La terreur des barbares

"Terror of the Barbarians" with STeve Reeves of "Hercules" fame, is a very enjoyable sword and sandal epic. Reeves stars as Emiliano, aka Goliath, a Italian in the 4th century who seeks vengeance on the Barbarians who killed his father and plundered his village. Reeves is just great in this type of picture. Chelo Alonso is the love interest here and she's a real knockout, sort of a Halle Berry type with a great figure. Bruce Cabot, of "King Kong" Fame, co-stars at Alboino but shares no scenes with Reeves. Sigh.

Emiliano is a one-man army at first, so he dons a lion's mask and basically scares the tar out of the barbarians by yelling at them and then beating them senseless! They manage to capture him, but unsure of who Goliath is, they put him to feats of strength. Terrific torture ensues as Reeves is stretched, pulled and finally put between two horses to be torn apart! Wowza! Reeves of course triumphs and the surprisingly fair leader of the horde lets him go. This sits not well with Igor, Alboino's right hand man.

Reeves, despite himself, falls for the barbarian princess Landa, played by Chelo Alonso, and uses all his resources and some loyal friends, to save the day for his village. Nicely paced and well shot, I finally saw this on DVD and its one of Reeves' best efforts. It makes one wonder what he could have done with a real director and a solid cast. The music is better than average too. The barbarians are shown raping and pillaging, but they're not cardboard cutouts here and some are given real personality, i.e. Landa's father Delfo and Igor's sometimes ally, well played by Arturo Dominici. A well done b-movie.

In 1960 I was a 13-year-old boy, undergoing the initial fires of puberty, pimply and awkward and ugly (well, STILL ugly), when I saw this movie. BONG!! Immediately wanted to BE Steve Reeves. Thought if I saw the movie enough times, I might metamorphose. Sigh. For me, this was THE Steve Reeves movie - didn't see "Hercules" till much later. Thrilled with the music, too, I wrote a letter to the studio (amateurishly addressed to "Hollywood") asking if an album was available. A few weeks later, a copy of the soundtrack album arrived, gratis! That album was damaged in a house fire, but the cover, a photo of the lead actress in arms-raised dancing pose (underarm hair!?!) is still largely intact. I dream of seeing this movie again before I die!!!! Pleeeeese, powers that be, DVD it for me!!

I was 11yrs. old when I saw this movie for the first time. I was immediately "hooked" on Steve Reeves. This is still the only movie 45 years later that I get excited talking about. Reeves had an on-screen presence that was mesmerizing. The scene in which he is strapped to two horses that are pulling in opposite directions designed to split him apart is breath taking. And this is one of many scenes that exploits the magnificence of Steve's fantastic physique. Along with Reeves is the beautiful actress, Chelo Alonso who plays Reeves' love interest. They are truly electrifying on screen.(If you can call anything filmed in 1959 "electric"). I've seen about every movie that Steve Reeves made...from HERCULES to LONG RIDE FROM HELL. Even though HERCULES is the movie Steve will most be remembered for, GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS will always be a top 10 favorite of mine!!!

It's easy to get these Italian sandal-and-spear movies mixed up, but clearly the best "hero" to emerge from the genre was Steve Reeves. His mere presence elevates a movie from the "also-ran" to the "must-see" status. Reeves looks great in this predictable but lively outing which has him tied between two horses charging in opposite directions. Rather than being pulled apart like a wishbone, Reeves manages to rein them in, and you know something? His powerful physique and straining muscles almost make this seem plausible. The dubbing, as usual, is sloppy, but hey, who's looking at the lips?

Hercules was good, Hercules Unchained better still, and Morgan the Pirate was nothing to scoff at. Still, this remains the best Steve Reeves mini-epic of all, if also the hardest to get ahold of on VHS and DVD. He's typecast as a gentle giant who becomes a masked avenger when a horde of barbarians invades his terrain, leading the good people on a guerilla campaign against the marauding mob. Until, that is, he gets a good look at the barbarian princess (Chelo Alonso) and falls apart at the seams. Don't blame him - you will too. This former dancer at Paris nightspots is an exotic beauty, dark and dangerous looking, and she has not one but two extremely erotic dance numbers. They may seem relatively mild today, but this was real hot stuff for those of us who were adolescent boys when the movie was first released in America. The fight scenes are well staged, considering the tight budget, and this rates as the kind of exciting fun that used to make up the top half of a double bill at Saturday matinees during the late fifties and early sixties.