User Reviews

Spectacular hokey Bible epic produced by by San Paolo Films formed by two episodes from Bible , the first filmed in Almeria (Spain) by Spanish director Francisco Perez Dolz and second in Cinecitta , Rome , Italy , by Italian filmmaker Marcello Baldi . It deals with Gedeon (Ivo Garrani) , a humble farmer who is assigned by an Angel (Fernando Rey) to a holy mission to defeat Amalekites . The second part concerns Samson (Anton Geesink) and Delilah (Rosalba Neri , Francesca Neri's mother) who robs Samson his incredible strength .

"I Grandi Condottieri" or "Great Leaders of the Bible" remains an enjoyable and entertaining picture with great camp performances that still looks fine today . This dumb but fun film contains breathtaking outdoors , a lot of extras and with glorious paper-Maché sets on the temple of Dagon . Ivo Garrani is surprisingly nice as Gedeon along with a sympathetic Angel well incarnated by Fernando Rey . Anton Geesink as Sansone or Samson is acceptable though his famous fight against a philistine army is hopelessly phony . Rosalba Neri supplies biggest surprise by playing a tempter and beautiful vixen Delilah . Being a Italian/Spanish co-production here appears several actors usual from Peplum and Spaghetti Western such as Barta Barri , Luz Marquez , Beni Deus , Jose Jaspe , Paolo Gozlino , Mirko Ellis , among others .

The stories of Gideon and Samson from chapters 6-8 and 13-16 of The Book of Judges . As is the pattern throughout the book of Judges, the Israelites again turned away from God after 40 years of peace brought by Deborah's victory over Canaan and were allowed to be oppressed by the neighboring Midianites and Amalekites and the children of the east. God chose Gideon, a young man from the tribe of Manasseh, to free the people of Israel and to condemn their worship of idols. Very unsure of both himself and God's command, he requested proof of God's will by three miracles: firstly a sign from an angel in Judges 6:16, and then two signs involving a fleece, performed on consecutive nights and the exact opposite of each other . On God's instruction, Gideon destroyed the town's altar to the foreign god Baal and the symbol of the goddess .However, God informed Gideon that the men he had gathered were too many – with so many men, there would be reason for the Israelites to claim the victory as their own instead of acknowledging that God had saved them. God first instructed Gideon to send home those men who were afraid. Then the Lord said to Gideon, "You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink." During the night God instructed Gideon to approach the Midianite camp. Gideon overheard a Midianite man tell a friend of a dream in which God had given the Midianites over to Gideon. Gideon worshiped God for His encouragement and revelation. Gideon returned to the Israelite camp and gave each of his men a trumpet and a clay jar with a torch hidden inside. Divided into three companies, Gideon and the three hundred marched on the enemy camp and they cried, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" and the enemy army fled .

According to the biblical account, Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats such as killing a lion, slaying an entire army with only the jawbone of an ass, and destroying a pagan temple. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women such as Delilah and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him. One day the Philistine leaders assembled in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, one of their most important deities, for having delivered Samson into their hands. They summon Samson so that people can gather on the roof to watch. Once inside the temple, Samson, his hair having grown long again, asks the servant who is leading him to the temple's central pillars if he may lean against them . He pulled the two pillars together , and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people . Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived

Narrating from the Bible, director Marcello Baldi took the Book of the Judges and turned its best-known chapters 6-8 (about Gideon) and 13-16 (about Samson) into a film. Well.

As a statement on responsibility and how people grow with their tasks, the first episode about Gideon's conversion to help his suppressed people fulfils its mission. Fernando Rey as the angel and Ivo Garrani as Gideon are equally effective. Garrani lends a touching element to the character of a simple farmer who is challenged to make the move from indifference to substantial leadership.

The second episode, as opposed to that, doesn't click at all. While "Gideon" has mostly outdoor scenes, "Samson" seems to have been restricted to the studio (Cinecittà, by the way). Yes - Rosalba Neri is duly ambiguous as Delilah, and Spanish veteran actress Ana María Noé is fine as Samson's mother - but muscular Dutch Anton Geesink reminds of a groggy Rocky IV. The concluding action scenes, though, were directed pretty well.

Remains unclear, what sense the picture had. Emilio Cordero's production company San Paolo, of Rome, financed three Old Testament filmings, apart from this one, "Giacobbe, l'uomo che lottò contro Dio", and "Saul e David", all directed by Baldi in 1963-4. If they were meant for people's spiritual edification, they probably didn't get off the ground as much as a service in St Peter. Italian release date, Oct 8, 1965, didn't quite support that idea, when most Bible flicks normally premiere around Christmas.

Another puzzle is the question who directed. Italian-language credits open with "un film di Marcello Baldi" and close with "regia: Francisco Pérez Dolz." It might be possible that either helmed one of the episodes, even more so because they are rather different in style.

The odd narrative technique (kind of a double feature, if you will), if appropriate to the Bible's episodical structure, tends to prove that the story of only one Israelite hero didn't fit the ninety-minute format, so, for the love of it, they put two stories together, presumably regardless of the fact that episodical films were alla moda in the mid-sixties.

Perhaps the weirdest bit about the movie lies in its resumption of the "Sansone" character, who, as a muscleman, had haunted Italian (and foreign) screens from "Sansone" (1961, with Brad Harris) to "Ercole Sansone Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili" (1964, with Renato Rossini). This one, however, is the only real Samson, although possibly the worst of all. It's like with the Bible: you've gotta believe in it...

I grandi condottieri - a solid biblical movie filmed in Spain and Italy detailing two stories about two of Israel's most famous judges from the book of Judges in the Old Testament. The book of Judges is such a fascinating book in the bible and it has always been frustrating to me how few filmmakers take on the challenge of telling its stories. (with the obvious exception of Sampson). This movie also tells the story of Sampson (played by Anton Geesink - who was the first non-Japanese judoka to win gold at the World Judo Championship) but differs from other films in that it also tells the story of Gideon, a military leader, judge and prophet who is called by God to bring victory over the Midianites. Gideon is played by Ivo Garrani, who perfectly captures the skepticism and disbelief Gideon feels when first informed of his mission by The Angel of The Lord. This movie is a highly enjoyable watch (especially for Old Testament fans) and will hopefully one day inspire future film makers to create more films based on some of the lesser known Judges.