| Overview: | Before the Titans dueled, Goliath ruled!
Peplum star Steve Reeves followed the enormously successful HERCULES with four films in 1959, including GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS, a smash hit in the United States due to a smart advertising campaign by American International Pictures and a fast pace under director Carlo Campngulliani. a prolific director who began his career during the silent era, but became best known outside Italy for swashbuckler CAPTAIN FALCON with Lex Barker and muscleman favorites URSUS and SON OF SAMSON.
The story itself falls a bit outside the usual Sword and Sandal era, taking place after the fall of Rome and featuring a simple revenge tale that has Reeves donning a fright mask and waging war against a horde of barbarians who have plundered his village and killed his father. He is ably supported by the incredible Chelo Alonso, KING KONG's Bruce Cabot as the villain and Arturo Dominici and Andrea Checchi, both from Mario Bava's astonishing BLACK SUNDAY.
GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS is further bolstered by a throbbing musical score by American composer Les Baxter with a memorable theme that was reused on every film that fell under the GOLIATH banner, including the companion feature on this disk, GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES, featuring Gordon Scott, probably the most popular actor to move to Italy after a successful run in American-made Tar/an features. Scott made some thirty-six films in Italy over a six-year period beginning with his starring role with Reeves in DUEL OF THE TITANS (Italian title - ROMULUS AND REMUS) in 1962 and ending with the Spaghetti Western THE TRAMPLERS in 1966. Of his muscleman epics, GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES, also known simply as THE VAMPIRES, is undoubtedly the best.
Goliath lives a humble life with a coastal people until marauders raid his village while he is working in the fields and kidnap all the women, herding them into a ship and throwing the old and worthless to the sharks. The raiders work for Kobrak, a vampire who dabbles in black magic. One of the kidnapped women is Julia. Goliath's woman, and the majority of the film's content involves Goliath's quest to rescue her.
In addition to Scott the cast includes the beautiful Gianna Maria Canale, then married to director Ricardo Freda, gave a highly competent performance in the role of Astra, the henchwoman of the vampire Kobrak. Also in the film is Jacques Sernas, who played Paris in Robert Aldrich's HELEN OF TROY.
Although the film's director is officially Giacomo Gentilomo, he had help from Sergio Corbucci, who wrote the screenplay along with Duccio (A PISTOL FOR RINGO) Tessari. Corbucci, as Spaghetti Western fans are well aware, was responsible for some of (he best Italian Westerns of the era, including THE GREAT SILENCE and the extremely influential DJANGO. According to Gordon Scott, Corbucci directed a few scenes, but they are virtually indistinguishable from Genii [omo's. In fact, the reserve applied to the sporadic bits of gore, the lack of gratuitous bloodshed, and the well handled but not overwhelming elements of horror seem attributable to Gentilomo.
Hie eerie score was the work of Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (GORGO. THE SPECIALIST) remained.
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