Goliath and the Dragon (1960)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Memorable, crazy movie

A Masterpiece!

The acting in this movie is really good.

(Flash Review)I knew this wouldn't be stellar by any means but it wasn't as kitschy funny as I thought. I think this was made for Japan so it was dubbed for them but then dubbed yet again for America is my best guess; they appear to be American actors too. Odd. Anyway, Goliath is just shy of Arnold's muscle size at his peak. He battles some corny dragon and a three headed wolf-dog creature. All within a battle for the Roman throne currently occupied by an evil ruler who tries to take out Goliath. Don't bother, no giggles to be found.

A well-made (for the genre), expensive-looking (apart from the special effects) peplum vehicle for Mark Forest, here dressed up to look just like Steve Reeves. GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON is one of the more impressive peplum adventures and contains some very good scenes in its running time. Sure, the expected court shenanigans, romance, and plot twists are all present and correct, but the action - when it comes - is very good indeed and a must-see for fans of cheesy monsters.The opening couldn't be better, as it has Goliath climbing down a huge pit to retrieve the stolen "blood diamond" from the statue of his beloved wind goddess. It turns out that the diamond was stolen by the troops of Eurystheus (Broderick Crawford) and thrown into the pit for Goliath to retrieve. You see, there's a dragon lurking in the pit which Eurystheus hopes will kill Goliath. What do you think will happen? You're right, Goliath will manage to kill the dragon single-handedly, but that doesn't happen until the end of the film. For now we have to make do with some cool, impressive stop-motion animation of the dragon hunting through the cave; a first for the peplum genre? I've a feeling that this may have been inserted by American producers as I've certainly never seen any sign of stop-motion in other Italian peplum movies (they didn't have the budget for one thing). Still, it's a big surprise and a big plus for the film as I love stop-motion.Goliath's first obstacle is a dangerous, fire-breathing three-headed dog which is guarding the entrance to the cave. After a few thwacks from Goliath's sword, it immediately "plays dead" thus letting him enter - still, it provided a nice spectacle. Incidentally, spectacle is what GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON is all about and it provides oodles of it, which is why I rate it so highly; it may be cheesy and unrealistic, but the spirit of the film is action-packed and a whole lot of fun! Goliath wanders into some very impressive mist-enshrouded underground caverns, full of bubbling lakes and lurking danger. Sure enough, he's soon attacked by a cheesy, flying winged monster but beats it out of the sky! After retrieving his precious diamond, Goliath retreats, and the rest of the film (until the ending) takes place above-ground with some (less impressive) more standard human intrigue.Broderick Crawford hams for all his worth as the cruel tyrant Eurystheus (whom one character so memorably calls "a mass of fat and muscle, full of violence and brutality"!). Crawford is miscast, yes, but provides a worthwhile villain for Goliath to face - the only trouble is that he looks so physically unfit that you feel he might keel over and die at any minute! The rest of the cast is made up of Goliath's trouble-seeking younger brother (who doesn't share his sibling's love of body-building, obviously), some supposed Italian beauties, and lots of marching soldier types. Amid all the usual dialogue, near-death moments, and swooning females, Goliath proves his worth by chucking rocks, pulling down trees and temples, and fighting a grizzly bear (or a man-in-a-suit, depending on how gullible/perceptive you may be)! Great fun, worth watching.Eventually, Eursytheus kidnaps Goliath's brother and has him tied to a cross, intending to make an elephant trample him in a surprisingly grisly little moment. Thankfully Goliath comes to the rescue on his chariot, fighting off the elephant single-handedly - well he makes it sit down in the end! - and escaping again. But the fun isn't over yet. You see, Crawford has a creepy snake pit in his dungeon, into which he lowers beautiful women as a torture device! This means that Goliath is up to his arms in rescuing people and righting wrongs.In a memorable plot twist, Goliath actually falls foul of the gods, causing the sky to turn purple - cool! A centaur (seen only at a distance) called Polymorphus appears to kidnap Goliath's love interest, only to receive a spear in the back for its troubles. It hands over the fainted lady to Crawford before dying, who proceeds to chain her up as dragon bait. This leads to another cool scene, in which Goliath bravely battles the (mechanical) monstrosity, which is defeated fairly easily, it has to be said! It's all about spectacle again...after Goliath slays the dragon (and has his girlfriend kidnapped AGAIN), he storms Crawford's palace with his small army, but not before single-handedly destroying the foundations of the place from underground.A well-staged battle ensues, and the film culminates with Crawford falling into his own snake-pit and dying - a hilarious sight. Somewhat bizarrely, the most beautiful actress is also bitten and dies, but I guess even Goliath can't have everything! The Les Baxter score is appropriately spooky and exciting when needs must, Mark Forest looks the part and has some choice dialogue as Goliath, and the sets and costumes are spot-on. In all, an action-packed and fast-paced adventure, and in my mind one of the best films of the genre! I highly recommend Something Weird Video's print of this movie, which is, as they say, crystal clear and impressively letterboxed - go get it!

Why "The Vendetta of Hercules" was changed to "Goliath and the Dragon" is explained in the IMDb trivia section and you will immediately notice that Broderick Crawford is dubbed by someone other than himself--which is odd since he was an American. The guy who dubbed for him actually was somewhat close to Crawford's voice--all deep and grumbly. Goliath is sent on a mission that will surely kill him--to destroy the dragon and bring back the Blood Diamond. However, two things go wrong. First, instead of just a dragon, there is a funny looking guy in a bat costume that you just have to see to believe. Second, Goliath kills the goofy looking batty-thingie and gets the diamond and is NOT killed in the process. If he HAD been killed, you might have been spared a lot! Yes, the movie is that stupid! But, for fans of silly and stupid films, it's worth seeing this one through to the end.When Hercules, I mean 'Goliath' returns, his brother Illus is oddly indifferent. Apparently Illus is an annoying and pouty young man who is easily influenced by Thea--a bad girl who has twisted Illus' mind against Goliath. In addition, there are some other baddies (led by Crawford) who want to kill Goliath. I never really understood the intrigues and frankly I don't think this was really my fault--the plot was pretty crazy and confusing. Instead, watching Goliath fight against guys in bear suits and a lot of other stupid creatures is THE reason to watch this very bad film.Pathetic and stupid--this is among the worst of the Hercules/Goliath/Maciste films. If you enjoyed laughing at this mess of a film, also try "Hercules Vs. the Moon Men"--perhaps the only movie of this type that is even stupider than this one!

I had previously watched this in Italian during a pretty disastrous screening at the B-movie retrospective at the 2004 Venice Film Festival where the whole audience howled with laughter; in hindsight, I have to say that watching it on the big screen certainly magnifies its inherent faults tenfold. Actually, now that I've given it another look, it's not worse than most other peplums - though certainly not up to Cottafavi's best work, THE 100 HORSEMEN (1964) but his offbeat framing and vivid sense of color enlivens several sequences to be sure. For the record, Cottafavi also made that which is arguably the best Hercules film of all, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961), whose shortened US version (alas) has just been released on R1 DVD.Anyway, the plot kicks into action immediately as Mark Forest (playing the titular he-man, named Hercules in the original Italian-language version) goes to recover a diamond from a monster-infested cave which includes a hilarious large cat creature with bat wings which I clearly recall sending the Venice Film Festival audience in hysterics! The villain of the piece is Broderick Crawford who naturally chews up the scenery and approaches the role as if he were playing a gangster; at one point he even puts down his equally crooked, if actually brighter, henchman by calling him a "moron"...after which Crawford is apparently revitalized and inspired into devising newer and more ingenious traps to spring for Hercules...er...Goliath! The busy plot line, of course, involves several action set-pieces, court intrigues, much invoking of the Greek gods, women threatened with torture...and more laughable monsters (the dragon of the English title is so cheap that only its head ever makes any significant appearance). There is the usual coterie of maidens in these mythological epics who, thankfully, are very easy on the eyes here especially Leonora Ruffo (as Goliath's wife; she went on to repeat the role in Mario Bava's HERCLUES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD [1961]) and Gaby Andre' (as a duplicitous slave who also falls for Goliath).The version I watched this time around, via Alpha's DVD, was the AIP English-dubbed and rescored one (by the ubiquitous Les Baxter); surprisingly, it was a widescreen print - but the colors were way too much on the red side so that I had to tone down the colors on my TV set to make the whole thing viewable!P.S. Amusingly, my father and I attended a multi-part course on film appreciation some 10 years ago and when the lecturer mentioned such peplums in a positive light, my father, knowing the man to be a University professor, exclaimed loudly: "Don't tell me you appreciate that stuff?"