poe426
A clean-shaven Steve Reeves, it seems, can run faster, jump higher, and shoot straighter than anyone else- which he does, handily winning the Olympics. As farmboy Phillipedes, Reeves is a natural athlete who isn't to be trifled with: when an unscrupulous wrestler has the unmitigated gall to grapple with him, he squeezes the stuffing out of the guy. As in most of these sword and sandal epics, there's behind-the-scenes political intrigue and plenty of action. There's also the stunningly beautiful Demongeut as Andromeda: in her see-through gown, she's just about all the reason ANYBODY would need to get motivated (to do anything)... Tourner and Bava (or one or the other) handle the million-man mêlées about as well as anyone's ever handled a crowded battlefield and, as the movie nears its end, Phil must utilize all of his Olympian skills to save the day (a good excuse to showcase said skills), running and jumping and swimming like, well, a true Olympian. The aquatic attack at film's end is VERY well-staged and I'll be ****ed if I can figure out how they faked the numerous spearings: it looks to me like some of those guys might've actually been seriously hurt. One of the combatants makes this timeless observation: "There is no justice in war!"
bkoganbing
Giant Of Marathon is a cut above the peplum films of the Italian cinema, being directed by Jacques Tourneur. The film concerns the activities of one Phillipides, played by Steve Reeves who goes running around all of Greece as an ancient Paul Revere arousing the populace with the sum and substance cry of 'The Persians Are Coming'. Indeed they were.The ancient histories beginning with Herodotus tell of the athlete/runner who brought news of the Greek victory and then promptly died as his body gave out. Here Tourneur opted for a happy ending, but the film is still good with some very nicely staged battle scenes.Phillipides was probably the first celebrity athlete in the history of the world. As the winner of one of those original Olympic games he was a sports celebrity figure back in those ancient times. And because of that he's the guy sent on a diplomatic mission to Sparta to get those rival city states working together to beat back the Persians. Of course Phillipides does just that, but Athens is facing some problems from what would later be called fifth columnists in the city. Phillipides has to deal with them as well.Steve Reeves as athlete is not shown as a runner, he's shown heaving a discus which would be more in line with the kind of a support his upper body would be an asset for. In fact as a runner all that weight on top would be quite the liability. But he sure looked good.Giant Of Marathon would not be considered a great film in most quarters. But it is Citizen Kane next to some of the peplum films I've been viewing lately.
winner55
Most of the other reviews are on target, I will limit myself to a couple of points needing consideration.This was not intended as a muscleman-'sword & sandal' show, but a straight-ahead epic and a war movie. The reason this is easy to miss is because of the choice of Reeves for the lead. He actually tries hard to act in this film - but he has no capacity for it whatsoever.In order to give him a chance to demonstrate this, the film gives Reeves an annoying romance that takes up half the film.As an epic, the film is only half here, the second half, the battle itself. The battle sequences aren't bad at all, they are all technically correct, well mounted and nicely shot.In fact, the visuals of the film are very striking, especially in the meetings with city elders trying to decide strategy. The print used for the DVD is an old TV copy, washed out and grainy; but remembering its original colors, and that it was made in wide-screen, a lot of this must have looked pretty awesome in theaters on first release.However, visuals work best when the acting isn't important; besides the Reeves' problem, in fact only the central villain is performed with any gusto or skill. Everyone else walks around like cardboard on string. For the better actors involved, that may be partly because, with the exception of the romance, there's very little character-based drama involved here.I suggest watching it for the battle sequences, and to forgive the damage done to it by the fortunes of poor preservation.
dbborroughs
Maybe its the dubbing, but this story of a Greek hero who is at first the key to taking control of Athens and later to beating the invading the Persians, should have worked. Certainly it's the best looking Steve Reeves movie, with some really good action sequences but this movie is awful.If its not the the dubbing then perhaps its the editing and direction which appears to have taken the "lets use every piece of available footage" approach to film construction. Sequences go on and on and on. We Persians invade and we get to see every soldier land in Greece, and we see a boulder crash into a camera. Why couldn't the sequences have been trimmed. It makes things seem last for hours despite it only being 90 minutes long.Another clunker from Reeves.
AD
