Warriors 50 Movie Megapack

The heyday of the swords & sandals epics was brief: 1959 to '64. Primarily Italian-made (although French and other European concerns had a hand in many of these), the films usually featured an American or British headliner along with a cast of native talent. Historic location shoots added to the glamor of these action-packed morality plays (that the good guys usually won). They were fun, exciting, filled with beautiful people, costumes and scenery, and are of a unique cinematic style that will probably never be seen again.

Featured actors in the WARRIORS 50 MOVIE PACK COLLECTION include Steve Reeves, Cameron Mitchell, Ed Fury, Mark Forest, Gordon Scott, Guy Williams, Reg Park and Gordon Mitchell. One movie actually stars a young Roger Moore, while ex-heavyweight boxer (and giant) Primo Carnera has a supporting role in another. Also to be found here: Orson Welles, Broderick Crawford, Alan Ladd, Debra Paget, Robert Alda and more!

The averaged-out score for this box set was obtained from user polling data gathered by a cinema-related website. On a 1 to 10 scale, WARRIORS current rating is 4.5.

The following alphabetized list includes individual ratings, year of release, country of origin, as well as main actors.

(3.9) Ali Baba And The Seven Saracens (Italy-1964) - Gordon Mitchell/Bella Cortez
(5.4) Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops (Italy-1961) - Gordon Mitchell/Paul Wynter (in support)
(5.1) The Avenger (Yugoslavia/Italy/France-1962) - Steve Reeves/Carla Marlier
(5.6) Caesar The Conqueror (Italy-1962) - Cameron Mitchell/Rik Battaglia
(4.7) Cleopatra's Daughter (Italy/France-1960) - Debra Paget/Robert Alda
(4.0) Colossus And The Amazon Queen (Italy-1960) - Rod Taylor/Ed Fury/Dorian Gray
(1.4) Colossus And The Headhunters (Italy-1960) - Kirk Morris/Laura Brown
(???) Conqueror Of The Orient (France/Italy-1960) - Rik Battaglia
(3.5) Damon And Pythias (Italy-1962) - Guy Williams/Don Burnett
(4.7) David & Goliath (Italy-1960) - Orson Welles
(4.1) Duel Of Champions (Italy-1961) - Robert Keith/Alan Ladd/Alana Ladd (all in support)
(4.7) Fire Monsters Against The Son Of Hercules (Italy-1962) - Reg Lewis/Margaret Lee
(5.0) Fury Of Achilles (Italy-1962) - Gordon Mitchell
(4.4) Fury Of Hercules (Italy/France-1962) - Brad Harris
(5.3) The Giant Of Marathon (Italy/France-1959) - Steve Reeves
(5.8) Giants of Rome (Italy/France-1964) - Richard Harrison
(5.2) The Giants Of Thessaly (Italy/France-1962) - Roland Carey
(4.3) Gladiator Of Rome (Italy-1962) - Gordon Scott
(4.7) Goliath And The Dragon (Italy/France-1960) - Mark Forest/Broderick Crawford
(6.1) Goliath And The Sins Of Babylon (Italy-1963) - Mark Forest
(6.0) Hercules Against The Barbarians (Italy-1964) - Mark Forest/Howard Ross
(4.6) Hercules Against The Mongols (Italy-1963) - Mark Forest/Ken Clark/Howard Ross
(1.9) Hercules Against The Moon Men (France/Italy-1964) - Sergio Ciani (as Alan Steel)/Jany Clair
(2.7) Hercules And The Captive Women (Italy/France-1961) - Reg Park/Fay Spain
(4.1) Hercules And The Masked Rider (Italy-1964) - Sergio Ciani (as Alan Steel)
(4.4) Hercules And The Princess Of Troy (TV-Italy-1965) - Gordon Scott/Diana Hyland/Gordon Mitchell
(4.9) Hercules And The Tyrants Of Babylon (Italy-1964) - Peter Lupus
(3.6) Hercules Unchained (Italy/France/Spain-1959) - Steve Reeves/Primo Carnera
(5.6) Hero Of Rome (Italy-1964) - Gordon Scott
(5.1) Herod The Great (Italy/France-1959) - Edmund Purdom/Sylvia Lopez
(5.2) Kindar The Invulnerable (Italy/Egypt-1964) - Mark Forest/Howard Ross
(5.0) The Last Of The Vikings (Italy/France-1961) - Cameron Mitchell/Edmund Purdom
(6.6) Maciste In King Solomon's Mines (Italy-1964) - Reg Park/Wandisa Guida
(5.2) Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules (Italy-1961) - Mark Forest/Paul Wynter
(3.7) Queen Of The Amazons (1947) - Robert Lowery/Patricia Morison
(4.3) Romulus And The Sabines (Italy/France/Yugoslavia-1961) - Roger Moore/Walter Barnes (in support)
(5.8) Samson And The Seven Miracles Of The World (Italy/France-1961) - Gordon Scott
(3.1) Son Of Hercules: The Land Of Darkness (Italy-1963) - Dan Vadis/Ken Clark/John Simons
(5.4) Son of Samson (Italy/France/Yugoslavia-1960) - Mark Forest/Peter Dorric/Terence Hill
(3.2) Spartacus And The Ten Gladiators (Italy/Spain/France-1964) - Dan Vadis/Ursula Davis
(4.7) The Ten Gladiators (Italy-1963) - Dan Vadis/Roger Browne/Margaret Taylor
(6.4) Thor And The Amazon Women (Italy-1963) - Joe Robinson/Susy Andersen/Harry Baird
(3.2) Triumph Of The Son Of Hercules (Italy/France-1961) - Kirk Morris
(5.8) Two Gladiators (Italy-1964) - Richard Harrison
(4.6) Ulysses Against The Son Of Hercules (Italy/France-1961) - Mike Lane
(4.2) Ursus In The Land Of Fire (Italy-1963) - Ed Fury
(5.2) Ursus In The Valley Of The Lions (Italy-1961) - Ed Fury
(5.4) Vengeance Of Ursus (Italy-1961) - Samson Burke/Wandisa Guida
(5.4) Vulcan, Son Of Jupiter (Italy-1961) - Richard Lloyd/Gordon Mitchell/Roger Browne
(5.0) The White Warrior - (Italy/Yugoslavia-1959) - Steve Reeves

Yeah OK, the source prints used for this DVD box set are kind of nappy lookin', dubiously collected (check how the bottom of many of the films is cropped off by a black bar to conceal a smaller company's watermark, then re-watermarked by Mill Creek ... one almost has to admire the nerve ...), atrociously presented, ambiguously "digitally remastered" -- a term that can mean anything starting with "Recorded onto DVD from a VHS" -- and sort of haphazardly collected onto 12 bare bones double sided DVDs that your 12 year old could more imaginatively author on mom's orange iMac after school for a rainy day keep busy project. Many of the films have already been released on DVD by companies like Alpha Video & Something Weird, which sadly may have been the sources for what is on this box set, so don't expect any "upgrades" on what you may already have in your collection, and indeed stuff like HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD have been released on excellent archivally sensitive DVDs. It is a mixed bag to say the least.

*BUT*, anybody who loves Peplum "Sword and Sandal" muscleman films with Gladiators, Hercules/Sampson types, lots of Pizza Pizza guards with plumed helmets and gorgeous Italian supporting actresses dressed in flimsy garments performing Veil Dances OR any student of Italian cult B cinema like myself will be well served by this collection. Filmmakers like Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato, Antonio Margheriti, writers like Ernesto Gastaldi, Bruno Corbucci, composers like Marcello Giombini & Bruno Niccola -- they all got their start in cinema working on these Peplum cheapies, some of which are very imaginatively staged and filled with a kind of endearing charm which seems beyond the grasp of today's big name filmmakers. Peter Jackson's A-list projects cannot hold a candle to stuff like FIRE MONSTERS VS. THE SON OF HERCULES, KINDAR THE INVINCIBLE and GOLIATH VS. THE MOON MEN, which are brimming with imagination and intrigue that still has the power to delight viewers of all ages even forty-five years after they were made. He would probably admit just the same, and point to his childhood love of these films as part of his inspiration.

That's another thing I like about this box set: Here are 50 films that the whole family can enjoy *TOGETHER* for the most part. Sure, some of them might seem a bit violent to a conflict resolution oriented culture raised on the Care Bears and the teachings of Albert Gore Jr., but there really isn't anything on these films that would be unsuitable for somebody 8 to 10 years old, and you can just explain to them that back then they gave the pretty maidens to the Kraken all the time & look how things have changed for the better. What's more important is that the kids won't care about the print qualities one bit. They will be too busy wondering what it would be like to be a Son of Hercules, able to tear trees out of the ground and swing them like a baseball bat, or what it would be like to be a Queen of Rome who makes valiant gladiators swoon at her sandaled feet ... Mom will be too busy admiring the chiseled looks & beefanoid muscular chests of Steve Reeves, Gordon Mitchell, Kirk Morris and Richard Harrison, and Dad will get this funny look on his face during the Veil Dance sequences that are an inevitable and enjoyably innocently cheuvenistic element in these films. Everybody likes a good Veil Dance, and that funny look means that Dad is wondering what it would be like to have a whole harem of them waiting back in his chambers after the kids are tucked in bed. Who wouldn't?

Juvenile fantasies aside, these movies also aren't going to get any better looking: Most of the original source material has been lost to time & neglect -- the bulk of the material is ultimately based on old fullframe English language TV prints that savvy brained individuals rescued from trash dumpsters or at foreclosure auctions when local TV stations stopped showing matinee type movies on the weekends. A lot of the prints are worn and tattered, color rotted or bulb decayed to the point of having their color nearly completely washed out, and re-formatted for small screen presentation in a slipshod manner that had no sensitivity for shot compositions. Not that these were decisions made by the DVD company, mind you, it's just that the genre itself was thought so poorly of that nobody took care of the material and sadly, what you see on these DVDs is about all that's left of them. So don't blame the messenger: Mill Creek did what it could with the material, and you get so much of it that in the long run it doesn't really matter what they look like. And at roughly $.50 cents/film they can be whatever they are and still be a fantastic value.

So here is a highly recommended collection of films for anyone who needs a bunch of cheap DVDs to take to the lake house for the summer or even just for sitting around being bored until school starts up again. And again, for students of the golden era of Euro cult filmmaking this is a must-have history course on how our idol filmmakers & stars got their start in the business, and what a tragic loss the Veil Dance tradition has been to our standards of entertainment.

Well, I do!
Here is why I would give this 50-Pack, and ONLY this 50-Pack, the lofty "five stars". It's quite simple, really. Let's say you're thinking of getting the Western 50-Pack. Here are a few universally recognized masterpieces of that particular genre: Red River, High Noon, Shane, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, the Sergio Leone films, the John Ford films, the Anthony Mann films, a couple of Sam Peckinpahs, etc., etc.. But you know what? You will not find any of 'em in the Western 50-Pack. Same can be said of getting truly great movies in any of the Horror, Crime, Mystery, etc.. Instead you will get a collection of really obscure, low-budget curiosities--which is not automatically a reason not to buy the set!! Some of those little B and C movies are pretty cool and fun to watch.
But with the "muscleman" epic in general, there ARE NO masterpieces to speak of. The 1960's were the golden age of the Italian macho man movie, and you get virtually everything from those wonderful days in this set!!

I am old enough to fondly recall that period, and how eagerly I awaited Saturday afternoons, when I could watch "Epic Theatre", presented weekly by a local TV station. I would watch the likes of the muscular Reg Park, Gordon Scott, Reg Lewis, Dan Vadis, et. al, engage in battle with dragons, marauders, monsters, rebels, soldiers, and other formidable adversaries.

In every one of these movies you'd have the following:
(1.) Muscular Hero (scantily clad, though every other man is dressed for late fall);
(2.) Evil Temptress (scantily clad queen or sorceress with big bosom (usually dark-haired, big fake eyelashes and makeup, always trying to get Mr. Muscles into her boudoir, but with a dark, sinister ulterior motive, having to do with a lust for power or wealth);
(3.) Virginal Beauty (a sweetly beautful, virtuous lass who is in love with "Herc", but with a smaller bosom than evil temptress, blonde hair, higher neckline, less skin exposed, less makeup, who will need rescuing several times);
(4.) Opposing Army (scads of armor-clad, shield-carrying, spear-wielding soldiers (who are always trying to capture or kill the hero; one favorite scene is when the hero has been seemingly subdued by the guards; he's completely covered by his enemies, in a twisting mass of humanity, but suddenly the entire group explodes outward, bodies flying, as Mr. Atlas flexes his awesome power and emerges defiantly from the pile);
(5.) Dinner/Dance scene (present are the Evil Queen, the King, Mr. Muscles and a few of his boys, the noblemen/women, armed guards, and servant girls. For their dining enjoyment, scantily-clad dancers emerge from the wings, and perform the seductively exotic veil dances, accompanied by a full orchestra of lutes, flutes and God knows what other instruments the director thought were appropriate);
(6.) Forced Feats of Strength (the evil queen and/or king makes hero do some ridiculous act which demonstrates his enormous power; it's usually something involving impaling or burning or falling into a pit of ravenous beasts. If Herc is unsuccessful, innocent girl or buddy dies;
(7.) Dubbing of English (much of the charm of these films comes from the magnificently cheesy dubbing; the same guy must have done the hero's voices for all of these. He possessed an inimitable, impossibly manly and virile baritone. "You'll Pay For Your Treachery" or something very much like it, is a line you'll hear over and over again in these films!

Some reviewers were critical of the so-called "Digital Remastering" boast which appears on the package. Who cares?? Do you expect the original recordings of Igor Stravinsky or Robert Johnson or Louis Armstrong to be pristine? The tape hiss and fidelity imperfections add to the whole experience. I'd say the same about these films; I watched them on a little black and white TV in the 60's. In a way I'm glad I don't have to worry about scratches and poor color.

The bottom line is this: if you love those wonderfully goofy, cheesy, innocent Italian sword and sandal hero flicks, an admittedly esoteric genre, you MUST own this set. But I'm not being critical of the movies; I hasten to add that the creators of these epics were really trying to make good quality entertainment, just not Oscar-worthy entertainment.
They succeeded admirably.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 36 reviews  3.9 out of 5 stars