ma-cortes
Here Goliath or Maciste , (the bouncing Mark Forest who , nowadays , he currently teaches opera in the Los Angeles area) , along with Xandros , Giuliano Gemma , and Aceas , Mimmo Palmara battle for the freedom of the Babylonian people . They are the three invincible who join forces with a band of rebels led by Evandro , Livio Lorenzon . Then , Maciste participates a chariot race winning over the Princess of Babylonian , José Greci , though by terms the competition she must marry the winner , but Goliath renounces to be aware she is in love for his colleague Xandros . Later on , they unite wills against two tyrants : Morakeg , Erno Crisa , and King Rukus , Paul Muller . Meanwhile , they attempt to save virginal girls to be sacrificed.Good Peplum with noisy action , thrills , fights , comical touches and resulting to be pretty entertaining . It's an adventure film with all the ingredients as sword-play , action , brawls , comedy , amusement and typical confrontation between good guys and bad guys . The film displays some impressive scenes about ship battles as well as horse races in Ben Hur style . The picture allows for periods of humor , -as the comic relief is frequently provided by the likable midget- and calm in which to establish characters punctuated by viscerally exciting bursts of action . Stars Mark Forest considered to be one of the best Peplum actors along with Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott . He-man Forest was a hunk who made great number of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ . He was one of a number of bodybuilder and physique model types who followed muscleman Steve Reeves out to Italy in the early 60s and won campy notice playing Herculean characters in those campy Italian sand-and-spear epics . Ursus, Maciste , Goliath , Samson , Hércules , Atlas , Rocha ..., those Italian Muscle man producers must have had a hard time figuring out what to call the musclebound actors who played all these legendary muscleman heroes . Being other second-class Muscle men players the followings : Dan Vadis , Rock Stevens , Gordon Mitchell , Brad Harris , Samson Burke , Reg Park , Ed Fury , Richard Harrison , Kirk Morris , Alan Steel or Sergio Ciani and subsequently Lou Ferrigno . Nobody, nevertheless , topped Steve Reeves in popularity , though Gordon Scott and Mark Forest made him an important competence . Third generation Italian American Forest was the second American actor bodybuilder , after Steve Reeves , to be recruited by Italian producers to star in sword and sandal films . As Mark Forest played a lot of Péplum , such as : Maciste Il invincible , Hercules against the sons of the sun , Leon Di Tebas , Goliath and the Dragón , Maciste Contra I Mongoles , Vengeance of Hercules , among others . As Mark used the money he made making gladiator movies in Italy to study Opera , residing in L.A. where he teaches singing and usually works as a personal trainer . Costars the sympathetic Giuliano Gemma whose first star film was a Peplum : Los Titanes , following several Spaghettis as Ringo , the return of Ringo , Adios gringo , Arizona Colt , California , Day of wrath , Wanted , and Tex .This film also known as Los Three Invencibles or Goliath and the sins of Babylon or Maciste the World greatest hero contains great production design , brilliant photography , enjoyable soundtrack and a cast of thousands . And evocative and atmospheric musical score by Francesco De Massi . Besides , a colorful and shining cinematography by Mancori . The motion picture was well directed by Michele Lupo who directed all kinds of genres . As Lupo made Peplum as Seven rebel gladiators , The Strongest slaves , La vendetta Di Spartacus ; Westerns as Fistful of knuckles , California , Arizona Colt and Bud Spencer movies as The sheriff and the little extraterrestrial , Bombardero and Buddy goes West
Maciste_Brother
GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON is a sensational title. Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to the title. It's a wildly uneven Sword & Sandal which runs hot to cold and vice versa. It starts off promisingly (30 "virgins" for the evil King of Babylon in exchange for peace) but then the movie totally forgets about that plot point and concentrates on typical brawny action, with the stand-out scene being the one where Hercules, eh, Maciste, eh, Goliath (Mark Forest sans beard) is bound to an altar and directly above are holes in the ceiling with spears attached to ropes within those holes, and whenever the ropes are cut, one spear is released and is supposed to fall on Goliath. Oh, and the bad guy forces Goliath's partners to cut the ropes to see if they're trust-worthy. The scene is effective and it's very reminiscent of the laser scene in GOLDFINGER, which was made a year after this Goliath film, so kudos to the filmmakers here.The rest of the film is standard S&S action hampered by an uneven script and an unfortunate use of stock footage from other films. The film has many highlights, including the battle on the ships and the chariot race, which look like they were cleverly edited with scenes taken from other movies. Or the editing is just bad and the shots just don't match. The chariot race is actually very good, certainly with the added detail of the Princess (the beautiful José Greci) participating in the race. I've never seen a chariot race with a woman. It's cool. But other scenes don't fare better. For example, the battle between the ships looks like it's from another film. You see, the boat with our heroes, in the close-ups, the men are mostly bare-chested and yet in the long shots (presumably the shots from the other film) there are no bare-chested men! During the chariot race, when one man, wearing a green tunic falls off of his chariot, the tunic is totally different in the close-up shots from the long shots. These big continuity errors make the lavish film look cheap.Then there's that annoying little people actor, who was also in THE TEN GLADIATORS and basically ruined that film. I purchased the WARRIORS 50 DVD pack and he's in three films up to now. I hope he's not in more films! The image quality on the WARRIORS 50 DVD pack is awful, so much so that I purchased the Retro Media DVD, which is in widescreen. The image on this DVD is excellent and the movie was certainly better because of it. It's a must for fans.The cast is very good and the star power adds much to the uneven production. Mark Forest is beefy perfection. He's supposed to play Maciste but he's Goliath in the US version. This story is not a one man show though as Goliath joins others to prevent the 30 virgins to be shipped to Babylonia. Mimmo Palmara and Giuliano Gemma, as Xandros, are part of the beefy team rebelling against the rulers of Babylonia. As I mentioned before, José Greci plays the Princess who's character, by law, can only marry a man who can defeat her in the Chariot race. Yes, you read that right.GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON is certainly spirited and it doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a plus. The music score is good. In general, it's an above average Peplum. But the suspected use of stock footage, the muddled script & the annoying midget keep it from being a great Peplum.
