Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon

"Peter Lupus of 'Mission: Impossible' fame stars as the legendary Hercules. He is on a mission to rescue the beautiful Queen of the Hellenes, who has been kidnapped and enslaved by the ruler of Babylon," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Yes, three thousand years ago in the city of Babylon, popular TV series supporting player Peter Lupus (as "Rock Stevens") had a career in muscle-man movies from Italy. This one, translated literally by American International Pictures as "Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon", is ponderous to a fault. Beautifully shaped Helga Line is the highlight.

*** Ercole contro i tiranni di Babilonia (12/25/64) Domenico Paolella ~ Peter Lupus, Helga Line, Mario Petri, Livio Lorenzon

Ah! Another rainy day,Sunday Sword and Sandal affair..these movies always bring back such joy and regarded youth...if you don't dig "bad" flicks or just plain goofy ones,this isn't yer cup of meat.On the other hand,this isn't too retched-Peter Lupus as the man in charge,a decent plot,the usual foolishness= a good way to waste a Sunday afternoon...what happened to those days,anyhoo...??

"Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon" was picked up by American- International Pictures for a stateside release. However, A.I.P. decided to release the movie directly to television instead of giving it a theatrical release. When A.I.P. did that, it usually meant they didn't have confidence that the movie in question would do well in theaters, and they were probably right in this case. The movie is not awful by any means - it has some spectacle, from some good production values. And the movie moves from scene to scene fairly briskly. On the other hand, the Hercules in this particular movie doesn't always come off so well. In the first 30% or so of the movie, he only makes two brief appearances. And there is sometimes a goofy vibe to him, such as with the gigantic club he likes to carry around with him. Another problem is that while the movie moves from scene to scene briskly, it soon becomes apparent that there isn't a terrible amount of plot; there are instead a lot of characters equally trying to make their presence known. And a few more action sequences would have helped. If you really like sword and sandal movies, this movie is acceptable, but in no way is it likely to make converts to the genre.

Hercules is a quasi-hero here, overall does the 'good' thing though it's always important to remember that civilians can often be collateral damage when collapsing buildings and empires. I guess finesse isn't a Herculean trait. Along with the strongman sorts of acts, there was a fair bit of fighting to be had as well. Some political intrigue brought about mild interest into how all this was going to unravel.

Plot became very contrived, predictable, and absurd, but am fairly sure this wasn't the point of the movie. Acting was very much lacking by most, especially those who had a lot of screen time. I'm alright with hokey effects, but there's got to be some points of redemption somewhere.

Peter Lupus who later was a regular on Mission Impossible takes his turn as Hercules in Hercules And The Tyrants Of Babylon. His mission in this peplum is to save the Queen of the Hellenes.

The two middle eastern empires of the time have raided and sacked Greece and one of them has carried off the Queen of the Hellenes. Problem is that Babylon doesn't know that they have her, but the Assyrian king sure does. When the Assyrian king visits the three sharing Babylonian monarchs and wishes to buy all their captive women slaves, they smell something up.

In the meantime Hercules is on his mission to save her from whomever. To aid Lupus in his quest, he's got himself one mighty club, the stick which looks like a big and thick tree branch can give a mighty whack when Hercules wields it.

As peplum pictures go, this one's a bit above the norm.