Le retour des titans

Goliath returns to a kingdom (Nefer?) on the Persian Gulf which has fallen under the cruel domination of Babylon. Each year a number of the kingdom's most beautiful virgins must be sent off to serve the evil Babylonian king. Goliath unites with some local rebels to end this domination, destroying by fire the city of Babylon in the process.

This "peplum" comes with a lot of action: the usual fights, a chariot race, a sea battle, and a climactic conflagration. There's also a touch of romance, (though not involving Goliath), and for comic-relief we're offered one of those midget sidekicks so dear to the hearts of Italian audiences. As usual our hero is subjected to a torture or test-of-strength. In this case he's spreadeagled face-up on a sloping table while spears drop toward him from holes in the ceiling. Some of these spears crash into the table just to one side of the hero's flesh while other spears are halted in their downward plunge mere inches above various parts of the hero's body. (The spear that hurtles toward Goliath's groin is a real attention getter!)

Fans of such goings-on will probably find this an adequate way to pass 80 or so minutes, but there's little to distinguish these goings-on from numerous similar movies. Had Steve Reeves played the lead, the situation might have improved, but here we have Mark Forest (born Lou Degni), a bodybuilder who has the necessary pecs but is short on charisma. Something about the way the skin crinkles around his eyes whenever he smiles makes him look a bit "wimpy."

(1963) Maciste, the World's Greatest Hero/ Maciste, l'eroe più grande del mondo/ Goliath And the Sins of Babylon DUBBED MYTHICAL HISTORICAL FICTION

Saw this movie as the alternative title "Goliath And the Sins of Babylon" that has Mark Forest as Goliath joining rebels against a tyrant king King Rukus (Paul Muller) and his right hand man Morakeg (Erno Crisa) kidnapping young women (supposedly virgins) to be used as pawns.

I don't quite remember why I liked this movie for it has been awhile since I last saw this. All I know is that it was better than the average Italian/ Spanish co production sword and sandals movie. It was on one of those cheapo sword and sandals DVD sets cramming so many movies onto a single disc with no bonus features.

Pretty good sword and sandal "epic" if you will with using that term. Mark Forrest, who played second fiddle to the immortal Steve Reeves in most of the Hercules type films coming out of Italy, plays the legendary so called "Maciste" in the Italian version and is given the name "Goliath" in the American release of this film. Forrest as usual comes to the rescue of the populace in Babylon, where according to a peace treaty signed with warring Nephyr that 30 virgin girls a year must be either sent or sacrificed whatever as tribute. Naturally a secret band of rebels, led by the ever sword and sandal favorite, Livio Lorenzon with that patented bald head leads a revolt to stop the sacrifice. Forrest joins in with those bulging biceps on display throughout the film and leads the slaves to victory....pretty good chariot race, ala "Ben Hur" in the film with Goliath winning out over the Queen of Babylon, who by terms of the race must marry the winner. Goliath realizes that the queen is in love with another man, one of the slaves leading the revolt and he promises to get them back together at all costs. Plenty of action with fighting ships, and lions on the loose after being led out of dungeons in the city. Forrest displays some bulging pecs and biceps in one scene where he is pinned down on a table with dangling spears falling down one by one intent on keeping him guessing which one will inevitably kill him. Guess what, the biceps rip off the shackles and Goliath escapes...!! One of the better sword and sandal films. All it was missing was Steve Reeves or Gordon Scott to round out the cast.

The use of Little People (or "midgets" in hammerhead speak) in these Italian Peplum films always puzzles me. I am sure the diminutive actors were delighted to have the opportunity to work and it looks like most of them enjoyed their experiences. The purpose appears to be comic relief: Watch the little guy run between the legs of the two Pizza-Pizza guards with their plumed helmets, they bend down to grab him, their heads konk together & the mini hero turns, issues a poorly lip synced wise crack, and later ends up reclining on a couch surrounded by fawning harem girls who think he's so cute ... Watch the midget bonk a guy over the head with a club to save the muscle bound hero, Ho Ho Ho. I'll grant that the Midget Role is an important part of the Peplum film formula, but the hyperactive, wise-cracking ball of energy in this one is SO obnoxiously used that it detracts from what otherwise would have been a 10/10 effort. Times have changed over the course of the 43 years (!!) since this film was made and I don't find midgets to be inherently funny. So pardon my raining on the parade here a bit.

All that aside this is a *WAY* superior action/adventure film populated & made by the best from the Italian cult genre school of film-making: Director Michele Lupo, composer Francesco De Masi, and performers Mark Forest, genre legend Giuliano Gemma, José Greci, José Canalejas, Piero Lulli, and the great Paul Muller. The scope of the film is also on a much grander scale than the usual throwaway Peplum shenanigans of Pizza-Pizza guards chasing a Son of Hercules & his damsel in distress over the familiar looking countrysides of Morocco, Spain, France or Italy that would later be featured in the Spaghetti Western craze which came after the Peplum Fad died out: It's like SPARTACUS meets BEN HUR meets HERCULES meets THE SEVEN GLADIATORS -- A group of super noble Adonis types battles an evil tyrant king to free their people from the yoke of oppression, namely a yearly tribute of "The 30 most lovely virgins" as sacrifices to the gods. The whole idea of depleting a people of their most sexually attractive women just to sacrifice them is of course appalling but ultimately counter-productive. Who in their right mind would want to selectively exterminate all of the good lookin' babes??

Again, with all that aside, this movie totally rocks: There is an extended, violent chariot race, duels to the death a-plenty, scenes where the Herculean heroes take on entire squadrons of Pizza-Pizza guards & make them look like buffoons, prisoners being thrown to the lions for kicks, and an eye-popping battle between two full-sized war galleons that were made just for use in the film that is amongst the most spectacular battle scenes from these potboilers that I've ever witnessed. A surprisingly large sum of money & talent was sunk into this project (1963 was perhaps the zenith year for the Peplum Fad) and it shows. Even non-fans of the genre will be impressed & entertained by the film, with gorgeous women, expansive detailed set construction, some genuinely creative camera work, a cast of thousands and a body count to match, dialog that actually sounds like stuff out of classical Roman history, nefarious court intrigue that holds the fates of entire peoples in the balance, and truly committed performances by the leads ... even the midget throws himself into the role with a certain amount of gusto that's admirable if ultimately annoying to the point of detracting from how seriously one can really regard the film during his scenes.

No offense meant mind you, I just don't understand why someone would go through so much effort to create a really superior, epic scale entertainment & then shoot themselves in the foot with extraneous craparoni. But to quote the late Dr. Carl Sagan yet again, "The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with mere human ambition", and if getting to enjoy such a splendid film requires couple dozen stupid midget humor scenes then that is a price I will be happy to pay. This movie RULEZ!

9/10: Leave the midget at home next time guys, they aren't funny anymore, and serve only to demonstrate the insensitivity of the times in which the movie was made. So be it.

Goliath returns to his home land to help stop the flow of 30 virgins a year to Babylon.

As Sword and Sandal films go this is pretty good. Its not the worst its not the best. Its just a good, light entertaining film that makes you smile as things go along. Filled with interesting set pieces, a chariot race, a sea battle, dungeon torture, this movie attempts to give you more than the usual film of this nature.

The trouble is that the film seems to have been done before. Its not even so much that the film has the same plot as the vast majority of this type of film, its that the sets, the tortures and perhaps whole sequences show up elsewhere. Even allowing for the fact that the trailer has shown up on various other taps and DVDs, this film seems overly familiar, especially to anyone who has ever watched more than a handful of these films.

Still as these things go its not a bad movie. See it.