Goliath Against the Giants

The question I'm asked is why do I watch movies like this with any frequency? The answer has to do with the monsters and the fact that many of these things throw everything at you except for the kitchen sink, and that's only left out because it wasn't invented yet.

After a war ends Goliath prepares to head home, except that Bokan, the regent of his country has sent assassins to kill Goliath since he is the only one who could take the place of the dead king, a fact that would put Bokan out of a job. Bokan is not standing for any opposition to his rue and he pitches anyone who doesn't like him into a valley where giants live, Giants who were put there by Goliath years before.

Trying to get home faster Goliath and his friends try to go by sea but get waylaid on the voyage.

Its at this point that the movie throws in everything except the kitchen sink, and perhaps aliens, as Goliath has to face a storm at sea, sea monsters, assassins, Amazons, a gorilla, lions, weird torture devices, gladiators, cave men and giants. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what. Best of all the whole thing is told spectacularly and with a decent budget, something that is missing from most movies of this sort.

My only complaint is that it gets a bit draggy in the middle for a couple of minutes, but other than that this is a really good mindless adventure.

If you want to see a movie with everything give this a try.

Muscleman fights sea monsters and Amazon warriors, then returns home to find a race of giants living in a valley, into which fellow countrymen are being thrown as punishment for opposing a usurper king and his consort.

Goliath against the Giants is another of those typical peplums bolstered by pace, good production values, Brad Harris, fine cinematography and superb location work - there's a beautiful sequence where our heroes walk across a desert and the valley of Janopah where the giants live is an impressive mixture of bleak crags and volcanic ash. However, its downsides is its tendency to languidness and having muddled elements. The red-head appearing from nowhere was confusing. There's a lack of sharpness in the plot, but overall not a bad entry in the world of peplum. Things liven up in the last thirty minutes with a lady placed on a rack, gladiator spectacles, Goliath appearing and facing a lion, giants, lizards. Fernando Rey as the usurper King Bokan is a right sadistic cretin who likes to have citizens tossed down a cliff into the smoky lair of the giants and dragons. His character is played with some hammyness.

As for the monsters, the giant sea lizard (an iguana superimposed on the image, and quite a lethargic one who didn't do much accept stare at the hero and wait to be killed) in the fog was well done, in terms of the atmospheric fog and its build-up, and the "giants", who are guys 10 centimeters taller than the protagonist, is a disappointment, though. They look like cavemen with daddy bods.

An interesting overlap of various Mediterranean storylines that are initially confusing (no spoilers) but combine for an interesting film. It's one of several "Goliath" films of its time, though not all with Brad Harris or following the same plot. They're all about "Goliath the Conqueror" (who at times is portrayed as a dark Grecian type and at other times is portrayed as a fair Visigoth type) saving tribes in Greece, Damascus and other areas. Take a look and see which is your favorite storyline. This is one of mine.

This Peplum was well starred by Brad Harris , he is nice as the mythical hero who finds several dangerous situations while attempting save his lover (Gloria Milland) and recover the throne . After a long time , Goliath (Brad Harris) goes back home to reclaim his legitimate throne , being helped by Briseo (Pepe Rubio) and Namathos (Fernando Sancho) but tyrant Bokam will try to avoid it . Meanwhile , Briseo is kidnapped and Goliath has to free him . Muscleman Goliath (Brad Harris) fights sea monsters , a tribe of Amazonian warriors commanded by Hypolita , a gorilla , lions and a horde of giants . At the end takes place a revolution again a nasty tyrant (an overacted Fernando Rey) of city of Veira .

Italian/Spanish epic with struggles, intrigues, luxurious scenarios and quite entertaining . This is an agreeable Sword and Sandals movie with noisy action , extraordinary adventures , arena struggles , usual dancing scenes and spectacular final attack . Being plenty of battles and fights , decently choreographed by Nello Pazzofini as fencing director and also as a secondary actor . In addition , there appears the dancing choreography , usual in Peplum genre . The film hasn't historic reference , it results to be a simple adventure movie with monsters , gladiator fights , betrayal , pursuits and many other things . This film takes images and stock shots from other movies and especially ¨Colossus of Rhodes¨ . Brad Harris is cool as the mythical hero who becomes involved into numerous risked incidents while trying to free his lover and achieve the kingdom . Brad Harris was a hunk man who made lots of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨. Luck's Harris changed when an Italian producer persuaded him to go overseas to star lots of swords and sandals film . Brad was an American bouncing who emigrated Italy and created a true star-system based on pumped-up heroes. He along with Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott paved the way for others actors to seek their fame and fortune in Italy playing muscular adventurers . He acted as a big hero in great number of films and was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules, Goliath, Samsom for US viewers . In the US he worked as a and secured employment as a stunt man . In the late 1950s he traveled to Europe as the stunt co-ordinator for a German-Italian co-production . Soon he found himself working as a second-unit director, and that led to a starring role . Harris received a special achievement award along with other "Legends of Hercules" . Harris usually playing historic characters , such as "Han el Barbaro" , ¨Fury of Heracles¨ , ¨Samson¨, "Three Giants of the Roman Empire¨ , ¨Rocha¨ , "79 A.D. The Destruction of Herculaneum" , ¨The Old Testament¨ . His good looks and muscular build kept him in demand during the era of "sword and sandal" movies, and when this genre began to fade away, he moved into "spaghetti westerns" and a spate of action movies with an emphasis on spy thrillers . He was one along with Ed Fury, Dan Vadis, Alain Steel, Peter Lupus , Reg Lewis , Mark Forest, Mickey Hargitay , Reg Park, among others, whom the seek fame and fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures, but nobody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . In the film appears several familiar faces from Peplum and Spaghetti such as Fernando Rey , Fernando Sancho , Angel Aranda and Alvaro De Luna as a gladiator .

Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Carlo Innocenzi . Colorful cinematography by expert cameraman Alejandro Ulloa (Horror express) , but a perfect remastering is necessary ; being shot on location in Manzanares Del Real , Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) and Almeria , Andalucia , the latter , a known place where in the 60s and 70s was filmed lots of Spaghetti/Tortilla Westerns . The motion picture was regularly directed by Guido Malatesta . He's a writer and director of various Sword and Sandals movies , sometimes credited as James Read , such as, ¨Colossus and the headhunter¨ , ¨Fire over Rome¨ , ¨Colossus the Stone age¨ and ¨Revolt of the Barbarians¨. Rating : Acceptable and passable . The picture will appeal to Peplum buffs .

First leading role for Brad Harris - A sandal film about Goliath

Yes, you read that right! This sandal film, which was released in West German cinemas on December 8, 1961 as DIE IRRFAHRTEN DES HERKULES and is also known as "Goliath contro i giganti" and "Goliath Against the Giants", is not a Hercules film, but was called that for marketing reasons. In his first leading role, the American bodybuilder Brad Harris, who was discovered as a film star as a visitor to the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, plays the figure of Goliath, who experiences various adventures in a kind of mythological magical world. The film was directed by Guido Malatesta, and alongside Sergio Sollima, Gianfranco Parolini also wrote the script. As a director, he would make many more films with his super star Brad Harris.

The king was murdered in Beirath. His insidious advisor Bokan (Fernando Rey, best known from "Brennpunkt Brooklyn / The French Connection" (1971)) wants to persuade the king's daughter Elea (Maria Fie / Gloria Milland, born in Sardinia in 1940) to be the victorious war hero Hercules/Goliath (Brad Harris ) is her father's murderer. Elea senses that this cannot be true, flees to the muscle-bound hero on the ship and has to go through many adventures with him before the real regicide can be unmasked.

Other roles include: Nello Pazzafini (1934-1996), who developed from a football player to a stuntman to a sought-after supporting actor and later played well by Bud Spencer in "Sie nannten ihn Mücke / They Called Him Bulldozer" (1978) and "Banana Joe" (1982). Should be beaten. The former rugby player Mimmo Palmara (1928-2016) who appeared in the two Hercules films by PeplumSuperStar Steve Reeves (1926-2000) as his opponent and as his stunt double. The child actor was Gianfranco Gasparri (1948-1999), who as Franco Gasparri was supposed to become the star of the trilogy about "Mark il poliziotto" (1975), but was unfortunately paralyzed after his serious motorcycle accident in 1980.

The film was shot in Spain and in the Cinecitta studios. The equipment often doesn't seem that convincing. You couldn't really keep up with Steve Reeves' films, even when it came to the script.

In the film, Goliath has to fight against a sea monster, the Amazons, a gorilla, lions and giants. Brad Harris (1933-2017) has a lot to do in his first leading role, which was to be followed by many more. The special thing about this actor was that he could do his own stunts and was later the stunt coordinator in many of his films (including the many German adventure films in which he appeared). This gave him a successful film career until the 1980s.

Definitely recommended for all fans of the peplum genre as the "birthday" of genre star Brad Harris!