Synopsis
10,000 Sights... 10,000 Thrills... The Fabulous Giant of Giants!
When barbarians invade his village and kill his father, a local man wages a one-man war against them.
1959 ‘Il terrore dei barbari’ Directed by Carlo Campogalliani
When barbarians invade his village and kill his father, a local man wages a one-man war against them.
Goliáš a barbaři, Herkules, der Schrecken der Hunnen, El terror de los bárbaros, La Terreur des barbares, O Terror dos Bárbaros, Ужас варваров, 野蛮人的恐怖
Though best known for playing Hercules, Steve Reeves only played that character twice and spent most of the rest of his Italian film career playing similarly situated mythological or legendary heroes. "Goliath and the Barbarians" (originally titled "Il terrore dei barbari") has him, in the English-language version anyway, playing Goliath, the nom de guerre of Emiliano, a woodcutter whose Italian village is over-run by the multicultural barbarian hordes in the oddly specific year 568 A.D. Conveniently ignoring that Italy had been the seat of the most powerful empire in the West and had done plenty of conquering and pillaging of its own, this film portrays the Italians as salt-of-the-Earth, hardworking peasants beset by the evil foreigners. You know they're evil…
Wild B movie production design is the best part of this otherwise generic "Gladiator film." It's the second of its type from AIP, and looking ahead there are more than I want. The action is alright, but everything between is a drag.
I really enjoyed the scene where he shows off his feats of strength and has everyone in the crowd going, “Yeah, he’s probably the dude killing all our guys, but he’s so jacked that I can’t help but love this guy!” As for the rest, it’s mostly a snooze, even if I enjoyed some of the production value.
YouTube
Nostalgic throwback to my youth's rainy Sunday afternoons watching whatever adventure film was on. When it wasn't cowboys, it was pirates, or vikings, or gladiators. This one, no better than the others, just as perfectly cheesy as I remembered them.