Herc Is Back!

 

 (imdb)

HERCULES UNCHAINED-1959-In this sequel, Hercules (returning Steve Reeves), his new bride Iole (also returning Sylvia Koscina) and a young Ulysses (Gabriele Antonini, also returning) are on their way home to Thebes. They encounter the giant Antius (Primo Carnera). Herc van-quishes him, even though he draws his power from the Earth. Soon, Hercules learns the king has been replaced by his son, Etecoles (Sergio Fantoni) who will not give the throne up to his brother Polonices (Mimmo Palmara), as he is supposed to. 

Hercules agrees to mediate but on his way to Thebes, he drinks from the water of forgetfulness and comes under the spell Queen Enfale (Patrizia Della Rovere), who convinces Hercules he's the king of the land and her lover. Herc seems happy but poor Iole frets at home. Ulysses helps Herc regain his memory and discovers the Queen's secret. She has her former lovers killed and made into statues. Fortunately, Laertes and his men show up and help Hercules & Ulysses escape. The queen kills herself. Later, Hercules fights some tigers and the brothers fight to the death. 

Director Pietro Francisici was back to make this fairly entertaining sequel which like its predecessor was a worldwide hit. Director of Photography Mario Bava may have directed some scenes as well. There were Dell Comic adaptions too.

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Hercules The First

 

 (themoviedatabase)

HERCULES-1958-The legendary hero of Greek myth (Steve Reeves) saves Princess Iole (Sylva Koscina). Her father, the king of Iolcus (Ivo Garrani) wants Herc to train his “his weak and impulsive” son, Iphitus (Mimmo Palmara) to "fortify” Iolcus so he can step down and give his son the throne. He helps a young Ulysses (Gabriele Antonio) improve his bow skills. After Herc shows up Iphitus in training, the heir to the throne is killed by a lion. The king and Iole blame Hercules (even though Iphitus set the whole thing up). Herc tells Sybil (Lidia Alfonsi), the oracle, he doesn't want to be a god anymore. Later, Jason (Fabrizio Mioni) appears and he and Herc gather up the Argonauts and go looking for the golden fleece in their ship, The Argo. Their first encounter is with The Amazons led by Queen Antea (Gianna Maria Canale). Later Jason slays a dragon and gets the fleece. 

This blockbuster movie directed by Pietro Francisci (who also made the sequel the next year) started the whole “sand and sandal” genre with countless imitations to follow.

According to some sources, the roar of the dragon that guards the fleece is actually Godzilla's roar from the original movie. Since Joseph Levine distributed both movies, it's probably right. Mario Bava was the cinema-tographer. Lead actress Koscina went on to make many more movie appearances in-cluding JUDEX (1963), Fellini's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965), LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) and many others. Of course, strongman Reeves starred in the sequel, HERCULES UNCHAINED in 1959. 

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Jayne Loves Hercules

 

 (imdb)

THE LOVES OF HERCULES-1960-When Hercules (Mickey Hargitay) finds out his wife has been killed, he crashes the castle of Queen Deianira (Jayne Mansfield), the daughter of the king who ordered Mrs. Hercules's murder. After a bizarre ritual where Herc has to throw axes at the bound queen, they become friends. Later, Herc is accused of a killing and has to fight the three headed dragon, Hydra (bad effect). He's rescued by some Amazons whose queen turns men into trees. 

This movie, obviously inspired by HERCULES (1958), is the worst with the leads pretty pathetic and Mansfield in two roles, bad dubbing and terrible sfx. Filmed in Italy, (where it was a big hit) by director Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia who died in 1998 at the age of 103. It's said Mansfield would only accept the role if her bodybuilder husband Hargitay was cast as Hercules.

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Calling Lou Ferrigno!

THE LEGEND OF HERCULES-2014-In this CGI laden fantasy that looks more like a video game, Hera allows a woman to bear Zeus's song. 20 years later, the son named Hercules (Kellan Lutz) is in love with the Princess of Crete (Gaia Weiss; later in the TV series VIKINGS) but his jealous half brother Iphicles (Liam Garrigan) gets in the way. When Herc kills a lion with his bare hands Iphicles takes the credit. After Herc is sold into slavery he has to fight a guy who looks like a muscle bound version of the lead singer from “Fishbone”. The fights are comical and Lutz could certainly go down in film history as the most un-Hercules of any Hercules ever portrayed on film! Renowned hack Renny Harkin should find another job he's better suited for.

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The Mighty Ferrigno

HERCULES-1983-After a very cartoonish opening explaining the beginnings of the universe and Pandora's jar (?), some gods (dressed up like a Christmas pageant with Zeus looking like Santa) living on the moon create some kind of super being to combat evil on Earth in the form of the King of Thebes new born son named Hercules. An evil prince has mom and dad killed but a maid saves baby Herc (with Zeus “lending a hand”). Hera (Rossana Podesta) doesn't seem to care much for the baby and sends some strange snake monsters to slay the infant but he kills them instead! His saving and rescue by a childless couple has echoes of Superman and Moses! The bambino grows up to be the legendary strongman (Lou Ferrigno, a year after his TV series THE INCREDIBLE HULK had ended). He kills a bear that killed his father and tosses it into space. The King of Minos (William Berger) and Deadalus (Eva Robins) scheme with Hera to destroy him. Herc fights a metallic bird monster and throws a log into space too. After winning a tournament and cleaning some stables he falls in love with Cass (Ingrid Anderson)) the betrothed daughter of another king (Brad Harris). He gets some help from Circe (Mirella D'Angelo) but Cass is kidnapped by an evil princess (Sybil Danning) who plans to use her as a sacrifice. With a rainbow bridge, a journey to hell and a chariot ride through space.

 

This filmed in Italy Cannon production has laughable acting and SFX. Writer/director Luigi Cozzi (STARCRASH, PAGANINI HORROR) is credited as Lewis Coates.

 

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