Hercule se déchaîne

The Fury Of Hercules finds Brad Harris as the legendary muscle dude and son of Zeus trying to visit an old friend who was the local monarch. He was away way too long and his friend has died and his daughter is now the Queen. But she's got an evil counselor in Serge Gainsbourg who has her wrapped around his finger. He's got the population half enslaved building a wall around the city, the better to keep enemies out and he's got a few of them.

It takes a while for Hercules to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are, but soon enough he joins up with the rebels. The Queen is miffed because she's got a thing for muscles, but Hercules can only see one of her handmaidens.

With few exceptions this is the basic plot of many peplum films, they vary only with the name of the strong man hero. Not even Serge Gainsbourg who does play an interesting villain with issues is enough to lift The Fury Of Hercules from eternal mediocrity.

Routine sword and sandal :it's 25 centuries before Christ ,folks,and that wicked prime minister Menistus (Serge Gainsbourg)is making rough all over:"only blood and violence can lead to power!" "reprisals! repression!" "death to the rebels!" ...

It was the third time the great singer/songwriter had appeared in a sword and sandal after "Sansone" and "La Rivolta Della Schiavi" .I'm forced to recognize,one more time,that,while a brilliant songwriter maybe the best France has ever had,Gainsbourg -Whitney Houston might remember him-was a lousy actor.

If you do not ask too much ,this Hercules (Ercole)is not worse than the others;there are even endearing characters,some "nice" people die ,which is very rare in this kind of flick,and the queen herself is ,relatively speaking,an ambiguous character,at once guilty and innocent.Hercule is strong ,that's all the director asks from him.His endeavors are business as usual:fight against a lion , a gorilla (a man dressed up as a gorilla more like)etc..Full of finer feelings ,with a finale verging on melodrama.All in all,a lesson in democracy.

Hercules, the legendary hero with almost superhuman strength, returns to his hometown of Arpad after many years. The city is now ruled by Queen Knidia. With the wicked guidance of the domineering minister Menistos, she ends up oppressing and tormenting the people. Hercules decides to put an end to this tyranny and sides with the rebelling masses. Blinded by a hunger for power and hatred, Menistos now does everything they can to capture Hercules- dead or alive.

Brad Harris - who bears a passing resemblance to Kirk Douglas - plays Hercules in this typical peplum which, predictably, has familiar tropes. An evil villain, oppressed people, a useless Queen, dungeons, feats of strength, schemes and a test - which features a battle with a lion and a gorilla. None of these face-offs are that thrilling. The gorilla is a man in a suit and moves like he's drunk. The other action scenes are better, Brad Harris makes a good Hercules, gets a bit intense and angry towards the end, but it's Serge Gainsborg as the evil minister who steals the thunder. There's the usual bevy of beautiful women and grand schemes to overcome the bad guys. Discriminate viewers will not be too impressed, but I enjoyed it, finding its pace fairly brisk. The finale is quite rousing.

Here we go again, Hercules has another evil ruler to deal with. That is nothing unusual - this time is an evil queen. The queen wants Hercules but our hero is in love with a pretty and sweet milkmaid.

Standard, typical stuff. Nothing that really makes this Hercules film stand out of the crowd.

Mid to late 70s to the very early 80s I recall watching a couple, three or four of the Hercules films and I really enjoyed them. Going back to watch them all these years later I find they are not nearly as good. I guess viewing the films from the eyes of a child in those years of my life these movies seemed big, glamorous and very heroic.

These days, all I can see is a poor script - cheap bad lines and boring story, bad camera work and some not so great acting. I see some nice costumes, sets and props - sometimes some good action - and I think those are the same things I actually saw as a kid, but as an adult I can see the whole picture and it's mildly entertaining.

2.5/10

This movie begins with "Hercules" (Brad Harris) riding in a chariot and suddenly being ambushed by a group of men. Upon defending himself, the leader recognizes that it is Hercules that they are attacking and yells for his men to withdraw. Hercules then proceeds to his destination, which is the city of Arpad, to pay his respects to the king. However, when he gets there, he is informed that the king and all of the other counselors he knew previously have all died. The new ruler is the king's daughter "Cnidia" (Mara Berni), who he knew when she was a child and who quickly falls in love with him when they meet again. Unfortunately, although she believes that she is in control of the city, the fact of the matter is that her lead adviser, "Menistus" (Sergi Gainsbourg) is actually calling the shots, and nothing happens without his consent. That said, the one thing he doesn't want is somebody like Hercules appearing out of nowhere and disturbing the status quo. Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that the entire movie seemed to be both routine and predictable, which caused it to seem rather dull. Likewise, the dialogue--which was initially in Italian and dubbed into English--seemed extremely basic which didn't necessarily help in that regard. Although it might appeal to die-hard "Sword and Sandal" fans, I personally found it to be somewhat boring and therefore rate it as below average.