The Revolt of the Pretorians (1964)

Original title:  La Rivolta dei Pretoriani

Director:  Alfonso Brescia

Writer:  Gian Paolo Callegari

Composer:  Carlo Franci

Starring:  Richard Harrison, Moira Orfei, Piero Lulli, Giuliano Gemma, Paola Pitti, Ivy Holzer, Fedele Gentile, Amedeo Trilli, Mirko Ellis, Renato Montalbano, Salvatore Furnari, Massimo Carocci, Aldo Cecconi

More info:  IMDb

Plot:  Rome chafes under the rule of the Emperor Domitian and his Egyptian mistress, Artamne. A mysterious champion arises to fight against the Emperor -- a masked man known as the Red Wolf. In fact, the Red Wolf is Valerius Rufus, one of the Emperor's trusted centurions who's aided by none other than the Emperor's court jester, the diminutive Elpidion. Rebels in league with Valerius kidnap Artamne, planning to exchange her for two of their imprisoned colleagues, but Artamne escapes and soon both Valerius, (now exposed as the Red Wolf), and his fiancee, Lucilla, are sentenced to be immersed in a cauldron of molten lead. Valerius's friends, however, rise up to rescue him and to liberate Rome.

My rating:   6/10

Will I watch it again?  Nah.

 

This is one of better lower-tiere Sword & Sandal pictures the Italians churned out in the 1960s so I'd say that's not a bad recommendation.  It's not bad and it's not great but it has a comfortable seat at the S&S table.  They were able to take the simple story and not pad it with a bunch of boring nonsense.  There's a good deal of action and it's pretty liberally sprinkled throughout.  The group fighting suffers from the typical lazy choreography of the time, but you see that in even the biggest of budgeted pictures.  If you change your focus off the main fighting and look at the background fighters, you'll see what I mean.  But then when you get to where it's just Richard Harrison fighting, that's almost an entirely different sport.  This guy is very physical and he the the actor/stuntman against him really put on a show.  It also helps that the camera gets a lot of shots of the entire mano-a-mano fight in the frame.  It's not without quick closeup cutaways that look fake as hell but it's a treat just to see chunks of a fight in glorious widescreen and mostly without one note of music (nice!).  

 

 

 

This picture must've had a better budget than most because the sets look better and more lavish.  The acting is better, too, although it's hard to tell sometimes when it's dubbed in English and most of the cast are Italian.  If you're into this genre then it's worth a look.  If not, then go for the big budget Hollywood S&S flicks like SPARTACUS (1960) and BEN-HUR (1959).