Alicia I love this movie so much

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Wizard-8 Unlike most other European sword and sandal movies of this period, "The Giant of Marathon" was picked up for North American distribution by a major Hollywood studio (Metro Goldwyn Mayer). My guess is that MGM was trying to cash in on the box office success that independent studio Embassy Pictures has with "Hercules", another sword and sandal movie with the same actor (Steve Reeves). That's the only reason why I can think of, because honestly I can't see any other selling points that the movie has. Even by standards of the era, the movie is really dull for the most part; for one thing, there is almost no action in the first half of the movie. While the second half does have some battlefield action, it's not particularly well choreographed or directed; it's not that much more exciting than what happened in the first half of the movie. Most of the movie is instead talk talk talk, none it it really engaging or interesting. I'm sure audiences back then were really bored by this movie. So it's no wonder that nobody was apparently interested in renewing the copyright for the movie, since it's now in the public domain and freely available to bore a new generation of moviegoers.

ebiros2 Fairly decent Greek epic starring none other than the great Steve Reeves. I've first read about Steve Reeves in Arnold Swartzenegger's book that he was the first modern body builder with perfect body symmetry. This is the first movie of his I've seen knowing that it's Reeves who's acting on the screen. I may have seen his other movies without knowing that it was him, because I've seen many Hercules movies as a child, and he might have been in it.I could see that he was a ground breaking talent who was good looking enough to be an actor even if he wasn't the Adonis that he was. Do I dare say that the Italians knew how to make male exploitation films done in good taste ? Reeves' masculine beauty is highlighted to its max in this movie. I'm sure this was not accidental.It's a pretty feel good movie, that's not a pure clash of the muscle men type of production.Steve Reeves was all that he was said to be. A great natural body builder who also had beautiful appearance.

sddavis63 The giant of marathon is Phillipides (Steve Reeves) - an Olympic champion and warrior called upon to defend ancient Greece against an invasion by Persia from without and the treason of Theocrates from within. In the course of doing that, he manages to get a couple of beauties to fall in love with him, of course.In all honesty, 80% of this movie is for the most part uninteresting, dealing with romances that I really didn't care about and political machinations that were rather confusing to say the least. It had a cheap feel right off the top, performances that were plodding and, as an Italian-French production, was rather poorly dubbed into English. I give credit for the last 20% or so of the movie, though. The closing sea battle between Athens and Persia was a pretty good ride, as Phillipides and Theocrates finally confront one another in battle. Still, though, it's not a good movie. For the sake of that closing battle, it gets 3/10

CelluloidRehab This is the typical Italian sword & sandal epic : low budget, melodramatic cardboard acting, repetitive, horrible dubbings, sub-par action sequences, "loads" of homo-erotic imagery & one chiseled foreign bodybuilder on the marquee. In this case, a beardless Steve Reeves as the marathon's progenitor, Phillipides.We start with the story of how Phillipides becomes champion of the olympics, as the credits & titles roll. This is immediately followed by a lengthy written paragraph, setting up the back story of the love rectangle between Phillipides and Theocratis' arranged wife (Andromeda) and his concubine (the mannish Karis). The front story is your basic power struggle, mixed in with conspiracy and some battles with the Persians. We can't forget the Spartans. Then toss.These epics seem like historical re-enactments in terms of the dialog, acting, costumes, sets and battles. History is the casualty in most, however, as is the enjoyment level and consciousness. The historical aspect would have been the only saving grace. Instead, crack the grappa, watch this with friends and savor the unintentional comic genius present in this movie. It is a rare and beautiful thing for the genre, though most of good ones star Steve Reeves. Also see Hercules and Hercules Unchained for reference.-Celluloid Rehab