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Peacock's series, Those About To Die, has revitalized the sword and sandal genre for the first time in at least a decade. This specific genre, which often blends history, epic legends and war, and fantastical elements, has had a few glorious decades in cinematic history, especially in the '60s, '80s, and 2000s. This show will have a lot to live up to, especially when the trope has been far more successful in film than in TV shows.

In modern pop culture, no sword and sandal movie is quite as well-known as Gladiator, which is praised for its action-packed storyline and Russell Crowe's portrayal as the gladiator Maximus. These films aren't necessarily known for capturing historical legends and events with accuracy and grace. However, there are many outside of this iconic 2000s film that honor the intense, epic narratives and heroes the unique genre is known for. The...

Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna film archives have unearthed a small treasure trove of shorts documenting the early career of late icon Gina Lollobrigida, who was hailed as a major European sex symbol of the post-World War II era.

The prominent archives, known globally as a prime film preservation entity, have found and restored three vintage clips dated between 1947 and 1948 in which Lollobrigida – who died at 95 in January – sings Italian folk songs billed under the name Diana Lori.

Described by the archives as precursors to MTV-style music videos, the shorts were directed by Pietro Francisci, later known for hit swords-and-sandals titles such as 1958’s “Hercules” starring Steve Reeves as its titular hero. In the shorts Lollobrigida appears to sing (she may have been dubbed) Italian folk songs “O sole mio!”; “Na sera ‘e maggio”; and “Stornellata Romana.”

Lollobrigida, which is her real name, was born on July 4, 1927, in Subiaco,...

Sylvester Stallone's 1985 film "Rocky IV" is quite handily the silliest in its series. Tapping into the ultra-jingoistic rhetoric of the Ronald Reagan era, "Rocky IV" saw its American title character squaring off against a Soviet super-athlete in a symbolic attempt to prove which of the world powers was ultimately stronger. /Film already wrote about the film's extended central training montage, claiming it to be one of the best of all time because it provides a parallel between the way Rocky (Stallone) trains, and the way the evil Russian Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) trains. Rocky is out of his element in Russia, where his bout with Drago is to take place. Because of this, Rocky has to find clever, low-fi ways to build in strength, including hauling logs and pressing rickshaws full of locals. Drago, meanwhile, is locked into a high-tech, computer-run athletics facility where his muscles and strength are...

The formula is simple: a mesomorphic hero clad in little more than an ornate loincloth, armed with heavy metal, seeks revenge against the despot who did him wrong and ultimately saves the woman dressed like Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie who's being held in chains by the evil ruler. "Sword-and-sandal" movies have been part of the film world since the early 1900s, but it wasn't until the 1950s, when Italian directors like Pietro Francisci and Sergio Corbucci saw a low-budget way to capitalize on the successes of American epics like 1949's Samson and Delilah and 1953's The Robe, that the genre came into its own. Often dismissed as spaghetti westerns with deltoids and shields, sword-and-sandal films evolved from movies produced on the cheap with unknown actors and threadbare plots to multi-million dollar epics worthy of Oscar recognition. These are the genre's movies that not only established the genre,...

Jack the Ripper

Blu ray

Severin Films

1959 / 1.33:1 – 1:66:1 / 84 Min. / Street Date – January 29, 2019

Starring Lee Patterson, Eddie Byrne

Cinematography by Robert Baker, Monty Berman

Directed by Robert Baker, Monty Berman

Jack the Ripper arrived in America with the kind of fanfare usually reserved for visiting royalty. Thanks to Joseph E. Levine’s million dollar promotional blitz the British shocker rode a wave of irresistible ballyhoo including a soundtrack LP and a typically salacious Monarch paperback that promised a walk on the wild side for adventurous ticket buyers.

Jack was the talk of the schoolyard but once the movie hit theaters it disappeared as quickly as its namesake. Since 1960 the elusive thriller has dipped in and out of sight like the Loch Ness monster until recently surfacing on a new Blu ray from Severin Films – viewers can be forgiven for thinking it should have stayed at the bottom of the lake.

Kellan Lutz ‘The Legend of Hercules’: New Summit release has 0% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating (photo: Gaia Weiss and shirtless Kellan Lutz in ‘The Legend of Hercules’) Starring Kellan Lutz, best known as the hunky and likable vampire Emmett in the Twilight movies, The Legend of Hercules opens today, January 10, 2014, in North America. That’s the good news for Kellan Lutz fans. Now, the bad news: The Legend of Hercules isn’t about to become the next Spartacus — or even the next Gladiator. “The only thing epic about The Legend of Hercules is what a failure it is,” writes Stephanie Merry in the Washington Post, while Newsday‘s Rafer Guzman’s complains that “this painfully feeble version of the strongman story fails on every level, from Lutz’s wooden acting to the styrofoam special effects.” In fact, out of 35 reviews, the Summit Entertainment / Lionsgate Pictures release has a 0% approval rating...

Do you remember the Attila the Hun television miniseries from 2001 starring Gerard Butler as the famous conquering Eurasian nomad? Neither does anybody else. Before that, the last time the infamous historical figure made his way onscreen was Anthony Quinn's portrayal of him alongside Sophia Loren in the 1954 film Attila from Pietro Francisci. It's odd that such a well known real world ruler has rarely been tapped as inspiration for adaptation, so it should come as no surprise that a biographical film about him is finally going into development. According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is going ahead with newcomer Nicholas Schoenfeld's pitch for a film tentatively titled Attila that would follow the conquerer's 'formative years' as the leader of the Huns. Deadline says that the tone resembles 'the good-man-gone-bad' arc of Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama's Dracula Year Zero. I'm not sure that's a comparison I'd be boasting about.

Let's not kid ourselves here. While the ancient Greek or Roman epic certainly has literary and cultural value, we also know that films and television shows based on Greek or Roman history and myth also have a side-benefit: a little something I like to call the loincloth.

Here we take a look at some of the most impressive physiques in skimpy costumes that have graced the screens both big and small.

Steve Reeves in Hercules and Hercules Unchained

Though he played a slew of other heroes in sword and sandal films, Steve Reeves is best known for playing the role of Hercules in the spectacularly bad yet somehow still-watchable films by Italian director Pietro Francisci. Cast for his physique rather than his acting ability, Reeves still made quite the impression on viewers, as the films are still cult favorites to this day. Reeves became so well known as the hunky half-naked guy,...