Main Cast: Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Fabrizio Mioni, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici, Gianna Maria Canale
Release Year: 1957
Country: IT
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
Heralding a decade of Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, Hercules -- as it's been known in the United States since its 1959 release -- draws most of its plot from the legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Hercules, the half-immortal son of Jupiter (or Zeus) rescues Iole, the daughter of Pelias, the king of Jolco, when the horses pulling her chariot run wild. Returning her to the court, he is engaged by Pelias to train his vain, arrogant son in the use of arms, that he may one day become a warrior king. Pelias' hold on power is very uncertain, owing to the way he became king -- his brother, the previous monarch, was murdered by persons unknown in the palace -- and he looks to leave a dynasty. The prince is later killed through his own foolishness, however, and the blame falls on Hercules. In order to win back the grieving heart of Iole, Hercules surrenders his immortality and manages to triumph in a savage test of his strength against the Cretan Bull. One day, a stranger arrives in Jolco claiming to be Jason, Pelias' nephew, and son of the murdered king -- and the rightful king. To prove his claim, he vows to sail to the ends of the Earth and reclaim the Golden Fleece, the symbol of rightful rule in Jolco, which was stolen on the night that his father was murdered. A crew is assembled that includes various legendary figures out of Greek mythology, with Hercules at the head of the list. They survive encounters with sea storms and a predatory race of women, the machinations of a traitor in their ranks, and Pelias' treachery, and Jason slays the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece. On their return, however, the Fleece is stolen and Hercules is imprisoned. Jason and his men are surrounded by Pelias' soldiers and a battle ensues. Iole frees Hercules, who comes to the aid of Jason and restores him to the throne that's rightfully his. This battle features one of the best action sequences in the film as Hercules, his wrists still in the shackles and chains that bound him in Pelias' dungeon, first kills the man who murdered the old king and then, faced with mounted cavalry charging him on the steps of the palace, pulls down the pillars supporting the facade and wipes out the cavalry. Pelias, unable to contain his own guilt, commits suicide and Iole, seeing the truth about her father, goes to Hercules and accepts him as her husband. Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts, made six years later, told the same story with far superior effects and a less conclusive ending, but Hercules is a fun movie in its own right, and Steve Reeves cuts a stunning figure, even if his voice is dubbed. Curiously, there are two different dubbed versions of Hercules in circulation, one of which (the one that was on television in the early '60s, and was on the VidAmerica videocassette) features a simpler range of English dialogue that works better. The other version occasionally uses more florrid language (and appeared on the Image Entertainment letterboxed laserdisc), which doesn't really resonate well. The giveaway comes in the scene where Hercules prays to Jupiter at the temple, surrendering his powers. The simpler, better track has the echoed voice come back "the Cretan Bull awaits." ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
In 1959, Steve Reeves became an international screen star with this film, which had been shot in Italy two years earlier under the title The Labors of Hercules. Bought by producer Joseph E. Levine (who had previously brought the Japanese film Gojira into the United States successfully as Godzilla), retitled and redubbed, and then promoted with a bigger budget than it had cost to shoot the movie, Hercules became a box-office smash in the United States and set the standard for a decade of Italian-made muscle-man films that followed, all featuring professional bodybuilders as leads and all set in some era of Greek or Roman antiquity. Contrary to what the critics claim, this is not a bad movie. Reeves cuts a commanding figure as the legendary hero, and even people who didn't like his work conceded that he looked great; the rest of the cast, especially Silva Koscina as Iole and Ivo Garrani as Pelias, try very hard in portraying what are essentially mythical icons out of Greek antiquity; and the special effects work within the limitations of the budget. True, Ray Harryhausen in his sleep could have created a more convincing dragon (and later did just that, in Jason and the Argonauts), but within the confines of this film's available talent and money, the dragon awaiting Jason at the end of the quest for the Golden Fleece worked as well as it needed to. Moreover, the popularity of this movie inspired a generation of teenage and preteen baby-boomers to start studying Greek and Roman mythology with varying degrees of seriousness; it also may well have planted the pop culture seed through which Marvel Comics was able to spawn the Mighty Thor in comic books three years later, which eventually introduced Hercules as a semi-permanent character. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Hercules made Reeves an international film star and effectively paved the way for the dozens of 1960s sword and sandal flicks featuring oily bodybuilders as mythological heroes and gladiators battling monsters, despots, and evil queens. Hercules has been broadcast on American television, is in the public domain, and is available in both VHS and DVD formats. The film's Italian title means "The Labors of Hercules".
The film's screenplay is loosely based upon the myths of Hercules and the Greek epic poemArgonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes. In both myths and epic poem, Hercules' role in the Quest for the Golden Fleece is marginal; he abandons the expedition early-on when Hylas, his armor-bearer and eromenos (Greek: ἐρώμενος), is lost on an island while searching for water. With Hylas conveniently absent in the film, Hercules' role is greatly expanded: he remains with the expedition for its duration, saves the Argo from destruction in a storm, disciplines mutinous crew, and overwhelms enemy forces with brute strength in the film's finale. Twists on the sources include the introduction of Iole into the tale as Pelias' daughter, the replacement of Hylas with young Ulysses as Hercules' protege, and Hercules' renunciation of his immortality in order to experience life as a mortal man.
Plot and cast
The film opens with Hercules (Steve Reeves) on the road to the court of King Pelias of Iolcus (Ivo Garrani) to tutor Pelias' son Prince Iphitus (Mimmo Palmara) in the use of arms. Pelias' beautiful daughter Princess Iole (Sylva Koscina) updates Hercules on the history of her father's rise to power and the theft of the kingdom's greatest treasure, the Golden Fleece. Some suspect -- and it eventually proves true -- that King Pelias has acquired the throne through fratricide. Hercules and Iole are attracted to each other and a romance eventually develops.
King Pelias is warned by a seeress (Luciana Paluzzi) about a stranger wearing one sandal who will challenge his power. When his nephew Jason, the rightful King of Iolcus, (Fabrizio Mioni) arrives in town wearing one sandal, Pelias takes fright and packs him off to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the distant land of Colchis. Jason and Hercules sail aboard the Argo with their friends Ulysses and his father Laertes (Gabriele Antonini and Andrea Fantasia), Argos (Aldo Fiorelli), the twins Castor and Pollux (Fulvio Carrara and Willi Colombini), the lyre-strumming Orpheus (Gino Mattera), the physician Aesculapius (Gian Paolo Rosmino) and others.
After weathering a tempest at sea, the Argonauts dally in a lush garden-like country with Antea, the Queen of the Amazons (Gianna Maria Canale) and her ladies (Gina Rovere and Lily Granado). Jason falls in love with Antea, but, when the Amazons plot the deaths of the heroes, Hercules forces Jason to board the Argo and secretly set sail in the night. On the shores of Colchis, the heroes battle hairy ape-men while Jason slays a dragon and retrieves the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts embark for home with their prize.
In Iolcus, the populace greet the returning heroes but Pelias and his henchman Eurysteus (Arturo Dominici) steal the Golden Fleece, deny Jason's claim, and plot his destruction. A tense battle between Pelias' forces and the heroes follows. Hercules halts Pelias' cavalry dead in its tracks by toppling the portico of the palace upon them. The defeated Pelias drinks poison. Jason ascends the throne while Hercules and Iole set sail for new adventures.
Subplots involve the death of Pelias' headstrong son Prince Iphitus, and exploits for Hercules resembling the Labors of the Nemean Lion and the Cretan Bull. Cast includes (Lidia Alfonsi) as Iole's Maid, (Afro Poli) as Jason's mentor Chiron, Aldo Pini as Tifi, Spartaco Nale and Paola Quattrini in the uncredited role of Young Iole.
Production notes
American producer Joseph E. Levine acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film, and, due in part to his "saturation" promotional campaign (the film opened in 175 theaters alone in the New York City area), Hercules became a major box-office hit.[1]
Reeves was an accomplished horseman, and did all his own horse stunts. His voice was not used however, and his lines were dubbed into whatever language was required for local distribution. According to Reeves, the chains attached to his wrist bands for the climax were made of wood and painted to look like metal, but he held back with his movements during the climax when he was swinging them at the actors playing his enemies, which annoyed the director, who instructed Reeves to actually hit the actors and hit them as hard as he could. When Reeves replied that he didn't want to hurt them, the director said in broken English "They don't get hurt, they don't get paid!"
Merchandise
In America, the film generated a Dell comic book adaptation with illustrations by John Buscema and a 33 RPM long-playing RCA Victor recording of the film's soundtrack.
