Pretty Good

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This review contains spoilers.This movie is being played many times per week on GET and, unfortunately, it is too difficult to miss.In the beginning of the film, the Romans light a line of fire in a location that hinders their ability to repel. After this, we do not see two forces attack and battle, but see only one force at a time appear to attack an unseen enemy.In the middle of the film, 5 barbarians capture the 100+ strong armed "Amazon" Roman coed army without a fight or struggle. It plays out like a fantasy based upon a lunatic ramblings. If the entire Amazon Army has no interest to engage only 5 armed enemy and 1 unarmed, what is the point of their existence? We also see an uppity Roman women throw off her sandals to show her rebel-minded willingness to have foot-blisters, but within seconds of doing so, she climbs aboard a carry bed and slave men lift her up and take her where she wants to go.Add all this to seeing women with 1960's modern hair styles and clean shaven soldiers and barbarian men, and viewers are very much on the lookout to find more silliness (and maybe hoping for a laugh track?) rather than watching this as a real movie.The final product is ultimately a waste of film.

Unfortunately, this swords-and-sandals 60's movie could have been much, much better.The climax of the movie, which is supposed to be the amazon's cavalry charge against the troops besieging Rome, is too naive to be exciting or credible. The amazons are able to destroy the enemy battle ram and catapult too easily. No suspense. No breath taking battle scene. They ride through the battlefield without being annoyed by anyone except some arrows flying into their direction. Only some few girls are hit(performed by a couple of stun actress rolling smoothly off their horses like in the spaghetti western), the amazons are able to regroup out of the battlefield like a bunch cheerleader during a football game after a one minute job.Sylvia Syms is to pretty and delicate (with a "fresh out of the salon" haircut) to be convincing as a cavalry leader and slashing enemy soldiers with her sword. Dialogs are childish, if not stupid. The scenario is simplistic. Do not except diplomatic intrigues between Romans and Etrusquan.Interesting fact: The movie covers the birth of the roman republic, a historical period almost never exploded in Hollywood or elsewhere.The amazons of Rome is a lost opportunity. The lack of special effects available in the 60's and the naive acting style is not an excuse for failure. Let's hope for a remake one day.

You know you might be in for a less than stellar time when a film has more than one screenwriter. There are exceptions, of course, but this one has at least four, and thus is no exception to the rule.My favorite part in this turkey is during the fight at the flimsy wooden bridge at the beginning of the film when one of the extras playing a barbarian puts his hands up to his face and you can clearly see a Band-Aid on his thumb. Once you see something like this, it's hard to take the rest of the film seriously.It's amazing when you think that Sylvia Syms played the female lead in the excellent Dirk Bogarde film, "Victim," in the same year she appeared in "Amazons of Rome."

I recently saw AMAZONS OF ROME on cable. The first thing that stood out was the look. The quality of the transfer was truly beautiful: pristine and sharp. The lighting, the background sky, the sets, the costumes, everything looked authentic and gorgeous. Credit should go to cinematographer Marc Fossard. It looked like it was filmed yesterday. Much better looking than 90% of Peplums made during that time, including the stilted and dull THE 300 SPARTANS. With that said, the story is lifeless. It lacks urgency. Is it a comedy or a drama? The whole thing looks like a bad sex comedy. Sorta like GIDGET GOES TO WAR. Or THE COLOSSUS & THE AMAZON QUEEN.But the film's biggest liability was casting Louis Jourdan as a Barbarian. What, Cary Grant wasn't available? I'm certain producers hired Jourdan in order to get financing for the film but it was a big mistake. He's simply too debonair to be a Barbarian. Sylvia Syms looks like Julie Andrews before Julie Andrews made her first movie. The best actor in the whole thing is Ettore Manni. Totally believable in anything he does, certainly in Sword & Sandal films. What a great, overlooked actor.It's a shame the production team for this film wasn't involved in a more action oriented or serious story. The looked of it all would have rocked even more if it hadn't been involved with such a lightweight story.