Ator the Fighting Eagle [Import]

1982's "Conan the Barbarian" was a mega-hit in North America and abroad and thus it was none too surprising that a number of filmmakers, from the low budget end of the line, pumped out many a similar effort in the early '80s, all attempting to cash in on even a fraction of its box office.

The Italians were especially quick off the mark in this way, as they produced several pictures in the "Conan" ilk before the year even drew to a close! One such film is "Ator: the Fighting Eagle" (1982), which was directed by the late Joe D'Amato (although he is identified in the closing credits under the pseudonym "David Hills" -- rarely did any American distributor want to let the cat out of the bag that what you are seeing is not an authentic American-made product, although the often shoddy dubbing jobs usually give it away). D'Amato's name will already be familiar to serious fans of low budget exploitation films, as he is known for "Anthropophagus," "Beyond the Darkness," and Endgame (1985) [VHS], among others.

Miles O'Keefe ("Tarzan, the Ape Man") stars as the title character, whose formerly peaceful village is disrupted and ultimately slaughtered when, on his wedding day, a band of marauding bandits from the Temple of the Spider God plunder and ransack and level the place, taking his bride to be captive. Edmund Purdom (of "Pieces" and "2019: After the Fall of New York" fame, and barely recognizable here) also appears as the mystic overlord who teaches Ator the ways of the warrior and introduces him to a nifty magic sword. The rest of the movie is about Ator's quest to avenge his people's death and to rescue his lover from the clutches of a giant mechanical spider (of which you can actually see the thin wires that are propping it up at one point -- oops!)

This movie is not without a certain charm. Budget constraints show in nearly every frame and the corny dubbed medieval dialogue is inspired, not to mention there is a cute bear cub that accompanies Ator throughout the picture.

My main reason for buying this DVD, though, is that it also features one Sabrina Siani, who co-stars as Roon, a scantily clad female rogue who sides with Ator in their journey to the Spider's temple. So singularly gorgeous is this woman that the back of the DVD even includes a quote from legendary drive-in critic Joe Bob Briggs, who notes, "Bo Derek naked is nothing compared to Sabrina Siani." Agreed wholeheartedly!

Therein, though, lies my main qualm with the movie. It's just a little too tame for me. I guess I am spoiled by the non-stop nudity in such sword & sorcery sleazefests that would follow like "Deathstalker" and "Barbarian Queen." Given the PG rating of "Ator" on the other hand, exploitation lovers looking to savor a little T & A here are sure to be disappointed.

As for the DVD itself, the always reliable Scorpion Releasing presents a new widescreen transfer that is better than the previous 2003 Legacy Entertainment full screen edition (and with the original movie poster for the cover to boot), but I think there is only so much salvaging you can do to a 30-year-old no budget film that probably didn't even look that sharp to begin with. This means that things still look rather grainy and worn down throughout, but not too bad as to be distracting. Also, the optional intro and outro by Katarina in Katarina's "Kat Scratch Cinema" theater is amusing. Sadly, there is no featurette or really any other bonus materials to be found here, other than some trailers for other Scorpion DVD titles.

While this film is ultimately a little too tame and lightweight for my tastes, it has garnered a cult following of its own over the years, not to mention they would go on to make three sequels! If you like sword & sorcery films and low budget Italian cinema trash from the early '80s in general (as I do), you could do a whole lot worse than this one.

[FINAL SIDENOTE: Those wishing to see more (and I do mean MORE) of Sabrina Siani should check out Franco Prosperi's Invincible Barbarian, The (1983). It is another Italian "Conan" clone but Sabrina serves to bare all in it, if you know what I mean. As of June 2012, there are now DVDs being offered for the first time on Amazon of that as well as 1984's 2020 Texas Gladiators, a post-apocalyptic effort also directed by D'Amato and where Sabrina also reveals her hidden assets. Both come highly recommended to fellow trash conoisseurs specializing in the low end of the line (see my reviews elsewhere on Amazon).]

Love him or hate him, Joe D'Amato's contributions to the world of sleaze cinema have attained legendary status. He's the Italian director responsible for unleashing monstrosities like "Anthropophagous," "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead," "Zombie 5: Killing Birds," and "Beyond the Darkness" on an unsuspecting public. He also gave us such classics as "Endgame," "The Arena," and "Black Cobra". I could go on and on, citing example after example from D'Amato's extensive filmography. He made a raft of Emanuelle films, most of them starring exploitation favorite Laura Gemser. Spaghetti Westerns, action films, gorefests--D'Amato easily moved from genre to genre during his long career. By the time he passed away in 1999 from a massive heart attack, the man had moved into making cheap adult films. Despite his popularity amongst b-movie aficionados, most of his films still haven't found their way to DVD. That stinks, but it also means his fans move quickly when they see one of his films on disc. And here I am reviewing a classic D'Amato film, the underwhelming sword and sandal flick "Ator the Fighting Eagle". I actually saw this in the movie theater back in the early 1980s. I'm amazed it received a theatrical run.

Why? Because Joe D'Amato's "Ator the Fighting Eagle" stinks. Big time. The fact that a few sequels exist doesn't remove the stain this initial effort left in my DVD player. They'd leave a stain, too. Since I'm a fan, though, I waded right in and watched the adventures of Ator unfold in especially inept fashion. Ator (Miles O'Keefe) is born into a frightening world presided over by some evil dude that likes to play with spiders. His birth heralds the countdown to some sort of prophecy that calls for Ator to grow up and destroy spider dude, so a mysterious man spirits the child away to another village where anonymity will presumably protect the waif from evil soldiers. Our hero grows up not knowing anything about the prophecy. He just likes to play with bear cubs and make eyes at his sister Sunya (Ritza Brown). Beefy Ator doesn't understand that brother and sister shouldn't marry (!), but fortunately he learns from his adopted father, Griba (Edmund Purdom), that Sunya isn't his real sister. Whew! Before the marriage unfolds, soldiers sweep into the village and slaughter most of the inhabitants. Poor Sunya disappears in the melee. Now Ator must go forth and fulfill his destiny.

Remember that mysterious man who intervened to save Ator. He pops up again just in time to give our hero a quickie five minute lesson on swordsmanship and spout off some cryptic mumbo jumbo about the prophecy. Fun. Then Ator hooks up with a sexy, Amazon-type warrior chick named Roon (Sabrina Siani) for further adventures. For example, they wander into the lair of the treacherous sorceress Indun (Laura Gemser) and must defeat her with an object incredibly found just two feet away from Indun. Then Ator and Roon head off to find a magical shield. It won't be easy to discover this item--it'll cost all of five dollars in special effects work to make it happen. This part of the quest (I was also on a quest during this film. Just call me "Seeker of the Credit Sequence".) sees the dynamic duo sneaking past a bunch of blind guards so Ator can pick up the shield and battle his own shadow. Now we're ready for the final showdown, which involves Ator rescuing his beloved from a huge spider web (you won't believe what they used for the web), killing spider dude, and battling a giant arachnid made out of vacuum cleaner hoses and cardboard.

"Ator the Fighting Eagle" is a laugh a minute classic, a movie that falls squarely in the "It's so bad I'll have to drink all night to make it good" category. The dialogue achieves heights of stupidity on a scale so titanic that human reason cannot fathom its dimensions. The costumes elicit snorts of derision. The performances, well, let's just say I've seen better acting from a bag of hammers. What else? Oh yeah--for some reason the movie ends with stock footage of a volcanic eruption that looks interesting but has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever. I suspect someone, probably D'Amato, threw it in to pad out the runtime. It's the only explanation I can think of at this point. The only positives in the film are Ritza Brown and Sabrina Siani. Both are really hot, and it's nice to see them running around in skimpy outfits showing off those toned bodies. The bear cub, a major character in the film and the only one who should ever make another movie, is cute but overdone. Yep, babes and a bear cub are the only elements that move this movie closer to the conclusion. Gawd help us all!

A few notes on the DVD version of D'Amato's sword and sandal epic. Just like the movie, the DVD version stinketh greatly. The unpleasant odor wafting into your nostrils is the realization that the distribution company responsible for bringing this classic out on disc refused to spend a cent on bringing the flick up to presentable audio and visual standards. Since I own a copy of this movie on VHS (I freely admit it), I realized quite quickly that the DVD version resembles the grainy and washed out videotape version. Yes sir, it looks like someone pulled a quick one in order to make a buck; they simply burned the VHS version on a disc and called it a day. I can't really blame them, but I'd rather see restored versions of all the Ator films in a box set. What can I say? I've fond memories of this junk film and like reliving my childhood from time to time. I'm also a D'Amato fan. If you like crud like I like crud, you'll want to give this one a watch soon. Have fun!

Miles O'Keefe stars as the title character in this Conan rip-off. Ator is the prophesied son of a god and destined to destroy the Ancient One. But his future and the mark of his destiny have been hidden by a mysterious warrior. On his wedding day, Ator witnesses the destruction of his village by the Black Knights, warriors from the Kingdom of the Spider. His bride has been taken captive and Ator swears he will rescue her.

Ator has a one track mind in his quest to rescue his bride. He trains with the mysterious warrior and sets out to the rescue. The evil kingdom is headed by a strange priest who likes to stroke tarantulas. Oddly enough, even though it is the Kingdom of the Spider, their symbol seems to be an eagle. Meanwhile Ator gets closer and closer and goes through typical sword & Sorcery trials until the final confrontation with one of the worst special effects in film history.

Miles may have a good build, but his hair has got to go in this movie. He keeps looking like he is in drag. During the wedding scene we see some very well executed dancing only to move right into badly executed fighting. This is also the only film I have ever seen where a victim is tied, actually tied with rope, to a spider web (what, it's not sticky?). In the end some viewers will have had fun with this one, either with heckling it or just outright laughing at it. But if you are looking for good Sword & Sorcery, this one is laughable at best.