfully by Sid Lawrence. And some big goofy bald guy who was sort of reminded me of Tor Johnson, one of Ed Wood's old spooks. If you absolutely must know what this garbage is about.. I'll enlighten you. Roman soldiers recruit "beautiful" (read: laundromat recruits) women to be love slaves for the hedonist government officials. When two of the girls, Pam Grier and some blonde chick, start a particularly brutal food fight, those ever-crafty Romans devise a new plan to keep the proles entertained: we'll make these girls fight! So, they make 'em be gladiators. I would've thought that Pam Grier would've used this film to showcase her awesome whupa$$ skills, but.. she didn't. She was suprisingly subdued, actually. Especially for being a Nubian warrior woman. Anyway, after several boring battles, unsaved even by copious amounts of jiggling flesh, the girl gladiators start a revolt and overthrow the government, allowing Pam Grier and blonde chick to escape.

If you're looking for bad movies, this is merely average. There are so many better ones out there, but it is nice to see Pam Grier again. I bet she looks back on this one as a crowning achievement.