The Giants of Rome (1964)

The Giants of Rome (1964)

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti

Starring: Richard Harrison, Wandisa Guida, Ettore Manni

I’m really not sure what makes this movie a “classic from the bible,” but it is a pretty good Italian “sword and sandal” flick. As strange as that sounds.

A group of Roman soldiers are sent on a mission from Ceasar himself to go behind enemy lines and find and disable the secret weapon of the druids based in the Elysian fields. I could go into some sort of history/mythology lesson here, but I prefer to just think that it’s all in the translation, and the one guy who spoke Italian at the dubbing place was lazy. Anyway, these few Romans fight their way to a massive catapult, having to face serious obstacles along the way. I guess I can’t really summarize it to sound good, but it was.

The Giants of Rome is very similar to a lot of 60’s war movies, just set in Roman times. The style is so much more similar to a John Wayne WWII flick than any Hercules movie, and that really surprised me. Now, I’m not a big fan of war movies (or westerns for that matter, but those two are SO completely different), so I can’t really give you a similar title to go off of, but the concept of a select few soldiers that risk everything to go behind enemy lines and save the rest of their comrades is a pretty pervasive one.

And, just on an ending note, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any giants in this movie.