I giganti di Roma

GIANTS OF ROME stars Richard Harrison as Roman soldier, Claudius Marcellus, who is chosen to lead an elite team into Gaul. There, they will locate and destroy a secret weapon of the dreaded druids.

Under almost continuous attack, Marcellus and his cohorts, including the living side of beef known as Germanicus (Ralph Hudson), go through much travail before reaching their objective. By this time, Germanicus is covered in so much body oil that he could carry his weapons by slapping them onto his chest like post-it notes!

THE BURNING QUESTION: Why is Germanicus the only one who gets a studded mini-skirt?

He does get to go out in style, tossing his foes around like human bean bags!

This movie has a true sense of adventure, danger, and derring-do. Those who have compared it to THE GUNS OF NAVARONE aren't far off. Harrison is his usual heroic self.

Co-stars the beautiful Wandisa Guida...

Julius Caesar handpicks an army of men, lead by Claudius Marcellus, to fight against the Druids. The Druids are harboring a secret weapon - the Catapult.

Not as good as I was hoping it was going to be. I was hoping for at least a 4 or 5 star out of 10 film but 3/10 is as good as it get for me. It's not a horrible film but it is luster-lacking and a bit drab the way the story is told. With that being said, it is one of the better films from Mill Creek's Warriors 50-pack. It's not the best of the Mill Creek peplum batch but it's not the worst from the pack either. I'll admit I was hoping for a bit more out of this one. I actually preferred the way the story was told and the way Caesar the Conqueror (1962) was filmed. I was hoping this movie would be as good as "the Conqueror".

3/10

"The forces of Rome are out to defeat the Druids but are shocked to learn their enemy has a powerful secret weapon that could spell defeat for them. Claudius Marcellus, a Roman Centurion, leads a small band of soldiers behind enemy lines to discover the location of this doomsday weapon and destroy it before the Druids can use it to attack Rome," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Titled "The Giants of Rome" for English listeners, this nicely paced "sword and sandal" epic stars an Adonis-handsome Richard Harrison (as Claudius Marcellus) in a bulging pair of satin briefs. He is supported by a "beefcake" quartet of Roman soldiers, including right-hand man Ettore Manni (as Castor). The accent is on men, but Wandisa Guida (as Livilla) adds a little femininity.

Up-and-coming young Alberto Dell'Acqua (as Valerius) makes a particularly strong impression herein. As the soldier who wants to join Caesar's selected quartet of soldiers, Mr. Dell'Acqua (later known internationally as "Robert Widmark") is given what must have amounted to a star-making role in his home country. Watch out, especially, for his startling "crucifixion" sequence.

****** I giganti di Roma (9/10/64) Antonio Margheriti ~ Richard Harrison, Ettore Manni, Wandisa Guida, Alberto Dell'Acqua

"Giants of Rome" is in some aspects a strangely premised sword and sandal movie. The main reason for that is that the central characters - the men on a mission - are Romans working for Caesar and the Roman Empire, fighting the inhabitants of what is now modern day France. If you ask me, that is almost akin to a movie about Nazis on a mission to penetrate and destroy some part of Allied forces, given that the Romans were conquerors and enslavers of foreign empires. But even if you can stomach that premise, chances are you'll still not find the movie to be very good. The action sequences all seem to be directed in a way to both be identical to each other and not particularly exciting. Actually, much of the movie (particularly the central third of the movie) is rather slow- moving and not very exciting. In fact, it makes the disappointment of the revelation of the "secret weapon" even more than you might expect. The movie could have been a lot worse, I admit, but even sword and sandal movie fans might find this a bit of an ordeal to watch.

Better than average sword and sandal time-filler with the underrated Richard Harrison starring as Claudius, solider of fortune selected with three others by Caesar to undertake a deadly mission to destroy a secret weapon that the Druids are using to repel Casear's forces. Along the way, the quartet become a quintet with the addition of the young and impressionable 'boy who wants to be a warrior' type (Guida), and then a "magnificent seven" when they encounter captured Romans Edua (Tessier) and her cowardly guard Drussus (Hersent), being tortured by the Druids.

Unencumbered by the usual overdeveloped musculature, an athletic Harrison employs his trained acting to good effect as the aggressively loyal Roman solider who'll give to the last drop to secure Caesar the platform he needs to succeed. Ably supported by Italian leading man Ettore Manni and with good performances by the supporting cast, Anthony Dawson (aka Antonio Margheriti) delivers a consistently watchable, gritty and engaging picture, far more worthy than the paltry four stars it currently attracts.

Some superb battle scenes, suspense, occasional light humour, romance and tragedy are complemented by colourful characters, given extra definition through Harrison and Manni's balanced performances. It's not "The Fall of the Roman Empire" by any stretch, but as a "Guns of Navarone" of Ancient Rome (you'll see the similarities with Stanley Baker and Gia Scala's characters in particular), it does okay and should entertain.