L'ira di Achille

One has to admit that this movie is found in a class of its own when compared to other Italian productions of the same genre. The plot is very true to Homer's epic and the film editing is very good. The only drawback is that the hero, portrayed by Mitchell is quite stiff - unfortunately acting is not his forte. However, fortunately, he is overshadowed by the acting of the other stars and so the result is entertaining in every respect.

for many reasons, Gordon Mitchell was not the most inspired option for the role of Achilles. but this choice becomes a small detail across the film. because , "Fury of Achilles" has a first virtue - it is different by the Italian movies , inspired by the mythology/history of Old Greek / Rome. motifs - Iliad is not a pretext for fight scenes and love stories but source for an adaptation who use accuracy as one of its virtues. the second motif, the acting who could not be reduced at good intentions. and the beautiful cinematography. so, "The Fury of Achilles".

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, both warring parties seem to have run out of steam. The Greeks fight over the most beautiful prey women (Cristina GAIONI, Maria FIE and Eleonora BIANCHI). Of course, the Greeks' best fighter, Achilles (Gordon MITCHELL), doesn't like the fact that old Agamemnon always claims the right to vote first. And the Trojans' fortunes are also going wrong. Hector (Jacques BERGERAC) and his good wife Andromache (Tina GLORIANI) have never liked the fact that his love-crazy brother Paris brought about war with the Greeks in the first place. Finally, Hector, the Trojans' best fighter, has to face the final battle with Achilles, who is considered invincible. The whole thing finally gets out of hand when Hector unknowingly kills Patroclus (Enio GIROLAMI), Achilles' best friend, in a duel. Achilles is beside himself with anger, so that the battle for Troy is about to take a decisive turn...

The story of Homer has been part of world literature for more than 2,000 years. The Italian director Marino GIROLAMI manages to create a thoroughly coherent ancient drama with many fight scenes that are quite impressive for the time they were made. Numerous scenes from LA GUERRA DI TROIA with Steve REEVES were also used in GIROLAMI's film. The American bodybuilder Gordon MITCHELL (1923-2003) cuts a very good figure as a battle-hardened hero with extremely dark character traits. Gordon MITCHELL was able to hold his own in other roles for almost three decades even after the sword and sandal film wave in the Roman film industry of CINECITTA had ebbed. The French actor Jacques BERGERAC (1927-2014) is also very interesting as his opponent. He was married to two ACADEMY AWARD winners, Ginger ROGERS and Dorothy MALONE, and in his second life became head of the French cosmetics company Revlon. As an actor he was also in GIGI (1958) with Leslie CARON, A GLOBAL AFFAIR (1964) with Liselotte PULVER and MISSIONE SPECIALE LADY CHAPLIN (1966) with Daniela BIANCHI.

This sword and sandal film based on Homer's ILIAS, which is well worth seeing, attracted at least 698,000 visitors (source: InsideKino) to West German cinemas.

Spectacular and hight budgeted Peplum for the Italian standards , based on historical events Homer's Illiad . The movie deals with war of Troy as adaptation from classic poem of Homer about loves between París and Helen that led to the bloody war ; nevertheless this ¨L'ira di Achilles¨ regarding more the abundant tensions between Achilles wielding a powerful sword and Agamemnon , than the famous loves between Paris and Helen , while giving hope to the Trojans . In fact , here doesn't appears neither the ¨Trojan Horse¨ , nor Helen , nor Menelaus , but especially the confrontation between and Achilles (Gordon Mitchell) and Agammemon (Mario Petri), as well as Achilles's fury for Patroclo's (Ennio Girolami) death , his subsequent seeking for revenge and the supernatural Gods with their divine intervention on human issues. When París (Roberto Risso) escapes with Helen , there takes place the Troy war . Helen is the beautiful wife of Menelao , Sparta's King , when she falls for París , son of Troy king Priamo (Fosco Giachetti) , both of them escape. This event lead to the Siege of Troy. It is set in the tenth year of the Trojan War, and director picked some usual Peplum stars as well as new Italian players to perform the protagonists in this epic tale based on the known poem written by Homer: Iliada . Its Tumultous Story Has Lived For Thirty Centuries! The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships! The Trojan Horse of treachery! Its towering wonders span the age of titans!

Spectacular and Italian style rendition based on Troy war with splendid cast and overwhelming battle scenes . The plot is well-known and accurately based on the classic story , though here dealing more the taking on between Achilles and Agammenon than the popular love story . Recounting deep loves , fights , disputes that divide the Greek camp , Gods , Goddesses , death and the motive led up to it . And along the way happen : betrayals , supernatural happenings , duels , fencing and tension among Greeks that give hope the Trojan . As Greek warriors under command of Agammenon , Ulysses , Menelaus , and Achilles , while Greek Gods intervening in human affaires . Outstanding Cameron Mitchell giving a vigorous acting as a semi-god , a near-invincibility person , exception for his famous heel , his only failed point . This monumental and epic retelling contains moving love stories , drama , tragic events , and well-staged battles with a cast of thousands . After a hardworking filming the results were only fair and decent . It must be noted that since this version of the Trojan war is an Italian production, the names of the gods and some of the roles are both , the Roman mythology of the history and Greek . The picture ignores some true deeds for lavish and high budgeted effects , including a great number of extras and a lot of battles . In the movie shows up numerous historical and mythological roles as Achilles : Cameron Mitchell , Hector : Jacques Bergerac , Priamo : Fosco Giachetti , Agamemmon : Mario Petri , Paris : Roberto Risso , Menelaus , Cassandra , Ajax , Patroclus : Ennio Girolami , Odysseus or Ulysses : Piero Lulli , hence Ulysses is the Roman name for Odysseus. This is an overwhelming and breathtaking film with impressive battles, as hundreds of extras take part and mostly well-interpreted sword-play .The picture packs colorful cinematography in Eastmancolor , Ultrascope by Mario Fioretti and evocative musical score by Carlo Savina. The motion picture was competently directed by the good craftsman Marino Girolami.

This events about Troy war have been adapted on various films : Silent movie titled The Private life of Helen of Troy by Michael Curtiz 1927 with Maria Corda , Lewis Stone . Helen of Troy 1956 by Robert Wise with Rossana Podesta , Jacques Sernas , Sir Cedric Hardwicke , Stanley Baker , Niall MacGinnis, Nora Swinburn, Robert Douglas . Italian version 1962 by Giorgio Ferroni with Steve Reeves , Juliette Mayniel, Lidia Alfonsi, Mimmo Palmara. Italian retelling titled Fury of Achilles by Marino Girolami with Gordon Mitchell , Jacques Bergerac , Gloria Milland , Ennio Girolami . Troy by Wolfgang Petersen, with Brad Pitt, Diana Kruger, Rose Byrne , Orlando Bloom , Brian Cox. And a TV series 2003 by John Kent Harrison with Matthew Mardsen , Sienna Guilery, Rufus Sewell , Joe Montana,Daniel La Pine, James Callis , and Katie Blake as Cassandra.

The story is partially based on ¨Iliad¨ that is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer and the screenwriters,take parts here and there. Set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege.Along with the Odyssey, also attributed to Homer, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the eighth century BC. The Iliad contains approximately 15,700 lines, and is written in a literary amalgam of several Greek dialects. The authorship of the poem is disputed .

I remember watching this as a child on TV and so when I finally had the opportunity to watch this recently on DVD, I wondered if it would still impress me and I wasn't disappointed. I've always been obsessed with Homer's Iliad and am still waiting for someone to put a more "definitive" version of this literary classic on screen. This movie is typical of the "sword and sandal" films of the period but better than most. The story pretty much follows the story of the Iliad fairly accurately. The Iliad is the story of Achilles and thats the theme of the movie. It also ends where Homer's Iliad ends with the ransom of Hectors body. The Gods, while not extremely obvious are also part of the story and tangible as in the original Iliad, in contrast to the absence of the Gods in the larger budget versions such as "Helen of Troy" (1956) and "Troy" (2004). I definitely recommend this movie for anyone who enjoys the sword and sandal films of this period. Its not a great movie but I was happy the film was faithful to the original story.