The film that kicked off the late 50s/60s peplum cycle, and made a fortune for producer Joe Levine, who earned millions from his aggressive marketing of the film. Steve Reeves has a great star entrance – pulling up a tree and throwing it in front of a runaway chariot containing a pretty princess (whose skirt always seems to be about to blow up.)
The plot borrows cheerfully from the Jason and the Argonauts saga – there are a heap of subplots involving Laertes, Ulysses, Jason. Of course there are also Amazons. Indeed sometimes Hercules really gets shunted to the side. But it’s not hard in hindsight to see why this was popular with kids (though it is striking to imagine how popular it was) – there is heaps of action, colourful locations (ancient ruins, waterfalls, underground caverns, etc), scantily clad men and women, even a dinosaur type creature. No one looks very Italian.
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