A Fúria de Hércules

The Fury Of Hercules finds Brad Harris as the legendary muscle dude and son of Zeus trying to visit an old friend who was the local monarch. He was away way too long and his friend has died and his daughter is now the Queen. But she's got an evil counselor in Serge Gainsbourg who has her wrapped around his finger. He's got the population half enslaved building a wall around the city, the better to keep enemies out and he's got a few of them.

It takes a while for Hercules to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are, but soon enough he joins up with the rebels. The Queen is miffed because she's got a thing for muscles, but Hercules can only see one of her handmaidens.

With few exceptions this is the basic plot of many peplum films, they vary only with the name of the strong man hero. Not even Serge Gainsbourg who does play an interesting villain with issues is enough to lift The Fury Of Hercules from eternal mediocrity.

FURY OF HERCULES is a damn good Hercules film -- in fact, it's a very solid and satisfying period action film by any standards, and you have to see at least 8 - 10 Hercules movies to know the difference. The plot revolves around Hercules (Brad Harris) visiting the daughter of an old friend and forced to choose between sides in a guerrilla rebellion. Most Hercules films -- God bless 'em! -- rely on standard plot devices and stock characters to move things forward. That's true here -- but to a point. Director Gianfranco Paolini actually pays attention to detail, and includes the kind of almost-throwaway moments that distinguish a wonderful Budd Boetticher film like BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE. Again, watch closely and you'll see. The other big plus here is that the story moves forward like a runaway freight train -- a lot of Hercules films are great to look at (HERCULES VS. THE CAPTIVE WOMEN is beautiful but surprisingly stiff), but this has the propulsive movement of a good Hollywood action film. Again, it's the difference between something like Hawks's LAND OF THE PHAROAHS (great) and THE Egyptian (pretty but boring.) Brad Harris is a decent Herc -- but for my money, the best is (believe it or not) Mickey Hargitay in HERCULES VS. THE HYDRA. Wish there was a better version than the old Goodtimes VHS but it's okay. Oh, and there's legendary French crooner Serge Gainbourg - almost forgot!

This movie begins with "Hercules" (Brad Harris) riding in a chariot and suddenly being ambushed by a group of men. Upon defending himself, the leader recognizes that it is Hercules that they are attacking and yells for his men to withdraw. Hercules then proceeds to his destination, which is the city of Arpad, to pay his respects to the king. However, when he gets there, he is informed that the king and all of the other counselors he knew previously have all died. The new ruler is the king's daughter "Cnidia" (Mara Berni), who he knew when she was a child and who quickly falls in love with him when they meet again. Unfortunately, although she believes that she is in control of the city, the fact of the matter is that her lead adviser, "Menistus" (Sergi Gainsbourg) is actually calling the shots, and nothing happens without his consent. That said, the one thing he doesn't want is somebody like Hercules appearing out of nowhere and disturbing the status quo. Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that the entire movie seemed to be both routine and predictable, which caused it to seem rather dull. Likewise, the dialogue--which was initially in Italian and dubbed into English--seemed extremely basic which didn't necessarily help in that regard. Although it might appeal to die-hard "Sword and Sandal" fans, I personally found it to be somewhat boring and therefore rate it as below average.

Routine sword and sandal :it's 25 centuries before Christ ,folks,and that wicked prime minister Menistus (Serge Gainsbourg)is making rough all over:"only blood and violence can lead to power!" "reprisals! repression!" "death to the rebels!" ...

It was the third time the great singer/songwriter had appeared in a sword and sandal after "Sansone" and "La Rivolta Della Schiavi" .I'm forced to recognize,one more time,that,while a brilliant songwriter maybe the best France has ever had,Gainsbourg -Whitney Houston might remember him-was a lousy actor.

If you do not ask too much ,this Hercules (Ercole)is not worse than the others;there are even endearing characters,some "nice" people die ,which is very rare in this kind of flick,and the queen herself is ,relatively speaking,an ambiguous character,at once guilty and innocent.Hercule is strong ,that's all the director asks from him.His endeavors are business as usual:fight against a lion , a gorilla (a man dressed up as a gorilla more like)etc..Full of finer feelings ,with a finale verging on melodrama.All in all,a lesson in democracy.

In THE FURY OF HERCULES, it's Brad Harris' turn to toss grown men around like so much pizza dough, as the human boxcar of the title.

This time out, Big H saves a queen from a pirouetting pair of ballet assassins. The grateful queen takes Herc into her private chambers and into her confidence. Alas, she turns out to be a royal bossy boots, enslaving the populace! If she's not bad enough, her underlings are even worse!

Now, wearing a cream-colored, one-piece mini-dress for spring, H-Man must free the slaves. But first, it's time for the obligatory "test of strength", wherein he battles a lion and a rather sickly looking go-rilla, before tangling with another muscleman in a cage match to the death!

Soon, our gargantuan hero is moving 5-ton slabs of stone, on his way to deliver the downtrodden. All, while wearing the latest in red, beach cover-ups. When a band of hillbilly-ish cavemen attack, we get to see him go completely berserk-ules!

Harris does a decent job playing the big lug. Fans of the genre know the routine, and all of the necessary elements are in place...