Maciste contra os lanceiros

The ancient days of Greece, countless villages have fallen victim to the evil mole people, who kidnap the survivors of their conquests to be slaves in their diamond mine. The famous hero Maciste hears of this crime and swears to seek justice and take the mole people down. Aided by a fellow strongman named Bangor, Maciste infiltrates the caverns of the mole men as a prisoner, intent on freeing the prisoners and ending the reign of their sadistic queen Halis Moyaab. She has other plans though, and wishes to either see Maciste dead, or reigning by her side...

Italian peplums are like Marmite, you either loathe them, finding them cheesy and kitschy, or love them, finding them well-made actioners with a strong imagination. I'm in the latter category - yes, Hercules meets the mole men is cheesy and even silly with creatures with white hair and living underground, but it's quite imaginative and intriguing to a point. Yes, mole men idea seems bizarre, but then this is a fantasy film. The Ewoks and the oompah loompahs aren't any less silly! The major problem of this film is the pace. It's slow, but there's a few action scenes to overcome this. The best character is the Queen, played by Moira Orefai, who is a bad girl, sending people to the death, but she seems to love Maciste. The most interesting aspect is the secret behind her birthright. Not a great film but it has its moments, good action and some atmosphere.

Sword and sandal film with Mark Forest and Moira Orfei

The recently deceased Mark Forest (1933-2022) was a sought-after actor in the peplum films of the Roman Cinecitta in the early 1960s. As in this film, he often played the mythological role of Maciste, who had become a kind of superman in Italian film history since the silent film "Cabiria" (1914).

Here he fights with his ally Bango (Paul Wynter, 1935-2019, the Mr. Universe of 1960) against strange mole people and their queen Halis Mojab (Moira Orfei, 1931-2015, the actress was with her own circus until old age and as an elephant tamer). They want to free the kidnapped king's daughter Saliurna (Raffaella Carra, 1943-2021) and bring her back together with her lover Loth (Roberto Mioli). Gianni Garko, born in 1935, plays another role.

The highlight of the rather weaker sword and sandal film is certainly the moment when Maciste is forced into a fight with Bango. In this situation, Maciste at least has a worthy and equal opponent.

The film was produced by Elio Scardamaglia (1920-2001), who was successful with his Leone Films for decades with films and television series.

Mark Forest, who died on January 7, 2022, one day after his 89th birthday, was still successful as an opera singer in the USA after his career as a muscle man in Italian cinema.

MOLE MEN AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES is another Maciste film, repackaged as one of the "Sons of Hercules" series. All for American audiences.

Enjoying a relaxing day of whale beaching, Maciste (Mark Forest), is interrupted by a horde of bleached wig-wearing, pasty-skinned interlopers! Thankfully, Maciste is basically a boulder with eyes, and his glistening body oil repels their weaponry like a shining shield of shimmering sheen! He proceeds to mow them down like crabgrass.

Enlisting the aid of his equally enormous friend, Bango (Paul Wynter), the two chuckling heroes flex their tree-like appendages, while ridding the land of Mole men. That is, until they're captured, taken to the subterranean lair, and introduced to the Mole men's queen.

Of course, there are other enslaved prisoners to be freed, and the queen wants Maciste. Bad! Let the obligatory "test of strength" begin! This time, Maciste must fight a "beast man" (aka: a guy in a go-rilla suit) in a cage match to the death! There's also a torturous, triceps-tearing, testosterone-tapping test of endurance, as a bonus!

This movie is a gift from the muscleman gods! There's even -yet another- princess to be rescued! This could very well be the Mount Olympus of entertainment!

Be sure to watch for the "human shish kabob", and "world's biggest chain" sequences!...

Italian production typical of the genre with haunting scenarios , wonderful indoors and functional production design. Here Maciste (Mark Forest) arranges enemies for himself and he befriends a new pal called Bangor (Paul Wynter) to be captured by a strange band of white-clad marauders and taken to an underground city . There the two are forced to turn a huge wheel along with other captives as part of a gold-and-diamonds mining operation . The underground city's queen, Halis Mosab (Moira Orfei) , takes note of the bouncing Maciste and chooses him to be her consort if he can meet such challenges as saving the abducted Princess Saliura (Rafaella Carra) from a gigantic ape . Maciste faces off the ape and fights a deadly struggle with the giant gorilla . As Maciste is up to his pecs in trouble as he fights nasty Mole Men in order to save the abducted lady , carrying Saliura back to the aboveground world . As the bare-chested warrior goes on an all-out rampage to save her , being mercilessly chased by the mysterious masked warriors . Meanwhile, high priest Kahab informs his son, Katar (Gianni Garco) , that he has to marry the powerful queen to inherite the underground empire . Later on, Maciste must use his strength to rescue his friends and attack the hidden city . As he battles the evil queen and attempting to destroy the unstoppable wheeling machine .

This is a so-so spaghetti , myth-opera with action , love , battles and interior scenarios . The movie has not mythological accuracy neither expecting historical , but it results to be a simple and plain fantasy . Breathtaking scenes when take place at the underworld with the enormous wheel and overwhelming final battle . It stars handsome, muscular Mark Forest , he is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters many dangerous situations while trying to save a princess of numerous odds . Forest who played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U. S. viewing . Bouncing and strong Forest was the second American actor bodybuilder , after Steve Reeves , to be recruited by Italian producers to star in Peplum films . The muscle-man Forest left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera . He used the amount of money he made acting as hero and gladiator films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis,Brad Harris , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune acting absurdly as muscle mythological figures but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity . Forest only starred Peplum , such as : 1964 Hércules against sons of sun , 1964 Lion of Tebas , 1964 Maciste Nell'inferno Gengis Khan , 1964 Maciste, Gladiatore Sparta , 1963 Maciste Contro i Mongoli ,1963 Maciste, l'Eroe più Grande del Mondo ,1962 Maciste, Gladiatore più forte Mondo , 1961 Maciste, the Son of Hercules , 1960 La Venganza De Ercole . In the picture turns up Peplum and Spaghetti ordinaries such as : the recently deacased Raffaella Carrà (at 78), Roberto Miali , Nando Tamberlani , Graziella Granata and spaghetti star Gianni Garco , the popular actor of Sartana and other Western antiheroes .

It contains a moving and thrilling musical score by Armando Trovajoli. As well as colorful cinematography by Alvaro Mancori , including spectacular vistas of falls , shot in Lacio, mount Gelato and and Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome . The motion picture was middlingly directed Antonio Leonviola (1913-1995) who often used pseudonym Leon Viola or as Leonviola. He was a craftsman , a writer and filmmaker who directed all kinds of genres as dramas , wartime , comedy , such as : Le due verità , Sul ponte dei sospir , Al suo più grande amore,Noi cannibali , Human Torpedoes , Rita da Cascia, Fiera di tipi and outstanding in Peplum , Sword and sandal and adventures such as : The Women gladiators , Taur the Mighty , Maciste, the Colossus and this Maciste el invencible. Rating : 5/10 .

No of course not but they could be related. This is as bad as the people who make fun of the Sword and Sandal films think they are, but its also a hell of a lot more interesting than many better films. This film is very silly, we have white mole men with afros, a black actor who acts like he's a character out of a racist 1930's film, people falling off horses when Maciste just runs towards them...This film has a jaw dropping quality to make one wonder if the film makers knew what a turkey they were producing when they made it. Even if they didn't I'm kinda glad I did since it a laugh out loud gem.