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Pepla! Pepla! Rah Rah Rah! These two remastered Italo muscleman pix could be the start of something big. A pair of relatively early Maciste epics became Samson vehicles in American-International’s Hollywood-ized revisions. Mark Forest & ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott overthrow tyrants in Egypt and Cathay, while hurling boulders and kissing exotic damsels like Chelo Alonso, Yôko Tani and Hélène Chanel. Separate releases from Kino Lorber.

Samson Double Bill

Son of Samson + Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

Blu-ray Separate Purchases

Kl Studio Classics

1960 + 1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen /

Starring: Mark Forest, Chelo Alonso; Gordon Scott, Yôko Tani, Hélène Chanel, Valéry Inkijinoff.

Cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini

Original Music: Carlo Innocenzi

Produced by Luigi Carpentieri, Ermanno Donati

Directed by Carlo Campogalliani, Riccardo Freda

Is it true? Will the neglected Italian costume pictures known as ‘sword ‘n’ sandals, Pepla & muscleman epics finally be released on disc in editions of worthwhile quality? We ‘fifties kids were raised...

Handsome star of spaghetti westerns including A Pistol for Ringo

When the spaghetti western was born in the early 1960s, some of the Italian lead actors disguised their names under American-sounding ones (though nobody was fooled). Among those competing successfully with bona fide Yanks such as Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef were Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti), Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli) and Montgomery Wood, a temporary pseudonym taken by Giuliano Gemma, who has died in a car accident aged 75.

The strikingly handsome Gemma was one of the brightest stars of the once deprecated, now revered, genre. After five years in sword-and-sandal epics (also known as peplum films), usually supporting muscle men, Gemma made a name for himself (even if, initially, it wasn't his own) in two westerns directed by Duccio Tessari: A Pistol for Ringo (1965) and The Return of Ringo (1965). Their big box-office success granted Gemma stardom and...

This Amish Mafia star is getting put behind bars. Star of the Discovery Channel TV show Alan Beiler, 35, was sentenced to three to 23 months in prison today in Perry County Court, after injuring a state trooper while leading police on a car chase in Pennsylvania last summer, according to reports. Beiler pleaded guilty in May to charges of attempting to elude police, drug possession and driving with a suspended license. Police were trying to stop the Lancaster County resident for an expired car registration before being led on a chase. They say Beiler drove against traffic and caused a pursuing state trooper to crash and suffer a concussion. Beiler's attorney Mark Forrest Walmer says his client...