Steven’s Bookshop/USA DVDs Sword & Sandal

SWORD & SANDAL MOVIES

“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”
—Peter Graves as Captain Oveur in Airplane!

“If you want something visual that’s not too abysmal,
we could take in an old Steve Reeves movie!”
—Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter in
The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Sword & Sandal phenomenon of the 1960s began with the success of a single movie, the 1958 Italian production Le Fatiche di Ercole starring American bodybuilder Steve Reeves.

Dubbed into English and retitled Hercules, the movie became a box office sensation in the United States. The Italian film industry proceeded to make scores of sequels, imitations, and spin-offs, exploiting the elements that made Hercules a hit:

• a muscleman in the starring role, performing superhuman feats of strength
• exotic heroines and femme fatales in league with dastardly villains
• sensual costumes and lavish sets
• stories and characters drawn from ancient history and myth
• lurid scenes of bondage and torture
• atrocious dubbing!
• a decidedly Italian sense of style and storytelling

Dubbed “Sword & Sandal” or “gladiator movies” in the U.S., the genre is called peplum in Europe (after a garment worn by women in ancient Greece; it’s a bit like calling them “toga movies”).

The very best of these films were magical recreations of the ancient world. The worst resorted to rubber monsters and styrofoam sets, but often still conveyed a sense of joy and wonder. Some ventured into sheer fantasy, taking the hero far from Greece and Rome into other eras and lands or into realms of dream, dispensing heavy doses of erotic wish-fulfillment and sadomasochism. The hero is often called Maciste; the name comes from the strongman hero of the Italian silent epic Cabiria.

Want more information about Sword & Sandal movies? Check out peplums.info (an extraordinary archive of images and data, entirely in French), the Hercules pages at Brian’s Drive-In Theater, or the Sword & Sandal entry at wikipedia. You can view clips from some Sword & Sandal movies at peplumz’s channel at YouTube.

Caveat emptor! The quality of prints available on DVD varies greatly, from vibrant widescreen wonders to fuzzy 16mm prints with washed-out color. Also, some films appear on more than one compilation DVD, so collectors should shop carefully to avoid buying duplicates.

	MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON’S MINES starring Reg Park, plus the time travel comedy Maciste Against Hercules in the Vale of Woe with Kirk Morris and Frank Gordon.		HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS starring Mark Forest, plus Hercules and the Masked Rider starring Alan Steel; two adventures that take the hero far from ancient Greece!
	STEVE REEVES COLLECTION Widescreen prints of two classics: Giant of Marathon, directed by Jacques Tourneur, and War of the Trojans (which is on Steven’s Top Ten List).		THE FILM CREW: THE GIANT OF MARATHON Those Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys reunite for an irreverent take on the Steve Reeves classic.
	GOLIATH DOUBLE FEATURE Widescreen prints of Steve Reeves and Chelo Alonso in Goliath Against the Barbarians and Gordon Scott in Goliath and the Vampires.		GOLIATH & THE SINS OF BABYLON Mark Forest in bondage, Babylonian style! Widescreen edition. Plus Colossus & The Amazon Queen with a very young Rod Taylor.
	HERCULES & THE CAPTIVE WOMEN One of the best of the genre, at last in widescreen; also includes Hercules, Prisoner of Evil. Both star British bodybuilder Reg Park.		HERCULES The original epic starring Steve Reeves, at last in widescreen. Plus the bizarre Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules with Mark Forest and black bodybuilder Paul Wynter.
	SON OF HERCULES IN THE LAND OF DARKNESS Is even superhunk Dan Vadis strong enough to resist being torn apart wishbone-style by two elephants?		HERCULES & THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON starring Rock Stevens (aka Peter Lupus), plus Colossus & The Amazon Queen starring Rod Taylor and Ed Fury.
	HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD The cult sensation directed by horror legend Mario Bava, starring Reg Park and Christopher Lee, in a deluxe widescreen edition.		HERCULES THE AVENGER Widescreen edition with Reg Park as the demigod on a quest to the unknown. Plus the weirdly anachronistic Hercules and the Black Pirate starring Alan Steel.
	GOLIATH & THE DRAGON Gorgeous widescreen print of the loopy Mark Forest classic with Broderick Crawford as the villain. Plus Conqueror of Atlantis starring Kirk Morris.		URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE plus Ursus in the Valley of the Lions, both starring Athletic Model Guild heartthrob Ed Fury.
	ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS When a a descendant of the sorceress Circe seeks to destroy Ulysses’ heir, only Maciste (Gordon Mitchell) can save the child. With black bodybuilder Paul Wynter.		ULYSSES AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES When Ulysses (Georges Marchal) blinds the Cyclops, the angry gods send Heracles (6-feet, 8-inch Mike Lane) to exact divine justice.
	HERCULES & THE PRINCESS OF TROY TV pilot for a Hercules series with Gordon Scott — who isn’t dubbed! Triple-feature includes Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops and Giants of Rome.		GIANT OF METROPOLIS Bizarre sci-fi about a muscular hero tormented by the tyrant of a doomed futuristic city. Bonus interview with the late, great Gordon Mitchell.
	SON OF SAMSON In his stunning screen debut, Mark Forest as Maciste ventures to Egypt, where sizzling Scilla Gabel awaits. Plus Son of Cleopatra starring Mark Damon.		GLADIATORS SEVEN Richard Harrison stars as a Spartan warrior who rebels against the rule of Rome in the 1st century A.D.
	GLADIATORS 2-disk set includes Gladiators Seven, Giants of Rome, Rebel Gladiators, and Duel of the Champions. Alan Ladd, Dan Vadis, Jacques Sernas, Alan Steel, and Richard Harrison star.		GLADIATORS COLLECTOR’S EDITION 2-disk set includes Gladiators Seven, Giants of Rome, Rebel Gladiators, and Invincible Gladiator. Richard Harrison, Dan Vadis, and Alan Steel star.
	THE WITCH’S CURSE Maciste goes on a mission beyond sorcery and death in one of the strangest and most dreamlike movies of the genre. The chef-d’oeuvre of the magnificent Kirk Morris.		SAMSON & THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD Gordon Scott (of Tarzan fame) takes a Sword & Sandal trip to China. Yoko Tani co-stars.
	SAMSON Brad Harris and Alan Steel are the heroes determined to save their kingdom from a wicked schemer played by French pop star Serge Gainsbourg (“Je t’aime...moi non plus”).		HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN Whacked-out widescreen wonder with Alan Steel as Hercules. Plus the bizarre The Witch’s Curse starring Kirk Morris.
	ULTIMATE HERO Steve Reeves in a decent full-screen print of Hercules Unchained and The Giant of Marathon (widescreen), plus Gordon Scott in Samson & the Seven Miracles of the World.		FIRE MONSTERS AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES Maciste goes prehistoric, as played by the rarely seen bodybuilder Reg Lewis.
	ATLAS Legendary director Roger Corman’s entry in the genre, filmed in Greece, stars Michael Forest (the hunky god Apollo in the classic Star Trek episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?”).		ROME AGAINST ROME A Sarmatian wizard (played by John Drew Barrymore, Drew’s father) raises a zombie army to fight the Romans! No muscleman, just over-the-top horror fantasy.
	LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959) stars Steve Reeves and Fernando Rey. Includes a narrated print of the racy, super-rare 1926 silent version (mislabeled 1913) as a bonus.		WHITE WARRIOR For Steve Reeves fans, a ripped and pumped retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s Russian classic “Hadji Murad.” Widescreen print.
	HERCULES IN NEW YORK Young, super-pumped Arnold Schwartzenegger stars as the demigod dropped into modern New York in this comedy from 1970. Features Arnold’s original audio track.		HERCULES / ADVENTURES OF HERCULES Lou Ferrigno stars in two eye-popping 1980s revivals of the Sword & Sandal genre.
	JAIL BAIT At 26, Steve Reeves made his screen debut as a police detective in this 1954 Ed Wood Z-movie classic. Reeves sheds his shirt...and speaks his lines undubbed!		SANDOKAN THE GREAT Steve Reeves plays the rebel warlord Sandokan, outwitting the British in the headhunter-infested swamps of the Malay jungle.
	THE QUEEN OF SHEBA Six years before Hercules, Pietro Francisci directed this b&w gem. Babe and beefcake quotient: very high. Camp quotient: off the scale! Struck from a beautiful print, this dvd looks terrific.		SAMSON & DELILAH 1984 telemovie offers a rare chance to see Aussie hunk Antony Hamilton flex his pecs as the Hebrew strongman headed for a fall.
	CABIRIA Italian silent precursor of the genre brims with spectacle and includes the first appearance of the strongman Maciste (Bartolomeo Pagano), hero of many later Sword & Sandal epics.		A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS Before meaty roles in Barabbas, Thor & the Amazon Women and Diamonds Are Forever, Joe Robinson played a bodybuilder turned wrestler in this 1955 beefcake classic.
	WITH FIRE & SWORD: Italian Spectacles on American Screens, 1958-1968 ed. by Patrick Lucanio 540-page filmography of over 300 Sword & Sandal movies.		RETRO STUD: Muscle Movie Posters From Around the World by David Chapman Nifty picture book pays homage to advertising and poster art of the Sword & Sandal epics of the 1960s.