Giants of Rome

This sword and sandal film by Antonio MARGHERITI tells a story from the Gallic War. In 52 BC, the decisive Battle of Alesia is imminent. Gaius Julius Caesar (Alessandro SPERLI) puts together a suicide squad to scout out a feared secret weapon of the Druids behind the Gallic lines and, if possible, destroy it. Under the leadership of Claudius Marcellus (Richard HARRISON), several experienced warriors (Ralph HUDSON, Ettore MANNI and Goffredo UNGER) set off and end up in the dungeon of Vercingetorix (Renato BALDINI). There they meet the beautiful patrician Livilla (the hair is perfect as always: Wandisa GUIDA) and her injured and broken bodyguard Drusus (Philippe HERSENT). Thanks to the young runaway Valerius (the exceptional acrobatic actor Alberto DellACQUA in his first role), the squad manages to escape. Now the heroes still have numerous battles ahead of them, and there will be painful losses to mourn...

The classic sword and sandal film borrows from upcoming war films such as THE DIRTY DOZEN and ATTENTATO AI TRE GRANDI by Umberto LENZI, in which battle-ready gallows birds are used as a suicide mission. This offers solid genre entertainment, but also leaves a bitter aftertaste.

"Giants of Rome" is in some aspects a strangely premised sword and sandal movie. The main reason for that is that the central characters - the men on a mission - are Romans working for Caesar and the Roman Empire, fighting the inhabitants of what is now modern day France. If you ask me, that is almost akin to a movie about Nazis on a mission to penetrate and destroy some part of Allied forces, given that the Romans were conquerors and enslavers of foreign empires. But even if you can stomach that premise, chances are you'll still not find the movie to be very good. The action sequences all seem to be directed in a way to both be identical to each other and not particularly exciting. Actually, much of the movie (particularly the central third of the movie) is rather slow- moving and not very exciting. In fact, it makes the disappointment of the revelation of the "secret weapon" even more than you might expect. The movie could have been a lot worse, I admit, but even sword and sandal movie fans might find this a bit of an ordeal to watch.

"The forces of Rome are out to defeat the Druids but are shocked to learn their enemy has a powerful secret weapon that could spell defeat for them. Claudius Marcellus, a Roman Centurion, leads a small band of soldiers behind enemy lines to discover the location of this doomsday weapon and destroy it before the Druids can use it to attack Rome," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Titled "The Giants of Rome" for English listeners, this nicely paced "sword and sandal" epic stars an Adonis-handsome Richard Harrison (as Claudius Marcellus) in a bulging pair of satin briefs. He is supported by a "beefcake" quartet of Roman soldiers, including right-hand man Ettore Manni (as Castor). The accent is on men, but Wandisa Guida (as Livilla) adds a little femininity.

Up-and-coming young Alberto Dell'Acqua (as Valerius) makes a particularly strong impression herein. As the soldier who wants to join Caesar's selected quartet of soldiers, Mr. Dell'Acqua (later known internationally as "Robert Widmark") is given what must have amounted to a star-making role in his home country. Watch out, especially, for his startling "crucifixion" sequence.

****** I giganti di Roma (9/10/64) Antonio Margheriti ~ Richard Harrison, Ettore Manni, Wandisa Guida, Alberto Dell'Acqua

In Giants Of Rome Richard Harrison leads a handpicked crew to seek and destroy a legendary secret weapon that the Druids have constructed blocking a pass. Given that this is an ancient world epic, how advanced technologically could the weapon be?

The plot is a homage to The Guns Of Navarone and while it isn't anywhere up to the standard of that film, it's a bit better than some of the peplum films I've been viewing lately. The dialog is a bit much however. When the band of warriors have to kill some Gauls and take a couple of prisoners, one of them is a woman. To which Harrison asks her why she hates the Romans so much. I mean really.

None other than Julius Caesar himself gives Harrison and his band their mission orders. Just what is this terrible secret weapon? All I can say is it's nothing the Roman legions hadn't faced before, just bigger.

All those big muscle man, with their oiled up bodies - not sure how appealing that does sound, but that is the formula for Sword and Sandals movies. And while there have been more Hercules/Maciste movies than you can count, this is a "different" hero, but the same formula.

Still the fight scenes and the costumes are nice. Yes props may seem laughable nowadays, but never forget the budget these had. There is a camaraderie in this one that most single protagonist movies did not really have, if that is something you are interested in