Ursus gladiatore ribelle

Stoic Emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius has died leaving his sole heir, Marcus Commodus (Alan Steel) as the new ruler. With Aurelius' dying wish that his son maintain peace, Commodus decides instead to use force and brutality to suppress the frightened people in his kingdom.

With Christianity spreading throughout Rome, the maniacal Commodus attempts to wipe out any one associated with the religion. When his village is attacked by Commodus, Ursus, a newfound follower of the Christian faith, easily overpowers the mad Emperor and his soldiers.

Greatly insulting Commodus, Ursus' lover, Arminia is kidnapped forcing him to become a gladiator in order for her to be set free. However, it is learned that Commodus was not responsible for her abduction and that a plot within the Senate to assassinate the brutal Emperor is discovered.

Despite abhorring violence and transgression, Ursus is pressured to use his strength in an effort to topple the ferocious regime of Marcus Commodus and restore the peace promised by the deceased Marcus Aurelius.

The Rebel Gladiator is a thoroughly gripping Italian peplum with a strong plot, some intelligence and edgy action - the characterisation is quite good for its kind, and Gloria Miland as Commodus' girlfriend comes out on top in the acting stakes, and is throughly conflicted over her feelings. She loves him but he's a war-loving brute. He just loves a fight and the powers-to-be use that " love" to bring him down in the form of Dan Vadis as Ursus. He's quite good, but Alan Steel impresses, sharply conveying the character's unhinged ways. Enjoyed this far better than the overrated Gladiator which bored me to tears most of the time.

Until fairly recently, I hadn't heard of director Domenico Paolella and the only films of his I'd seen prior to this one were two good Italian comedies featuring legendary Italian comic, Toto'; one of them, IL CORAGGIO (1955), was a revamping of Jean Renoir's BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932), tailored to suit the star's unique brand of mimicry! As it happens, this muscleman epic is quite another thing, with the mythical giant Ursus – who was made famous by Buddy Baer in the MGM super production of QUO VADIS (1951) and played here by the aptly (and hilariously) named Dan Vadis! – somehow incongruously inserted into another retelling of the events which were much better, and more spectacularly, handled in Anthon Mann's THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and Ridley Scott's GLADIATOR (2000). Unfortunately, I was unable to keep a straight face most of the time especially with Alan Steel (another muscleman who featured heavily in such fare) playing a very athletic Commodus – rather than the mad wimp which history tells us he was!

Was this film an influence on Ridley Scott's Gladiator? Who can tell.

Set at the same time as the awarding winning film this is the story of Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, who takes power when his father dies. Unable to find anyone to match him in the arena he runs rampant over the empire killing and pillaging as he goes. The only man who can stop him is Ursus, who is tricked in to becoming a gladiator so that he might be able to kill the mad Commodus.

This is a well made spectacle with lots of action and a pacing that never really flags.

If you get the chance to see it, there are worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon.

The stereotype of 1960's European gladiator movies is that the lead is a muscle bound non-actor and everyone else yelling as their dialog is dubbed into English. It is movies such as The Rebel Gladiators that show the stereotype is true. Evil Emperor Commodus (Sergio Ciani) inherits the throne of Rome and the hand of lovely Arminia (Jose Greci). Proceeding to ruthlessly oppress a village he is defeated by strongman Ursus (Dan Vadis). Senator Emilius Letus (Gianni Santuccio) realizes that only Ursus is strong enough to defeat Commodus and forces Ursus to become a gladiator by kidnapping Ursus' girlfriend Marzia (Gloria Milland). Commodus seizes Marzia to force Ursus to fight him. Guess who wins! Essentially Dan Vadis was a muscle bound non-actor and is least interesting. The Italian actors in support give much more lively albeit not nuanced performances. The acting honors there go to Sergio Ciani, enjoying himself as the evil Emperor, and longtime character actor Andrea Aureli as the gladiators' instructor. Technically the credits were OK but the version I saw was in black and white while the IMDb database says the movie was shot in color. OK movie for gladiator fans (i.e. those who don't expect acting) but better alternatives are available in the genre.

Alan Steel and Dan Vadis duke it out...not just once, but twice in this above average peplum opus. That alone is worth your time, but the film is actually a good one, with lots of action, telling the story of Marcus Aurelius' heir, Commodus, who succeeds to the purple but is more interested in being a gladiator than a Ceasar. Steel has a great time and does a good job portraying this whack-job of an emperor, more convincingly than Joaquin Phoenix and just as good as Christopher Plummer. The scriptwriters got it right,as far as they went, but it's tame compared to the facts. Vadis (who is better playing villains and whack-jobs himself) is miscast and the weakest part of the film. It would have been a much better film if the Ursus character were eliminated and the chief opponent of Commodus were Septimius Leto (Carlo Delmi), the handsome young senator's son who resembles a wavy-haired Lex Barker. His role starts off promising to be an important character and then just gets lost and forgotten during the proceedings which sorely need him. This film needs to be restored and seen by those who enjoy this fare, it's one of the better entries in the genre.