A Vingança de Ursus

The evil King Zagro has designs on the beautiful Princess Sira. He wants to marry her so he can take over her kingdom and add it to his own. When Sira is kidnapped, Ursus leaves his farm to rescue her and to eventually lead a revolt against King Zagro.

Samson Burke is adequate as the muscle hero Ursus in this typical peplum interspersed with palace intrigue and coups here with evil king Zagro's plans being scuppered by Ursus, a pretty princess waiting to be saved. It's fairly standard but enjoyable enough with plenty of action to keep an average peplum fan happy. The fighting in particular is good with Ursus flinging and clobbering the thugs with abandonment. Trial that Ursus has to do prove his innocence is quite good, especially the bit where the elephant is pulling him to the arrow points sticking out of the wood. The only thing I didn't like was Ursus' kid brother as he was annoying and nosey.

Made the same year as " Ursus e la ragazza tartara (1961)" ,these other Ursus adventures have nothing to do with it ;even the muscle man is not the same : Joe Robinson in the former ,Samson (sic) Burke in this one ;but both films have something in common: Ursus has almost always a brat on tow ;this kid sometimes plays the part of a supporter in a football game: "come on Ursus! come on!

The plot is childish : the noble king wants to marry his daughter to a treacherous sovereign of a kingdom bordering his ;Ursus ,secretly in love with the damsel (soon in distress) , accompanies and protects her during her trip to her future homeland and in the court of the fiancé .Double-dealer king's adviser (Gianni Rizzo , the regular baddie of the Italian sword and sandal ) will put a spoke in the giant's wheel.

In THE VENGEANCE OF URSUS, the mountainous hero of the title (Samson Burke) rescues Princess Sira (Wandisa Guira) from a band of ne'er-do-wells, and becomes her Protector In Chief. It seems that a nefarious relative has vowed to kill the Princess by any means necessary! In fact, so much treachery occurs that it's difficult to keep track of it all!

Another of the zillion or so hero epics of its era, this movie has some fun scenes. Especially, Ursus' encounter in the tavern, when he tosses and twists his weak opponents into human pretzels!

There's also the typical "test of strength" for Ursus, that will either kill or exonerate him. Plus, the expected "battle royal" at the end. Burke holds his own in his muscular role, which is made easier by his being a walking industrial furnace! No kidding! This guy's a boulder!...

Ursus is a farmer with a past that he won't tell his little brother. When a Princess he knows is attacked on the way to her wedding Ursus , with little brother in tow, head off to protect the fair maiden. Of course there are plots within plots so the simple drop off the princess trip becomes something else entirely.

This is a very good swords and sandal movie that has a lot going for it. A reasonably complicated plot, good acting, and excellent action sequences that make it appear that the filmmakers at least understood the value of decent production values. This is one that's worth watching if you run across it.

A Word of Warning: I've seen this film at least twice now and the prints, the Sinister Cinema print in particular, are extremely choppy, so much so that as much as ten minutes or more may have been lost to the bad nature of the prints.

Revenge Of Ursus stars Canadian bodybuilder Samson Burke playing a superhero who wants to retire to his farm like Cincinnatus. But like Michael Corleone, they keep dragging him back in.

Ursus has an Opie like little brother in this film and they're both involved in the politics of two city states where the king of one state wants to marry the daughter of the king of the state where Ursus lives.

It's a political marriage in every sense of the word. A tyrant to his own people, the bad king desires nothing less than to marry the daughter then kill the father and claim both states. He's a Snidely Whiplash villain if I ever saw one.

This one is a little bit better than most of the peplum's I've been viewing lately.