At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The first must-see film of the year.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The worst Italian sword & sandal saga surpasses low-budget producer & director Roger Corman's period knock-off "Atlas" with a towering Michael Forest as the eponymous muscle-man in a colorful red short skirt. So many things are so horribly wrong about this lackluster epic that it makes you wonder what possessed Corman to shoot it in the first place. Okay, the scenic Grecian splendor is a big plus, but little else is as comparable. The high and tight 1960s' haircuts along with those pencil-thin mustaches do little to evoke authenticity. Forrest just doesn't cut it as the titular strongman. Mind you, he is tall, but he doesn't look like a weightlifter. The only bright spot in this dreadful mess is Frank Wolff, who went on to make a name for himself in Spaghetti westerns. Wolff chews the scenery with relish, and he is fun to watch. Nobody else matches his gusto. Nothing else about this abysmal outing is remotely memorable. Although I cannot tolerate this cardboard peplum, I love those English-dubbed spectacles with Steve Reeves, Mark Forrest, Gordon Scott, Gordon Mitchell, and Alan Steel. Altogether, "Atlas" qualifies as dreary from fade-in to fadeout. Everything about it has potboiler written all over it. For the record, ruthless city-state tyrant Praximedes (Frank Wolff of "Once Upon a Time in the West") has laid siege to King Telektos' city for months without success. The two leaders decide to select champions to represent them in the arena, and the victor will win the day. Predictably, Atlas tops his opponent in a fight that has little grit. When the villainous insists that Atlas kill King Telektos' champion, our noble hero relents and allows him to live. Eventually, Atlas figures out that he fought for the wrong guy. Clocking in at 79 minutes, "Atlas" must be one of Corman's worst that he'd love to forget. Perhaps a widescreen version instead of this severely cropped full-frame rendition would at least yielded more panoramic views of Greece.

1960's "Atlas" was Roger Corman's impoverished attempt at a Hercules-type epic (shot on location in Greece), without the budget. Charles B. Griffith could always be relied upon to deliver a script very quickly, and the haste is quite evident here, as the dialogue sounds risibly modernistic, and American actor Frank Wolff hilariously dubbed. Judging from his previous work on "A Bucket of Blood" and "The Little Shop of Horrors," one can easily conclude that this was written as a satire, and it does deliver a few chuckles. Star Michael Forest, like Wolff a veteran of Corman's "Ski Troop Attack" and "Beast from Haunted Cave," looked more impressive years later bare chested on both GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and STAR TREK. As the battle scenes come off as anemic, the only visually arresting image remains the comely Barboura Morris, who spent her entire career in Corman's service, until her untimely death at age 43 in 1975. "Atlas" made its only appearance on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater during its first season, alternating Saturday afternoons and Sunday nights, airing Sat March 14 1964, while the Sunday night co-feature (which likewise never repeated) was 1958's "Spy in the Sky!"

Scariest Villain Ever... Proximates!!! What the f......... heck is it with all these negative reviews? It's a good movie. It sounds like these other reviewers didn't even watch the whole film and are just trashing it as Roger Corman based on internet rumors.Don't worry, Roger Corman had little or nothing to do with this film, otherwise it wouldn't be good. Don't worry. It's NOT Corman.Villains that truly frighten me to think such evil could exist in the human soul or on screen, have always been Chris Sarandon as a rapist in 'Lipstick', Jane Badler as Diana in 'V' and Louise Fletcher or Michael Ironside in ANYTHING.Now make way for Frank Wolff (no, not my congressman) as Proximates! (Prox-ah-me-tays) Proximates doesn't start out as a villain, just a Roman style slime ball. This is why 'Atlas' has rather a slow start the first 30 minutes. Proximates hasn't shown his true evil.The army of Proximates is involved in long siege of a plateau inhabited by a people whose leader Telekos wears a yamaka. This is obviously based on the historic Roman siege of the Jews at Masada.Noble and just Telekos hopes to end the long siege, and agrees to surrender the city if any champion can defeat his son Prince Indros in a duel to the death.Proximates has ten days to find such a champion. He uses this as an excuse to take some RR and attempt to get back into the toga of his former girlfriend Candia (Barboura Morris) at the Olympic Games, (or the Coliseum, or whatever).There they meet a wrestler Atlas. (See he's strong. Get it?) Proximates and Candia set out to con Atlas into fighting as their champion but get a rude surprise. Atlas isn't just strong he's an educated stand up philosopher at the forum.Yes, I too was reminded of Mel Brooks as stand up philosopher is 'History of the World: Part 1.' "Oh, a bullsxxx artist." Being intelligent, Atlas disapproves of wars of conquest, and killing in general. He accepts Proximates offer only to prove that he can win the duel and the city without taking any human life.Sure enough Atlas defeats Prince Indros, sparing his life.With the city now at Proximates disposal, Atlas sees first hand his true evil and the necessity for war. A war to free the city from Proximates evil grip.As I said, it has a rather slow first 30 minutes, which why the other reviewers here just gave up on the whole film. But it really is a powerful story with powerful characters which makes up for the total lack of large scale battle scenes in the movie genre of large scale battle movies.Frank Wolff as Proximates is something you have to see to believe. It's a great film! The best evidence for Roger Corman's lack of involvement is changing sets and locations. Throughout his whole "career" Corman's "film making" was infamous for not changing sets and merely repositioning the cameras around the same location claiming to was someplace else.Remember, 'Teenage Caveman' where every village was always just the same rock filmed from different angles? Or 'The Undead' where a 12x12 set comprised an entire medieval kingdom? Or the wild western 'Gunslinger' where every town was just the same western set (complete with phone lines) filmed from different angles? I digress. None of this silliness is in 'Atlas' so don't be frightened by these false internet rumors. 'Atlas' is happily Roger Corman free.

... that is, if you dig flicks that involve men wearing really high cut "togas" that look more like skirts. The battle scenes are absolutely laughable, with lots of shots of shields being hit by things (occasionally the wooden swords), and lots of guys who throw spears really poorly at their crew-cut Greek rivals. The charges just sort of slow in front of enemy lines, once even to turn around and change a formation four feet from the "battle line." Some of the editing looks like it may have been done by a deranged chimp, and that's just for the important dialogue scenes. There are a few shots where the camera literally gets knocked out of place. A final word of warning: the director took full advantage of shot width, so if you are unfortunate enough to watch this on tv, several scenes will have half of the speakers cut off at the edge of the screen. If you need something to MST3K, come and get it!