gridoon2018 Both the Italian ("Le Gladiatrici") and the American ("Thor And The Amazon Women") titles sound like they can't miss, but they do. This film does deserve credit for being one of the earliest films featuring female gladiators, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The entire premise doesn't make much sense: why would this matriarchical society purposely kill off so many of its finest female warriors? Might be of interest to some: Harry Baird's impressive muscle display in one scene. * out of 4.

Leofwine_draca This sequel to TAUR THE MIGHTY is such a hilariously cheesy movie with so much fun stuff going on in it that it's impossible not to like. Sure, the film was obviously made on the cheap and has dated badly what with its stereotypical (not to mention racist!) depiction of race - and women come to think of it - but for fans of cheese or camp then this film is a must see! Nowhere else would you find two male heroes (who live together in a cave) with such a close relationship which includes massaging each other and engaging in some fun fisticuffs. The homoerotic aspect is just one of the many enjoyable things that this movie has to offer.The main thrust of the plot (as the re-titling would suggest) concerns a female tribe of Amazons who live in a quarry and enslave men in the local grottos (filmed in Yugoslavia). The evil Queen Nera takes delight in raiding local villages in the vicinity and enslaving the men, whilst training the captured women into becoming female gladiators. The women must then fight to the death on homemade platforms while the spectators watch. Now, the sight of watching sweaty women battle to the death might sound like a lot of fun (!) until you realise that firstly, the majority of them don't bother shaving their armpits (!), and secondly, the actresses involved clearly have no weapons skills whatsoever so their fighting attempts are pitiful (and poorly-edited to boot).Now, lurking around in the background is Taur and his black friend Ubaratutu (although we surprisingly see little of them - whoever re-titled this film for UK release obviously had the right idea) who manage to get themselves captured and manage to escape again before inevitably creating an uprising. The incredibly cheesy and hilariously funny ending sees Taur engaging in a tug-of-war match with 101 women (!), and a flaming pit of fire waiting for him if he fails. Of course he wins out in the end, and there's a huge battle involving lots of writhing bodies before the evil Queen is inevitably speared to a wall, an event surprisingly common in these times (or at least as these films would have you believe).The above description only skims the surface of the film really and there is a lot more to enjoy besides. Subplots include two gratuitously irritating children for no particular reason, although particularly grating is the fact that the obnoxious young blond-haired boy ends up becoming a king! There are lots of silly costumes and cheap sets to enjoy plus an almost endless display of naked flesh (mostly from the men here). The film has a surprisingly high death toll as we see the bodies piling up after the gladiator battles and numerous women get stabbed, speared, or shot in various mean-spirited ways. The film really does push the gruesome boundaries with repeated shots of a rotting hanged body and a scene of mild rack torture which results in the victim's death.The film is packed with bad actors and actresses dubbed badly for extra amusement. The women are hopelessly unconvincing in their roles with the exception of the actress playing Queen Nera, who is pretty good at making evil eyes at people while sitting on her throne and stroking her white cat like a certain Blofeld. Harry Baird - a regular in British movies - plays Taur's black sidekick and is portrayed as an absolutely stupid, posing idiot who mainly acts as the film's unintentional comic relief. I guess that means this film isn't for those with strong politically correct values. Joe Robinson plays the Tarzan-like lead (I believe he was originally meant to be Tarzan before the Burroughs estate threatened to sue) and is as wooden as you can get for a strongman, but I couldn't help liking his good-naturedly dumb performance anyway. WOMEN GLADIATORS is an action-packed tale of fighting women and half-naked men engaging in unbelievable antics. It has never won any awards for realism or production values but then again it doesn't need to. As a pure example of the bad film at its best, WOMEN GLADIATORS offers endless amusement and a lot of fun from all the weird stuff going on in it. See to believe.

MARIO GAUCI This is another film which I have just watched but it has already slipped my mind quite completely! Indeed, the peplum genre – especially in its lowest form, and this is easily among the least I have watched! – has a curious tendency to be instantly forgettable.The fact that this features no recognizable cast members certainly did not help and, though I purposely scheduled it to be viewed right after the brand-new Marvel/Kenneth Branagh blockbuster THOR (2011), unsurprisingly the film has nothing at all to do with that superhero figure despite featuring a character by that name in the English-dubbed version I watched. Rather, as can be gleaned from the title, it awkwardly blends mild feminist attitudes with the vaguest whiff of Scandinavian mythology (I guess the film-makers could not get the rights to Hercules, Maciste or any of those other muscle-bound characters!); incidentally, it was originally released as, simply, LE GLADIATRICI – that is to say, making no reference whatsoever to the dime-a-dozen he-man hero (here played by the generically-named Joe Robinson)! However I rack my brain to try to recall the plot details, I cannot come up with anything substantial…and the same goes for the rest of the protagonists, be it friends or foes! I can only surmise that the people involved kept the script handy in order to get from Point A to Point B during the shooting stage of this type of unassuming (read: invincibly low-brow) fare – but it does feel odd that, having gone through 86 minutes of it, there is nothing tangible to talk about after only a couple of days! Actually, there is a 10-page dissection of the film available online…but I will be damned if I am going to read it to jog my memory of it all…but, from the accompanying stills, I hazily recall: Thor fighting a caged ape; his having a colored sidekick; the villainous Queen of Babylos {sic} having a fluffy white cat for a pet; and her gladiatress minions not only getting to don Smurf-like head-gear but forever prone to breaking into the hilarious war-cry of "Elt! Elt! Elt!" WTF?!

Kakueke In this unusual sci fi/ancient warriors flick, it is the women who dominate the Kingdom, enslaving the men and any women who disagree with their tyranny. Queen Nera is searching for the man destined to overthrow her if he outshines 101 Amazon warriors in a contest of sheer strength, who turns out to be Thor (Joe Robinson), accompanied by his sidekick, black slave Ubaratutu (Harry Baird). Both are muscle hunks. Lovely Tamar (Susie Anderson), whose father was the rightful ruler of the kingdom but like others was overrun and killed by the queen and her Amazon warriors, is seeking to restore his throne to her adolescent brother.Women who disagree with the queen must fight each other as gladiatrices, while the men join Amazon warriors as guards or are kept dehumanizingly in caves. Tamar and her brother are captured, while Thor and Ubaratutu come to the rescue. The queen has her men as temporary husbands before disposing of them nastily when she is tired of them, and she seduces Ubaratutu after he is captured. We are treated to some amusing muscle displays by Ubarututu before the black queen (she reminds one of Eartha Kitt) preceding the sudden appearance of Thor, who insists to Ubaratutu that he should not trust her. Both are taken prisoner. The queen declares it is women who should rule, but a chief henchwomen confides privately to prisoner Tamar that she agrees with Tamar that rule and force are for men, that they deprive women of their softer side. It is up to Tamar and Thor to save the day.Phew, such a plot could only be in an Italian-made movie! The visuals are excellent, with nice scenic backdrop, and the story does not drag. The acting may not be great, but the actors have only the wooden characters of the genre to put anything into. Despite the title, it is Tamar rather than Thor who is the chief protagonist, and she is a commanding presence throughout. Women don't have to feel cheated by the theme: to each his or her place, but the women become more human again. Fun to watch, not to be taken seriously.