Golias e o Dragão

After the amazing success of "Goliath and the Barbarians" with Steve Reeves, American International pictures decided to go "Goliath" again and picked up the option on "Goliath and the Dragon".....Reeves was offered the role but due to conflicts with another film, American muscleman Mark Forrest took the role of Goliath. Talk about a goofy film.....Forrest certainly has the muscles for the role, but the cardboard sets, bats and monsters flying in on a wire you can see....and a man in a bear suit fighting Goliath....geez!!! Broderick Crawford dropped his Highway Patrol microphone and played Eurytus, a maniac despot with a penciled in scar on his face who tries to get rid of Goliath anyway he can, including sicking his pet dragon on Goliath. Goliath fights elephants, centaurs, bats, bears and manages to pull down two giant trees with a rope to the ground!! On well, if Steve Reeves could pull a tree out of the ground in "Hercules" I guess Goliath could pull down a couple too...... Absolute silly scene with Forrest as Goliath fighting a rubber dragon with a plastic knife breathing fire.....phoniest dragon up close you have ever seen!! Producers even used the same musical sound track for this film as "Goliath and the Barbarians" to save a few bucks I guess. Forrest went on to star in a number of muscleman flicks that Reeves apparently wasn't interested in making. Forrest appeared as Goliath again in "Goliath and the Sins of Babylon" again for American International pictures......guess they tried to milk the Goliath role for all they could get!!!

Broderick Crawford plays his role of a corrupt would-be emperor like he were still playing a 20th century gangster. Watch him bark orders to soldiers like he were plotting a gangland rubout. Meanwhile Mark Forest is the hero called "Emilius" who is nicknamed Goliath because he is so strong and (apparently) immortal. He also has a younger brother is is neither superstrong nor immortal and a mortal wife who is not bothered by the fact that she will eventually grow old and die but he won't. Go figure. Most of us watch these movies for the monsters and oft-times the cheesier the better. After a mechanical 3 headed fire breathing dog (ahem, that is NOT Cerberus!), a man in suit giant bat and a centaur (which had to have been the most uncomfortable costume in the bunch) seeing a dragon that is partially stop motion animated was a real treat. Oh yeah, in closeups it is a giant rubber prop but those few moments of animation make it worthwhile. There is enough plot here for 2 movies and it does not always make perfect sense but the action will keep your attention. Oh and look closely at that dragon. David Hewitt borrowed some of the stop-motion scenes for his no budget thriller THE MIGHTY GORGA.

GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON is another Hercules movie with the hero's name altered for American audiences. It stars Mark Forest as the enormous hero.

The action starts right away, with Hercu-liath battling a three-headed, fire-breathing dog monster! This takes about ten seconds, as it's more of a big, three-headed sausage.

Golia-cles is seeking the fabled "blood diamond", and must face the dreaded bat-man beast! It lasts for almost five seconds before being crushed

Meanwhile, the devilish King Eurystheus (Broderick Crawford) plots destruction and doom. He's sort of the Al Capone of the ancient world, and will do anything to stay in power.

For his part, our hero, after returning the aforementioned gem to its rightful owner, only wants some rest and relaxation. This is cut short when Eurystheus abducts his brother! Now, Her-goliath-cles must save his sibling, as well as everyone else.

A decent entry in the genre, with plenty of action, monsters, and battle sequences. Forest is, as always, larger than life. The "elephant" scene is fun, though it seems likely that the poor creature was either sleep deprived or heavily drugged prior to filming!

As for the dragon, it's fairly well-realized, utilizing both stop-motion and a large, animatronic head. It takes an entire twenty seconds for it to meet its maker!

Of course, there's a huge, "battle royal" finale, where Gol-herc-iath-cles gets his chance to toss his opponents around like meatballs!

An entertaining romp...

In the 1960's as a child I and dozens of theater goers were watching this interesting Movie called " Goliath and the Dragon " when a small fire in the building sent everyone racing out in a panic. Although, I got the price of admission back, (15 cents) I never did get to finish the film. Due to the fact, I was very young, I was most impressed with the parts of the movie I did get to see. It is years later and I finally got to see the entire movie completely. I am surprised to sit through the entire film without yawning. The scenes which intrigued and captivated me as a child, were laughable as an adult. However, I am impressed with the story of how Goliath or Hercules was able to mesmerize young impressible audiences with such a small budget and hokey special effects. Still, as a grown-up I would quickly recommend this film to young members of the audience as they have not lost their imagination or have forgotten what it means to be inspired by flickering images. During the Sword and Sandal era, these movies are the very inspiration we received when it was needed most. How else could Gods, Goddesses, Monsters, Centars and heroic deeds have impressed us so much? Recommended! *****

This myth-opera Peplum deals about Hercules , he finishes the seven works going to inferno in the center of earth , a hell plenty of craters , volcano , yellow fume and red foggy in gaudy colors and groundbreaking atmosphere . There he battles can Cerbero with various heads spitting fire and a flying monster similar a large bat (creatures made by Carlo Rambaldi : ET) . Later on , there takes place a palace intrigue with a tyrant named Euristeo (a scarface Broderick Crawford , in the U.S. version, it's not his voice, but a voice actor impersonating him) attempting to rule over the city of Tebas and our hero unhesitatingly goes into action and must use his strength to save his wife and son of a cruel torture with elephants ; plus , he confronts Zeus represented by a great sculpture . Here Hercules is married to Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) and has a rebel and angry son (Moretti) facing off his father , but he's impeded on relationship with Thea and even he's tied a tree by Hércules . Finally , it takes place an exciting final confrontation into a snakes pit .

This muscle-man epic displays action , adventures , mythology, bizarre and luxurious scenarios and results to be quite amusing . The movie has not mythological accuracy , neither expectation historical . This film is listed among the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Awards . Stunningly cheap special effects like the shots and close-ups of a giant bear that's a man suited struggling against Hércules . Besides , it appears usual Eurotrash babes such as Wandisa Guisa and Leonora Ruffo and a habitual Spaghetti Western : Robert Hundar as a centaur . Mark Forest is good and strong playing the mythical hunk who finds several risks while attempting to defeat his enemies and fighting monsters and numerous odds . Forest played the hero in great number of movies and was randomly assigned the identity of Hércules , Goliath , Samsom for US version . Bouncing and robust Forest was a muscle-man who allegedly left the Gladiators genre for the Opera and he currently teaches in the L.A. zone . He was one along with the biggest chests like are Gordon Scott , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Ed Fury , Dan Vadis , all of them to seek fortune acting absurdly mythological figures but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity .

This motion picture is an enjoyable sword and sandals story , being compellingly directed by Vittorio Cottafavi (1914-1998), he was a complete artist , painter and Peplum expert , as he directed : ¨Conquest of Atlántida¨ , ¨Legions of Cleopatra¨ , ¨Mesallina¨ and ¨Rebellion of gladiators¨ . Originally titled "Hercule's Revenge", but since Universal owned the rights to Hercules at the time, the title was changed and the name of the main character was changed to Goliath.