Les travaux d'Hercule

Don't look for an Oscar moments here as the acting is wooden for the most part and the special effects a bit far-fetched, but this is a film that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Mr. Universe 1950, Steve Reeves became a star with this film. People didn't come to see acting, they just wanted him to take his shirt off. He would be the role model for future Hercules like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, who gave him his due.

After performing all the stunt he is famous for, he saves the day for Jason (Fabrizio Mioni, who went on to a long TV career in America) and rowed off into the sunset with Croatian beauty Sylva Koscina.

This is the stuff epics are made of.

Those impressive sets built in Italy for some major productions like Quo Vadis and Ben-Hur were not wasted. The Italian cinema found serious use for them with a series sand and sandal epics that lasted through the 60s. This film brought to our shores in America by Joseph E. Levine and it started a craze for these peplum films. I am told that this is the accepted term for these films, the peplum being the kind of tunics the male characters wear.

Steve Reeves wore as little as possible the better to show off that muscular body that it took years to perfect. The success of Hercules internationally led to a series of muscle dudes from Europe mostly taking Anglo names for our markets doing films if not with Hercules in the title we would Samson, Goliath, Maciste, etc.

The plot here interweaves several of the legends of Hercules plus the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece in which Hercules was a supporting player. Sylva Koscina plays a Greek princess and Luciana Paluzzi a couple of women who did have careers on this side of the pond will probably be the only other names we know.

Back in 1958 this got a considerable juvenile audience. Today we get a more sophisticated Hercules from Kevin Sorbo, etc. Reeves is not the greatest actor in the world, but really who cares.

I had to leave some comment because this is the first movie I remember going to see.

After the movie I remember acting out the labors of Hercules in front of the movie-house with my friends after the show. This movie seemed to put an end to all cowboys and my other heroes Roy Rogers and Trigger. I was only 7 years old but it seems like yesterday.

This movie was very impressive since after 42 years I still admire Steve Reeves. I understand he is still living a very healthy life even now.

The movie that launched the career of muscle man Steve Reeves.... In the late 1950s Italian director Pietro Franicisi wanted to do a film about the exploits of the famous muscleman, "Hercules"...he had scoured actors all over Europe looking for a handsome, musclebound actor who could complement the role...soon his daughter who had seen Reeves in a couple of B films recommended Reeves to her father....the rest was history. Reeves was an out of work muscleman actor who reportedly took the role for about $40,000 US cash - quite a sum at the time for an unemployed actor. The rest as they say is history. When first released it was panned by the major US studios until a film producer named Joseph E. Levine took a big chance and bought all the rights to the film's USA release. After a major US advertising campaign on television and in the newspapers the film confounded the experts and for some strange reason became an international hit. The timing was right for some unknown reason for this cheaply made muscle man movie to become a hit. At the time fantasy films, such as the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and others were big at the box office. Reeves incredible physique and handsome face were big attractions to the young boys and ladies who went to see the film. Levine hit the jackpot again when Francisi made "Hercules Unchained" a few months later after the release of "Hercules". "Hercules Unchained " made even more money, in fact an astounding amount in 1960 and became one of the year's biggest grossing films. Soon, Italian directors jumped on the bandwagon and starting churning out these muscleman epics by the dozens.....Gordon Scott, Mark Forrest,Reg Lewis, and Kirk Morris all tried to duplicate Reeves in these "epics".....and the public loved them. Reeves went on to make several more muscleman epics in the late 50s and early 60s playing Morgan the Pirate, The Thief of Bagdad, Goliath, The White Warrior, The Son of Spartacus and other muscleman epics. An odd twist to Reeves career was the fact that he reportedly turned down two roles that became international sensations: He was offered the role of James Bond by producer Cubby Broccoli and "The Man with No name" made popular by Clint Eastwood and made by Sergio Leone....for whatever reason Reeves turned the roles down....hard to understand. Reeves retired to ranching, his first love in the late 60s and raised cattle and horses until his death in 2001. The greatest physique ever seen on a man....probably the most admired bodybuilder of all time.

Joseph E. Levine's timing when he decided to capitalize on this low-budget Italian epic was so right that it has become a legendary example of film promotion. That aside, it's amazing still how the dynamic image of Steve Reeves and a multimillion dollar saturation campaign was able to make this one of the most profitable films of it's time. That bad word of mouth didn't kill this picture's boxoffice only goes to show you that kitsch can be appreciated when it delivers, and HERCULES is colossal kitsch that delivers sensational, fetishistic, sexist spectacle in it's cheapest, most primitive form. Tastelessly tasteful.