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Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli Invincibili
Samson and the Mighty Challenge
Combate de Gigantes / Le Grand Défi / Samson and His Mighty Challenge / Samson and the Seven Challenges / Die Stunde der harten Männer / Triumph der Giganten
Italy / Spain / France 1964
produced by Giorgio Cristallini for Senior Cinematografica, Productores Exhibidores Films, Films Régent
directed by Giorgio Capitani
starring Alan Steel (= Sergio Ciani), Red Ross (= Howard Ross), Nadir Baltimore (= Nadir Moretti), Yann Larvor, Luciano Marin, Hélène Chanel, Lia Zoppelli, Moira Orfei, Arnaldo Fabrizio, Livio Lorenzon, Nino Dal Fabbro, Elisa Montés, María Luisa Ponte, Conrado San Martín, Valentino Macchi, Nino Marchetti, Carlo Tamberlani
written by Sandro Continenza, Roberto Gianviti, music by Piero Umiliani
Hercules, Samson, Maciste, Ursus, Hercules (Alan Steel), Maciste (1960's)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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It all starts with Hercules (Alan Steel) choosing the path of pleasure
rather than virtue for a change (literally), and there he soon runs into
and saves Princess Omphale (Elisa Montés) from drowning, and as these
stories go, he of course falls in love with her on the spot. Thing is,
despite his noble deed, Omphale doesn't love him back one bit and instead
has a secret affair with Inor (Luciano Marin), prince of the Mountain
Tribes, the sworn enemies of Lydia, home of Omphale. That said, Nemea (Lia
Zoppelli), queen of Lydia and Omphale's own mother, would very much love
to see her and Hercules getting married, as she needs a strong ally (like
a demi-god) in her fight against the Mountain Tribes. So she does her best
to stall Hercules and use his powers to her advantage while trying every
trick in the book to make Omphale fall for him. However, Omphale and Inor
trick the local oracle (Hélène Chanel) into telling Nemea that in order
for Hercules to marry Omphale, he needs to first defeat the strongest man
in the world - Samson (Nadir Baltimore). So Nemea's emissaries set out to
track down Samson, who's actually really eager to go to Lydia for all the
beautiful women there, but his wife Dalila (Moira Orfei) quickly realizes
what's going downn and cuts off his hair, robbing him of his power - so he
refuses to go, fearing to be embarrassed. So Nemea's emissaries hire local
brute Ursus (Yann Larvor) to pretty much drag Samson to Lydia. And to keep
Ursus in line, they also hire super-righteous strongman Maciste (Red
Ross). Back in Lydia, the fight between Hercules and Samson is pretty
one-sided, as was to be expected, so much so that Omphale flees the city
with Inor. But trying to find abode with the Mountain Tribes proves to be
an ill-advised move as Inor's father only captures her to burn her at the
stake while forcing his son to marry another woman, something which
ultimately leads to a big fistfight everybody against everyone, and when
Hercules arrives to "save" Omphela, he's pretty much ignored,
and eventually finding out that Omphela doesn't love him but Inor doesn't
brighten up his mood, but he wants to do right - if it wasn't for that
blasted oracle. But ultimately, back in Lydia, Samson's hair has grown
back and he wants to beat Hercules fair and square, which only needs to a
battle royale, eventually ended by Zeus, who simply doesn't want to be
bothered anymore ... Back in the early to mid-1960s, peplums
were pretty much produced a dime a dozen in Italy, some actually rather
good, some campy, some enjoyably bad, and many just drivel. But even
taking into account the numbers in which they were produced (and obviously
also consumed) didn't mean the Italians took them wholly seriously, and
there were parodies before, most notably maybe Toto
contro Maciste/Toto vs.
Maciste or Arrivano i Titani/My Son, the Hero. What
makes this movie special of course is that it not only takes the four
most-employed heroes of the era, Hercules, Samson, Maciste and Ursus, and
gives them all a good send-up but also that it shows a certain
self-awareness for genre tropes and really questions many of them in a
very hilarious way. And that the film stars many actors also seen in
serious peplums, from Alan Steel and Moira Orfei down, only adds to the
film's fun. That all said, truth to be told this is still a rather broad
comedy, and the parodistic elements are a bit hit-or-miss, but there are
plenty of good laughs here, and even some of the not-so-good ones show
some insight to make this pretty cool nostalgic entertainment at least.
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