Battle of the Amazons (1973)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

'Battle of the Amazons' is obviously derived from 'Seven Samurai', with a spaghetti western score. Talk being cheaper than action, the film sadly devotes far more time to the hapless farmers debating what they're going to do than to the Amazons themselves doing what Amazons do. (In the case of Lucretia Love as Eraglia, blonde sidekick to Genie Woods' Queen Antiope - both with their hair tied back in severe buns like ballerinas - this includes - in a rare bit of wit - snaffling for herself a pretty girl when all the other Amazons are heading home with the village's young men to use as breeding stock.) In readiness for a return engagement, four passing ruffians are persuaded to show the men how to handle swords; while in the final battle all the women suddenly show a skill with crossbows that would have ended the film several reels earlier had their aim been that good when the Amazons had staged their original horseback raid on the village.The biggest single disappointment of the film - as most of the previous reviewers on this board have already commented - is the long-awaited Battle of the Amazons itself; set at night and filmed mainly in long shot with the Amazons all wearing masks to camouflage the fact that most of the combatants are stunt men rather than women.

This film could have been better, but if you are willing to overlook it's many flaws then it's not unbearable. The amazons being depicted as villains was pretty much the norm prior to Xena. I like inter-gender fights to the death as much as any guy but please, PLEASE have the women involved actually be women. Most of the fighting involved male stunt doubles wearing masks and bad wigs, as well as being photographed from behind using a blue filter to suggest nighttime or dusk (note all of the sharp shadows during "night" sequences).The fights where women actually were used were badly choreographed. The male actors acted as if they were holding back, and the women acted like they were afraid to break a nail. And what was with all of the hidden springboards?However the worst aspect of the film was the groan-inducing dialogue. As was typical of many films from the 70's everyone seemed to be trying to sound biblical. All in all, an OK but cheesy film.

"Amazzoni - Donne D'Amore E Di Guerra" aka. "Battle Of The Amazons", is a poorly produced film with bad actors, of course, but nevertheless, I find it enjoyable. The fun aspect of this movie, a film of a genre that was big ten years earlier, is the pure exploitation, the fact that it tries to compensate a cheap story, bad acting and poor dialogue with lots of nudity, sex and gore.A tribe of Amazon Warrior Women terrorize the country by kidnapping young men, who are then forced to submit to the disputatious (but pretty hot) ladies, as miners and occasional sex-slaves. Victimized by the Amazons, the inhabitants of a village, including the loyal female villagers, decide to fight back and hire a bunch of robbers to teach them how to instruct them in warfare.The acting in this movie is awful, except for Benito Stefanelli, a good actor, whom fans of Spaghetti Westerns should know, and who only has a small role in this, and Riccardo Pizzuti, who is usually seen getting beat up by Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill. The supporting actors are especially bad, on guy, for example, asks a lady if she would marry him, but looks into a totally different direction. The Amazon "Tribe" consists of maybe 30 women, most of whom are terrible actresses, but at least they're pretty hot and lovely to look at in their mini-armor. However, it looks like some of these actresses were replaced by male (!) stuntmen in the battle sequences. The movie is also terribly written, and the dialogue makes it an unintentional comedy.Apart from its many weaknesses, "Battle Of The Amazons" is quite enjoyable if you're a B-Movie fan like myself. As mandatory for an exploitation flick like this, there's a lot of sex and violence in it, people are mutilated and speared, limbs are chopped off and the viewer is entertained with battles, whippings, gore, sex orgies and bared breasts. Another quality of "Battle Of The Amazons" is the (unintentional) fun factor.I agree that "Amazzoni - Donne D'Amore E Di Guerra" is a bad and cheaply made movie, but nevertheless I find it very entertaining. A fan of B-movies shouldn't miss it.

In the past numerous films relating to either mythological or scientifically fictional themes have been successfully produced to offer audiences entertainment, amusement, and an opportunity to momentarily escape from daily reality. No matter how scientifically false, or mythologically amusing a film's premise may be, viewers have always discovered hours of relaxation associated with a fine production. Sadly, however, this is not the case with Amazzoni: donne d'amore e di guerra. An actor's (or actress's) ability to act obviously appeared to be a rather low priority with this film. Therefore, actors "acted" as though a primary school instructor held them at bay with a ruler until each child recited his lines for the following day's school play. Furthermore, it was intolerably obvious to those of us who managed to sit somewhat patiently until the conclusion of this film that numerous women's roles (i.e. those parts demanding feats of strength or masculine agility) were most apparently played by men; in other words, little time, thought, and effort were given for the proper and realistic disguise of men (assuming the parts of Amazons) to have them appear somewhat like women. Thirdly, a poorly conceived storyline seemed to have been concocted only to serve as an excuse for provocatively-clad, physically well-built, attractive women to appear on the wide screen. (Yet, I suppose if the acting had been a bit more plausible, and a director interested more in directing than in "misdirecting" had been employed, the plot of this miserably produced film may have actually become more comprehensible and possibly even appreciated.) On a scale of one to ten I gave this film a three merely because certain battle scenes appeared to have some degree of plausibility. Otherwise, I believe most of us might possibly prefer the childish acting of a primary school play; at least children in the elementary school grades are expected to act childish. Childish , horrendous acting on the part of actors (and actresses) in this film is inexcuable.