HERCULES & THE MASKED RIDER 1964 aka GOLIA E IL CAVALIERE MASCHERATO (GOLIATH & THE MASKED KNIGHT)
Mimmo Palmara (Don Juan Phillippe), Alan Steel (Hercules), Arturo Dominici (Don Romero), Ettori Manni (Captain Blasco), Jose Greci (Donna Blanca)
Directed by Piero Pierotti
Don Francisco seeks peace between his enemy, Duke Don Romero. A couple of peasants belonging to Romero's camp escape with the Duke and his men in pursuit. The lovers manage to get safely across Don Francisco's border in Val Verde. Wishing to kill Don Francisco, the Duke lays eyes on his enemy's daughter, Donna Blanca and changes his mind momentarily. Don Francisco, believing a marriage between his daughter and Duke Don Romero will guarantee a treaty, agrees to give his daughters hand to the devious Duke.
However, Donna Blanca is betrothed to her cousin, Don Juan Phillippe. Opposing Don Francisco's plan for peace, Don Juan is banished from the kingdom. He is soon captured by a band of gypsies and in order to become one of their group, he has to beat the musclebound Hercules in a fight. Dueling with knives, the fight ends in a draw. Juan is accepted into their ranks and becomes the Masked Rider. Meanwhile, Don Romero assassinates Juan's uncle and takes over his kingdom prompting Juan, Hercules and the gypsies to avenge for Don Francisco and the oppressed people in the surrounding countryside.
An unusual entry in the peplum genre. For the English release, the character of Goliath is changed to Hercules. This can make for a jarring experience although the "Hercules" featured here isn't the Hercules of Greek myth, merely an incredibly strong man. The title is also misleading in that the Masked Rider is the main protagonist. Herc is more of a sidekick than anything else. It's safe to assume that AIP figured by making this seem to be a Hercules film, it would attract a bigger audience.
Mimmo Palmara gets a rare lead role and also one as the hero. He appeared in dozens of sword & sandal movies and Italian adventure pictures. Here, he seems to be having a grand time being the center of attention. He attacks all his scenes with a lot of energy and fervor. Palmara has presence and he's imposing in the fight scenes. He wears a silly red mask (similar to the black mask Zorro wore). He wears it only a couple of times before seemingly doing away with it for the remainder of the film. He has a nice rapier duel with Dominici at the end.
Palmara featured in the Steve Reeves Hercules movies and many more roles followed such as Ajax in THE TROJAN HORSE (1961), a very good co-starring hero role in the ambitious GOLIATH & THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963) and the main villain, and the only worthwhile thing in KINDAR, THE INVULNERABLE (1964) among a lot of other screen credits.
Alan Steel (Sergio Ciani) is his usual stone faced self and shines in the many fight scenes on display. The presence of Steel and the role in which he is used gives off a peculiar vibe. This being the tail end of the muscleman cycle, producers were melding different elements to attract audience interest. Steel hadn't really taken off yet as a lead in torch & toga cinema, but HERCULES & THE MASKED RIDER is a nice starting off point for the up and coming performer.
Steel also starred in the classic fusto HERCULES VS THE MOON MEN (1964), HERCULES AGAINST ROME (1964) and HERCULES & THE BLACK PIRATES (1964), a film similar to the one being reviewed. He also starred in the action film, SLAUGHTER ON THE KHYBER PASS (1970) and the spaghetti western FAST HAND IS STILL MY NAME (1972). Earlier in his career, Steel featured in a small, yet important role in the Steve Reeves vehicle, THE GIANT OF MARATHON (1959).
Arturo Dominici, who Euro horror fans will no doubt remember as the evil Asa's brother, Javutich, in Bava's MASK OF SATAN (1959) plays the insidious Duke Don Romero. He dominates the film with his devilish visage and slimy intentions. In addition to assassinating his enemy after falsely agreeing to a treaty, he steals away his lands and plans to take Donna Blanca by force. At one point, he also threatens to burn a woman alive and hang another. The scene that really shows off his nastiness is one in which captives are forced into a duel to the death with whips, the winner going free.
Although the fight scene is kind of haphazardly pulled off, it nonetheless shows Romero's penchant for blood and death. His right hand man, Captain Blasco watches as Romero laughs seemingly enjoying the men dying in front of him. Dominici also featured in HERCULES VS THE MOLLOCH (1963) and PERSEUS, THE INVINCIBLE (1963) among others. The action scenes themselves are exceptional compared with other films in this, and other Italian genres such as the spaghetti westerns. The actors all appear to be really having a good time with this picture.
Frequent spaghetti western and action film character actors Nello Pazzafini and Sal Borgese feature as members of the gypsies. Pazzafini was in just about every Italian genre picture through the 1960's and 1970's. He seldom got to play big roles, but he seemed to enjoy his most fruitful career opportunities in European western films playing a plethora of villain portrayals with an occasional good guy role thrown in at irregular intervals.
This film was one of a few hybrid productions melding swashbuckling adventure with traditional Italian peplum antics. Spurred from the apparent success of Umberto Lenzi's ZORRO CONTRA MACISTE (1963) other hybrids followed like SAMSON IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1964) starring Reg Park, SAMSON & THE SEA BEASTS (1963) starring Kirk Morris, HERCULES & THE BLACK PIRATES (1964) and HERCULES & THE TREASURE OF THE INCAS (1964) starring Alan Steel and also directed by Piero Pierotti.
Pierotti handles the action scenes really well and sprinkles them consistently throughout the picture. Although it's nothing overly special, it is a good time waster with lots of action and adventure bolstered by a damn fine and bombastic score by Angelo Lavagnino which grabs your attention from the start. An unusually strong score perfectly captures the Spanish flavor of the subject matter. Definitely an enjoyable curiosity piece, the film also has some gorgeous women such as prolific peplum actress, Jose Greci thrown into the mix.
One of the best scenes has the gypsy women infiltrating Romero's fort as dancers paying their respects to him. They perform a dance in which the finale involves them tossing their daggers into the air landing in front of a person who will come to a bad end. Naturally, the daggers all fall at Romero's feet which prompts him to demand the execution of the women. At 82 minutes, it seems a bit short, yet the story comes across just fine and there's more than enough action to keep viewers occupied and the wonderful score adds to the fun factor of this curious peplum.
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