A Fúria de Aquiles

for many reasons, Gordon Mitchell was not the most inspired option for the role of Achilles. but this choice becomes a small detail across the film. because , "Fury of Achilles" has a first virtue - it is different by the Italian movies , inspired by the mythology/history of Old Greek / Rome. motifs - Iliad is not a pretext for fight scenes and love stories but source for an adaptation who use accuracy as one of its virtues. the second motif, the acting who could not be reduced at good intentions. and the beautiful cinematography. so, "The Fury of Achilles".

I've watched a number of Trojan War movies recently, and this may be the very best.

Like Homer's Iliad, it begins toward the end of the war and ends before the episode of the Trojan Horse; the focus is strictly on one man, Achilles, and his fate. A knowledge of the dramatis personae and the basic circumstances is presumed of the viewer, just as Homer expected his listeners to know who Paris was, or how Iphigenia died.

Unlike any other Trojan War film I've seen, this one, like Homer, includes the gods and their divine intervention in human affairs. Achilles' near-invincibility is a supernatural fact, as demonstrated in a scene when he's stabbed and the blade is destroyed as if blasted by lightning. Yet the film doesn't feel like a fantasy, as do similar films about Jason, Hercules, or Ulysses; it's a psychological drama in which the psyche of the main character is driven by his understanding of his divine destiny. An oracle has revealed that Troy cannot fall until its champion, Hector, dies; Hector cannot die until Achilles slays him; and once that happens, Achilles must die. This is the burden of greatness — and doom — that lies upon Achilles.

Even dubbed, Gordon Mitchell gives a powerful and convincing portrayal of the warrior who is both hero and monster. His physical presence is perfect: his physique is statuesque but his features are so rugged as to be ugly (think of Charles Bronson or Jack Palance); he is sexually alluring, physically intimidating, and frightening to look at.

The script is surprisingly, sometimes amazingly, literate, verging on the poetic. Especially memorable are Achilles' explanation of his invulnerability to the captured Briseis, which ironically reveals his vulnerability and wins her pity and affection; Patroclus' plea to Hector to kill him after he's been wounded; and Hector's farewell speech to his wife and the people of Troy before he goes out to battle Achilles. The climactic duel between the two warriors is very well-staged and utterly riveting.

I wonder if the makers of TROY saw this movie? If so, they learned nothing from it. If they had simply done a remake of this film, reproducing its insights into the tragedy of Achilles and Hector, Brad Pitt would be the possessor of an Oscar today!

Here's the rub: this movie is very hard to locate on DVD, at least in the US. The only copy I've found, on a compilation DVD called RETURN TO TROY, is from a very degraded full-screen print, hardly watchable by most viewer's standards. If this movie could be seen in a well-preserved widescreen print, it would be truly spectacular.

This is one of the earliest films I recall watching on Italian TV along with a couple of Maciste efforts; all have not turned up since then, so I was glad to catch ACHILLES again even if in an English-dubbed version (and a rather muddy print at that)! Incidentally, the copy I acquired ran for a hefty 115 minutes (some missing-frames issues probably explaining the 118-minute duration listed on IMDb) – yet, on the "Film.It.Tv" website, its length is given as just 92?!

Interestingly, the film makes for a variation on/companion piece to the superior THE Trojan HORSE from the previous year (though that one actually had an official sequel, albeit emerging a much-inferior product, in THE LAST GLORY OF TROY, also from 1962!). Although Achilles also appeared in the first of those titles, he was given his own 'vehicle' here; curiously enough, since this was helmed by Girolami, it is worth mentioning that his more famous director son – Enzo G. Castellari – would make his own modern-day rendition of The Trojan War with the entertaining HECTOR THE MIGHTY (1972)!

Anyway, muscle-man Gordon Mitchell is Achilles (demonstrating his essential lack of education by bursting into "Hi-yah!" yells when commanding his troops into battle rather than the more formal "Forward!" uttered by his peers Patrocles, Ulysses – played by "Euro-Cult" stalwart Piero Lulli and depicted as a greedy fellow – and Aegamemnon!). The titular rage, then, is certainly present in the hero's characteristics given his frequent outbursts but, obviously, it is a specific reference to the legendary 'unbeatable' warrior's revenge over buddy Patrocles' death when he surreptitiously dons Achilles' armor to face the enemy champion Hector; ironically, though much is made of the protagonist's own death occurring soon after that of Hector's, the film cuts abruptly following the latter's demise!

The film is certainly above-average for the genre but, as I said, still some way behind THE Trojan HORSE (for the record, this had starred Mitchell's rival in the field Steve Reeves) which, by largely eschewing the essentially low-brow nature of this one, had proved among the more literate peplums out there...

Unable to support the war in Troy, the Greeks begin raiding along the coast. While the classic heroes are off raiding the Trojans try a sneak attack against those that remain behind. Just as the battle turns against the Greeks, Achilles arrives to save the day...so goes the first 20 minutes of the film. This is a telling of the end of the Trojan war just prior to the death of Achilles. Its a very strange film in that for a good portion of it you really can't stand the Greeks who are more interested in raping than fighting the war. They are shown to be petty people who are not really heroic and who spend more time fighting over women and gold than matters of state. This is a big movie with a cast of thousands so you really do get armies clashing. Unfortunately the movie is very unfocused and feels stretched by about 20 minutes, which is a shame since its one of the best made films of this genre, but its not the best told. I liked it but I wanted to love it.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, both warring parties seem to have run out of steam. The Greeks fight over the most beautiful prey women (Cristina GAIONI, Maria FIE and Eleonora BIANCHI). Of course, the Greeks' best fighter, Achilles (Gordon MITCHELL), doesn't like the fact that old Agamemnon always claims the right to vote first. And the Trojans' fortunes are also going wrong. Hector (Jacques BERGERAC) and his good wife Andromache (Tina GLORIANI) have never liked the fact that his love-crazy brother Paris brought about war with the Greeks in the first place. Finally, Hector, the Trojans' best fighter, has to face the final battle with Achilles, who is considered invincible. The whole thing finally gets out of hand when Hector unknowingly kills Patroclus (Enio GIROLAMI), Achilles' best friend, in a duel. Achilles is beside himself with anger, so that the battle for Troy is about to take a decisive turn...

The story of Homer has been part of world literature for more than 2,000 years. The Italian director Marino GIROLAMI manages to create a thoroughly coherent ancient drama with many fight scenes that are quite impressive for the time they were made. Numerous scenes from LA GUERRA DI TROIA with Steve REEVES were also used in GIROLAMI's film. The American bodybuilder Gordon MITCHELL (1923-2003) cuts a very good figure as a battle-hardened hero with extremely dark character traits. Gordon MITCHELL was able to hold his own in other roles for almost three decades even after the sword and sandal film wave in the Roman film industry of CINECITTA had ebbed. The French actor Jacques BERGERAC (1927-2014) is also very interesting as his opponent. He was married to two ACADEMY AWARD winners, Ginger ROGERS and Dorothy MALONE, and in his second life became head of the French cosmetics company Revlon. As an actor he was also in GIGI (1958) with Leslie CARON, A GLOBAL AFFAIR (1964) with Liselotte PULVER and MISSIONE SPECIALE LADY CHAPLIN (1966) with Daniela BIANCHI.

This sword and sandal film based on Homer's ILIAS, which is well worth seeing, attracted at least 698,000 visitors (source: InsideKino) to West German cinemas.