michael-3204 "Goliath and the Dragon" was one of two peplum films featuring Hercules (the other being "The Loves of Hercules') released in 1960, following the success of "Hercules" and its sequel both starring Steve Reeves. The original Italian title for this film is "La vendetta di Ercole" ("The Revenge of Hercules"), but U.S. distributor AIP changed the hero to Goliath for the American release, and added a stop-motion animation dragon not included in the Italian cut. Italian-American (Brooklyn-born) bodybuilder Lou Degni, billed as Mark Forest, takes over the role from Reeves. Forest starred in a dozen or so peplum films including "Maciste in the Valley of the Kings" released this same year and played Hercules again in 1964's "Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun." He is a more than passable stand-in for Reeves, impressively built if not quite as classically handsome or well-proportioned and able to pull off the macho arrogance of the character. The oddest thing about this film is the casting of American actor Broderick Crawford, with an enormous and distracting scar across his face, as Hercules's (or Goliath's ... whatever) nemesis. Crawford growls his way through the movie and generally seems like a grumpy old man. At least he gets to use his name, which neither the film nor the writers nor the lead actor nor the hero do -- co-writer Nicolo Ferrari is credited with the bizarre pseudonym Archibald Zounds Jr.! (Apologies to anyone actually named Archibald Zounds, Jr. or Sr.)The story is particularly baroque, involving forbidden romance, double-crossing courtiers, an over-large cast of characters that becomes cumbersome to keep straight, and some vague plans to defeat Hercules and conquer Thebes, but the overall motif (in keeping with the Italian title) is revenge, with Hercules at one point destroying the statue of the God of Vengeance after it falls on him -- twice! The real attraction here, though, is not the complicated plot but the dizzying array of cheesy monsters Hercules gets to fight, beginning with a sequence in the "cave of horrors" where the big man defeats a three-headed beast that is probably supposed to be Cerebus, though not identified as such (another pseudonymous indignity) and a very strange man-sized bat-like creature that at first I thought was a unique take on the dragon, but as it turns out a more conventional (though, frankly, pretty hilarious) dragon turns up later. Along the way, Hercules also defeats a giant bear-like monster and spears a centaur, who is the most convincing and strangely affecting of all the creatures that populate the film. The bat-thing and the bear-thing are clearly stuntmen in silly costumes, but the dragon (aside from the brief stop-motion sequence) is a giant puppet that Forest does a great job trying to battle convincingly. Other peplum tropes include the obligatory dancing girls and Hercules practically tearing down a city with his bare hands. Though much cheaper looking and cheesier than the two Reeves films that preceded it, this is actually pretty fun and peppy peplum entry helmed by director Vittorio Cottafavi.

wes-connors "King Eurystheus rules the land with cruelty and terror, using his monsters to keep the people under his control. Goliath returns home to find his wife and the people in peril from the monsters and vows to defeat the creatures and overthrow the wicked king. Our hero is faced with the task of fighting a three-headed fire-breathing dog, a giant bat, a centaur, and finally a dragon before he can confront King Eurystheus for the fate of the kingdom," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Re-titled "Goliath and the Dragon" for American International Pictures release, this Italian film arrived as the Herculean "sword and sandal" genre was gaining steam. There are some good locations and sets; but, the overall production is nothing special. As mini-skirted Mark Forest (as Hercules aka Goliath) goes through the regular routine, the plot interest is on brother Sandro Moretti (as Illo aka Illus) and lover Federica Ranchi (as Thea), who is forcibly betrothed to... Broderick Crawford!*** La vendetta di Ercole (8/12/60) Vittorio Cottafavi ~ Mark Forest, Broderick Crawford, Sandro Moretti, Leonora Ruffo

MARIO GAUCI I had previously watched this in Italian during a pretty disastrous screening at the B-movie retrospective at the 2004 Venice Film Festival where the whole audience howled with laughter; in hindsight, I have to say that watching it on the big screen certainly magnifies its inherent faults tenfold. Actually, now that I've given it another look, it's not worse than most other peplums - though certainly not up to Cottafavi's best work, THE 100 HORSEMEN (1964) but his offbeat framing and vivid sense of color enlivens several sequences to be sure. For the record, Cottafavi also made that which is arguably the best Hercules film of all, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961), whose shortened US version (alas) has just been released on R1 DVD.Anyway, the plot kicks into action immediately as Mark Forest (playing the titular he-man, named Hercules in the original Italian-language version) goes to recover a diamond from a monster-infested cave which includes a hilarious large cat creature with bat wings which I clearly recall sending the Venice Film Festival audience in hysterics! The villain of the piece is Broderick Crawford who naturally chews up the scenery and approaches the role as if he were playing a gangster; at one point he even puts down his equally crooked, if actually brighter, henchman by calling him a "moron"...after which Crawford is apparently revitalized and inspired into devising newer and more ingenious traps to spring for Hercules...er...Goliath! The busy plot line, of course, involves several action set-pieces, court intrigues, much invoking of the Greek gods, women threatened with torture...and more laughable monsters (the dragon of the English title is so cheap that only its head ever makes any significant appearance). There is the usual coterie of maidens in these mythological epics who, thankfully, are very easy on the eyes here especially Leonora Ruffo (as Goliath's wife; she went on to repeat the role in Mario Bava's HERCLUES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD [1961]) and Gaby Andre' (as a duplicitous slave who also falls for Goliath).The version I watched this time around, via Alpha's DVD, was the AIP English-dubbed and rescored one (by the ubiquitous Les Baxter); surprisingly, it was a widescreen print - but the colors were way too much on the red side so that I had to tone down the colors on my TV set to make the whole thing viewable!P.S. Amusingly, my father and I attended a multi-part course on film appreciation some 10 years ago and when the lecturer mentioned such peplums in a positive light, my father, knowing the man to be a University professor, exclaimed loudly: "Don't tell me you appreciate that stuff?"

PrincessAnanka Mark Forest, aka Lou Degni from the Bronx, made his movie debut in this colorful swords and sandals saga and became an overnight sensation. No one had ever seen muscles that big--or beautiful--with a body and a sensually beautiful face to go along with it. No, not even Steve Reeves could match Forest in this department. His torso is incredible. With the biggest pectorals and lats in the business and a justly famed ridged stomach. Although born in the Bronx, he became the most sought after physique model of the 50s and later won Mr. America and Mr. Universe. Everyone agreed it wasn't just his stupendous physique that made him a sensation. He had a smile and charisma to burn. This is captured in this film and he went on to make a string of highly successful muscle men features, the best of them, "Kindar the Invulnerable" and "Hercules versus the Mongols" and "Hercules versus the Barbarians." Forest left Italy at the peak of his career to return to America to study opera and performed all over Europe. Today, he still teaches voice and sings and works--surprise--as a personal trainer to a handful of lucky stars in Los Angeles.. Reeves may have been the king of Italy's muscle movies during the 60s but his prince was Mark Forest--perhaps the biggest and most fabulous of them all.