Supermen contre les amazones

I've come to realize that I say this every so often, but this has got to be one of the weirdest, most incoherent and senseless movies ever made. You never know what to expect with a Shaw Bros production, but this "Amazons against Supermen" is like a mixture between dumb and brilliant. The opening credits already illustrate a collage of exciting and spectacular Superhero action guided by a rhythmic and catchy tune. This promptly sets the right mood, of course, but I've seen enough bad movies to know that promising credits unfortunately aren't a guarantee to steady entertainment. After that follows a long – but still fun enough – sequence showing some sort of gladiator tournament inside the barriers of an Amazon tribe. They have ingenious contests like archery dueling on stilts (!) and mud catch. Although you can tell all this footage is irrelevant and pointless, it nevertheless remains amusing to watch. Then it's time for the extended introduction of the three multicultural supermen. There's the enormous black guy who doesn't like to be interrupted when he's eating, the Asian expert in martial arts and a vainglorious white kid who has a throne in between two mountains and enjoys making loops when he jumps. The amazons intend to subject a whole village of poor suckers to slavery, but they're already under the "protection" of the aforementioned gay superhero. Even though the earlier sequences during the tournament raise the impression of being a serious and hardcore "action" movie, with bloodshed and sleaze, the tone and choreography of the later fight sequences tends towards slapstick. The seemingly improvised script comes up with the most bizarre stuff (Amazon women only go to war when the moon is full?) and the acting performances go from simply bad to downright insufferable. The only scenes that are properly acted are the romantic bits between the black superhero and the local school teacher (who just happens to be the only black girl in town). In fact, those parts were so believable that I assume these people where really in love. "Amazons versus Supermen" comes with a valuable morality lesson: it requires multiple interracial supermen to defeat a small army of aggressive women in bikini, so next time you get into an argument with your wife, don't even think for one second you stand a chance.

I am a sucker for Amazon films when the ladies are dressed in sexy 2-piece outfits. Just looking for escapism fare, nothing more. So when I saw the video box cover art, I wanted to see it, but it never got much of a distribution in the U.S. Well, I just rented it from Net-Flix. The good news is that all of the Amazons were attractive, and the sexy white outfits showcased their extremely fit bodies. They actually looked liked the cover box. The movie was mostly played for laughs.

The bad news was everything else. The picture quality wasn't up to par, but still watchable. The final big battle was seemingly filmed at dusk and the lighting was lacking. It also seemed to raise up a lot dust. I would have liked to have better seen what was going on because quite a bit of effort and expense was involved. I guess, it would have been too expensive to re-film, so they printed what they had.

In this film, Amazons are considered as bad people for reasons I apparently missed. Although, nice people who not do the things the Amazons did in the 1st 5 minutes of the film.

If you can get through its funky and funny opening credits and title sequence, presented sometimes in negative format, you are doing well...

Produced in collaboration with the mighty Shaw Brothers studios, you can certainly see the influence the Hong Kong giants had on Italian cinema of this time, and if there wasn't so much white flesh kicking about and ridiculous comedy sequences, you could definitely mistake it for a bizarre, Chang Cheh directed kung fu epic.

Now - don't take my words and twist them!

What I mean is the ascetic of it all - the large cast, the wild sets, crazy characters, violent training sequences and mad weapons. The opening 10 minutes alone is an army of Amazonian women beating the hell out of each other before introducing us to one of the Supermen in a whacky (but fun) teahouse-style fight reminiscent of any amount of 70's kung fu comedies...

This Rarescope presentation could have done with an HD clean-up which may have made it all the more exciting. It's not a terrible film by any means, featuring many mad-cap moments, some great stunt work and acrobatics, and enjoyable kung fu fights (as well as the usual 70's style comedic Italian slapping scuffles and daft music). It's like Fantasy Mission Force meets a Bud Spencer film meets The Princess Bride, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion!

Shaw Brothers star Yueh Hua seems to enjoying himself all-the-same, and I can't blame him. As dated as the film may seem, it is just so nutty you can't help but smile during most of its running time.

Overall: Plenty of laughs and comical action, Amazon Vs Supermen passes the time pleasantly, but its hardly a classic!

This is pretty much your standard sword and sandal affair, perhaps a little above average, but nothing to write home about. It's OK. The chicks are pretty hot, despite the fact that they keep their clothes on, and they don't even try to explain why they are all about the same age. Do they all decide to get pregnant at the same time and then kill themselves at the same time after their children are able to fend for themselves? Whatever. It's a silly film and there is no need to be asking questions like that. My main reason for bothering to review this at all is to point out that it has, perhaps, one of the WORST, inane and inappropriate soundtracks EVER. Just epic bad stuff and the only movie I can think of that comes close is The Puma Man. Obscure reference? I guess, yeah, but it's accurate.

So, if you want to watch a movie with 20 or 30 stunning women who know how to ride horses, this is the movie for you. Yes, it has a plot, and yes, there are some hilarious continuity errors, such as the stone quarry filled with heavy equipment tracks. But, it is good Italian slapstick, and nearly 50 years ago, when this movie was made, the world had not yet become obese. There is virtually no nudity in this film, but if you were around when this film was made, it's worth it just to bathe in the aura of a time when everybody wasn't overweight. Some of the scenes go overly long, and my copy popped in and out of Italian in some places, but I will definitely watch this film again in a few years.