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I am guessing that there is a series of "Son of Hercules" movies: the theme for this movie is the exact same as that of "Son of Hercules vs. the Fire Demon."

A montage of corpses are shown as a chorus of men sing "The mighty sons of Hercules are men as men should be! They took the world and kept the world the sons of Hercules!" Not exactly Shakespeare but hey...at least it's got a groovy beat you can dance to.

The narrator informs us this film recounts the adventures of Glaucus, pronounced "GLAW-cuss" (played by a well oiled Richard Harrison) and his struggle with the empress Messalina.

In 41 AD Caligula rules the land. In his pointless war against Britain (well played by the Italian countryside) Caligula watches Glaucus the Brit fight. Excited by what he sees (Caligula shows his delight by petting a cat) he takes Glaucus back with him as a slave.

Back in Rome (well played by a blurry matte painting) Caligula makes his horse a senator. Messalina, wife of Claudius, watches in horror as Caligula and his midget sidekick laugh at each new outrageous law Caligula enacts. At the Roman games Glaucus fights with obvious skill. The crowd (all 20 of them) yells in obvious pleasure, quieting down when someone makes a statement like "wow, what a man warrior!" Caligula is not impressed, however, when Glaucus throws an axe at him. Glaucus is arrested and Messalina starts a plan to use Glaucus as a means to overthrow Caligula.

This production has all the typical Italian beefcake trademarks - bad dubbing, over-acting (in some cases, under-acting), a midget, and men in loincloths. Richard Harrison may not have the biggest muscles but he certainly is the most titillating beefcake actor I've seen. And when it comes to loincloths you have to wonder why his "mini-skirt" is not mini enough. They must not have seen a good thing when they had it, and with too much loincloth neither can we.

The version of this movie I saw was called "Hercules Against the Mongols"

Hercules, dubbed within an inch of his life and his loins covered within an inch of his modesty, is told he is to fight the Mongols by an oracle.

A female voice then tells us it's 1227. She continues to tell us of the leaders of Mongolian tribes that Hercules will fight. They are the three sons of Ghengis Khan and they lust for conquest. To incite their people to go to war they kill one of their own and blame "THE WHITE MAN!" THE WHITE MAN must be punished!

The Mongols burn houses (in this movie symbolically represented by a miniature hut) and kill many WHITE MEN or take them as slaves. Amid all the confusion you can always tell the Mongols from THE WHITE MAN. The Mongols are hairy, manly and wearing leather. THE WHITE MEN are shaved, feminine and wearing felt.

The Mongols discover that an heir to THE WHITE MAN's throne has escaped. "We must find him!" exclaims one son of Ghengis Khan. "We must kill all the legitimate heirs to the throne!" The boy, Alexander, wanders through the woods and comes across Hercules who is playing pick-up-sticks with tree trunks. "Why are you moving those trees?" asks Alexander, his dubbed voice sounding like he is speaking in a wind tunnel. "What are you doing out here, little boy?" asks the grinning, mostly unclad Hercules in what is the movie's creepiest moment.

It isn't long before Hercules is fighting the Mongols. Hercules picks up a tree trunk and stands there as the Mongols ride their horses into him. Defeated, the Mongols sneer "We will meet again!" and run off.

Beefcake films are more of a curiosity nowadays but I must admit I enjoy watching them. They are, by no means, Great cinema but they are fun to watch: half-clad men fighting, posing, and delivering absurd lines.

The only disappointment was the lack of the midget actor usually found in these films. How can it be an Italian production without a midget?

Afterthought: There is one fight with a lion that is pretty harrowing and could be considered cruelty to animals. If you are squeamish about such things be forewarned: you may want to skip this one.

Loincloth!

"This is Los Angeles: sprawling metropolis of the west. It's a beautiful city. It walks like a young giant from the mountains down to the sea. It has shiny buildings and modern freeways. Almost engulfed by the city surrounding it lies a little street "Olvera street." A street that appears to be forgotten by time."

Thus starts the movie with tourists taking pictures of "the lazy Mexicans."

A Mexican family falls on hard times when the father is laid off. Bad timing, it turns out. The family had just bought new furniture and are very proud of the blue sofa and matching chairs (the film is b&w so the chairs look grey to us). "Send it back!" demands the father. The son says he will get a job to help pay for the furniture but the father says "you are only a boy." Storming out of the house the son goes to "the clubhouse" to see his friends. Harassed by bigoted white police and denied service by white owned businesses "Tommy" lets his rage out and gets in a fight.

Tommy is seen fighting by a talent scout - one who is interested in making Tommy a professional fighter. "Don't you want to be something? Do you want to be pushed around like your dad?" Tommy is convinced and "Tommy Kansas" is born.

Tommy's father thinks it's a disgrace. "I am a poor man, but I am not a brute!" But the rest of the family is behind him. "If you do not give up fighting you will leave this house!" exclaims his father as he storms off.

I will admit to not being a big boxing fan. This film, however, kept my interest. The main character "Tommy" is well played and his transformation from naive street kid to young seasoned boxer makes this film worthwhile.