Visions of 1959...as an 11 year old, this film looked great. But now...only muscular.

_**Married to Sylva but bewitched by Sylvia**_ "Hercules Unchained" (1959) is an Italian/French/Spanish sword & sandal flick in the mold of Kirk Douglas' "Ulysses" (1954). "Hercules Unchained" is more of the same, with a similar plot, i.e. the journeying hero forgets who he is while bewitched by a beautiful babe on some island. “Samson and Delilah” (1949) is the crowning predecessor of the genre. Californian muscleman Steve Reeves plays the titular hero/god to perfection. Reeves is most known for his Hercules role but interestingly only played the part twice, in this film and the first one "Hercules" (1958). Anyway, one good side-effect of watching Reeves is that it will likely inspire guys to get in shape (the way Stallone does when watching Rambo). In this film Herc is married to the beautiful Iole (Sylva Koscina), but he forgets his wife and homeland after drinking of the waters of forgetfulness and falls under the spell of Queen Omphale (Sylvia Lopez) of the isle Lidia. So Herc is caught between two beauties: Sylva and Sylvia. "Hercules Unchained" can be enjoyed by both youths and adults. It's a fun fantasy adventure with dated "effects," but it also addresses a few mature themes. One theme is the boneheaded predilection of men to sexual gratification and their intrinsic weakness to the spell of feminine beauty. Herc is married to cutie Iole (Sylva), but it wasn't too…

Browse discussions about “Hercules Unchained”

Jump to Reddit for live threads on this title.