A Vingança de Ursus

Samson Burke (he of "Hercules Meets the 3 Stooges" fame), lantern-jawed and broad of back, plays the mythological Ursus, a man with a past, which is only hinted at in the beginning. He now farms with his puckish little brother, Durias, until called upon to confront the evil and scheming King Zagro and his toady, Lycurgas who are plotting to take over the neighboring kingdom of Leecha, through a marriage with King Altheus' lovely (in a 1960's Italian kind-of-way) daughter, Sirah (whew). The plot has lots of action, moves along swiftly, and as these things go, is "not bad", aided by the hero's skillful execution of flying drop kicks, airplane spins, and other impressive TV wrestling moves, and ending up with an early version of an Ironman Event, to test the truthfulness of Ursus' version of events (the schemers beg to differ). One small disconcerting note: the princess' voice sounds remarkably like it is dubbed by Kathy Lee Gifford.

Despite a meaningless title and a lead (Samson Burke!) who gives new meaning to the word "wooden", this is not too bad for what is essentially a formulaic muscleman effort. The plot is typically chockful of court intrigues within Ursus' camp – by way of the King's deceitful rotund consultant who contrives to have his own master killed, Ursus convicted of the crime and appointing bald-headed Livio Lorenzon (an above-average village who keeps a leopard for a pet) as his people's new ruler; a couple of attractive ladies: one good (Ursus' fiancée', of course) and one evil (who, clad in an iron mask, even disguises herself as the latter at the King's wedding ceremony!); and, to up the suspense factor somewhat, an independent-minded kid brother for the hero (from whom he tries to keep his superhuman past by posing as an indefatigable farmer)! For what it is worth, at one point the action once again requires Ursus to engage in a tug-of-war with a number of elephants…although here he needs their impending threat to his little sibling for him to eventually manage in suppressing them!

I'm not saying it's awful, but it's nothing to brag about. It's a typical, standard, low budget people of the time era of the peplum hype.

King Zagro is evil and has his "evil eyes" on Princess Sira. He wants to marry her and take over her kingdom. Sira is kidnapped, Ursus hears of it and races to save her from Zagro. Ursus then leads the revolt against Zagro.

It plays out very boringly. Nothing to see here unless you just like to watch Samson Burke half naked and showing off his pecks almost all of the time throughout the film.

2/10

Ursus (Samson Burke) fights evil King Zagro (Livio Lorenzon) who wants to enlarge his kingdom considerably by killing another king and marrying a princess.

Okayish sword & sandals movie with the usual heroic scenes (Ursus is breaking chains, makes an elephant walk backwards and wins fights against any number of opponents). Samson Burke, it must be said though, isn't much of an actor. Also we get the typical annoying little boy brother he needs to rescue every now and then. On the other hand, Gianni Rizzo plays a twisted greedy character very effectively again - ready to change from the losing to the winning side. And Livio Lorenzon gets the best line in the script, replying when begged not to harm Ursus: 'I'm not going to harm him. I'm going to kill him!'

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!...