An Italian Israeli spaghetti western directed by Gianfranco Parolini, starring Lee Van Cleef and Leif Garrett.
An orphaned boy is looked after by a priest. He thinks that his parents are dead. The priest has a gun behind the altar of their church which does not belong to him. When the priest is killed, the boy seeks out the owner of the gun and reveals his true history.
This diamond in the rough is what I'm talking about! The style is very much a classic western, with good camera-work and a fitting soundtrack. The plot and characters were interesting and plots for each character were developed as to how they fit together in the main plot. The costumes were awesome and made me want to dress like a cowboy. The sets were great because they looked old, lived in and dirty/dusty like the old west is supposed to be. The only criticism that I have for this film is that the barroom brawl/dry-hump scene was too long. I'm rating this good because it's exactly the quality of film that I want to watch more frequently.
A French Italian sword and sandal action film directed by Gianfranco Parolini.
Hercules helps rebel forces to defeat the tyrannical ruler of a kingdom where the queen is attracted to him and he is attracted to a handmaiden.
If I had to pick a sword and sandal flick to watch, this would be the lesser of evils so far. They focused more on action, with Hercules fighting and performing feats of strength rather than on politics and military campaigns. The audio was severely muffled and the video was blurry, but the content made up for these poor production values. My favorite part was when Hercules was doing trials to save a woman from being executed or sacrificed. He goes into pits in the arena where he is presented with a challenge like a lion or a man in a fuzzy costume and spikes on the walls that close in. I'm rating it adequate.
