Thanks for the memories!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

i must have seen a different film!!

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.

This movie sucks, but not entirely. The MAIN reason to view it is for the title characters played by Hamilton and Bauer. If looking at beautiful people is your thing then this film is for you. Strange that both these actors went on to have short Hollywood careers so there is not much of their work for us to enjoy. Hamilton was gay and died from aids and Bauer was typecast and apparently tired of acting quickly. Too bad for us. Max Von Sydow overacts and is not very interesting in this. The 1949 version is a superior production in terms of visuals and acting. Victor Mature and Heddy LaMarr were also attractive to watch and that is what holds your interest in these productions. We all know the story of Samson and Delilah and this film sticks to that story fairly well but is still boring and tedious. This makes it difficult to watch in one sitting. Thank God for home video! Once again, the two leads are beautiful but there is not much else here. If they can hold your interest then this film is for you. RIP Mr. Hamilton.

Okay but not entirely satisfying TV account of the life & times of Samson, the last judge of Israel who dared to love the very Philistine women whose male counterparts he was supposed to defend his people from, slayed his enemies with the jawbone of an ass (donkey/mule), lost his mighty strength thanks to the machinations of the lovely yet devious Delilah, was blinded, cast into slavery by his enemies who then shamed and humiliated him every chance they got afterwards... until he tore down their temple, killing himself in the process. Granted, the other versions didn't get everything right either.As the title character, the late Antony Hamilton (an openly gay/homosexual actor & former ballet dancer who sadly died of AIDS at the tender age of 43 in 1995) certainly looks the part in terms of his physique. Like Eric Thal in the Samson TV film made in 1996 (a year after Hamilton died) unlike the movie Samson of 1949, the late Victor Mature (who died in 1999 and had a cameo in this TV film as the father of Samson, his first in many years since he retired from the film business and ultimately his last as he returned to retirement soon after), the 6'2" golden boy Hamilton actually was muscular and athletic looking, whereas Mature was just stocky/bulky looking. And yet, despite his superior physique and overall sincere performance, Hamilton lacked the magnetism that Victor Mature exuded so effortlessly, even though Hamilton was probably the better actor (a case Mature himself would not have argued over, as Mature knew he wasn't exactly the greatest actor in the world anyway).Belinda Bauer is seductively beautiful as Delilah, though one has to wonder: why is Delilah always given so much screen time when her actual part in the story, while crucial, was very small in the Bible.Max Von Sydow and the other actors carry themselves well enough.The production values waver between acceptable to ridiculous (the jawbone Samson uses to slay his enemies is way too big), though the final scene where Samson tears down the temple is pretty impressive.

This was an interesting film, I was expecting something that would be fairly Biblical in its storytelling, but although it was based on the Bible, some of the elements were out of order, missing, added to or changed too much for it to be an accurate representation of what the Bible tells us in the book of Judges about the life of Samson.This film starts off when Samson is about to marry a Philistine woman (not Delilah, but his first wife) and after that some bits are missed out and Delilah comes into the scene early on before Samson marries his first wife. Yet the Bible makes no mention of her until long after she is dead.I thought the acting was good, especially from the famous actor Max von Sydow, and Belinda Bauer was good as Delilah. And let's not forget that great actor Jose Ferrer who plays the high priest of Dagon.This is an entertaining film, but I would have liked to see it follow the Bible more closely. If you want to see an account of Samson that follows the Bible, this is not it. For example, the Bible says that Samson did not have his hair cut or his beard shaved, in accordance with the vow he took, yet in the first scene we see Samson as a young man and clean shaven. His hair is long at the back, but on top and at the sides it looks normal, not long at all. The vow that he took where he was forbidden to cut his hair or shave, or drink alcohol, is very important to the story of Samson, and especially to how he eventually loses his strength when his hair and beard are shaved off. Yet in this film he drank wine and generally did not do the things the Bible tells. And in this film Delilah cuts off a small bit of his pony tail and he loses his strength, the Bible tells us that he was shaved by a professional barber hired by Delilah. And they missed out all the times when he tricked Delilah and did not tell her the true way to lose his strength, and the Philistines attacked him but he was still strong. So the filmmakers could have made this better and been more true to the true story of Samson, but instead I think they wanted a more romantic and idealistic story so they changed it. And there was too much of Delilah in the film overall, and too much of her showing in her revealing clothing and when she was naked.5 out of 10, which is mostly for the good acting and generally well made film, but would be higher if they had followed the Bible more.

This movie heralded the "introduction" of bona fide Australian adonis Antony Hamilton, though he had done television and a low budget cult film, "Nocturna" previously. Hamilton in various stages of undress is the only reason to watch this film -- which is a good enough one -- though in the version I saw some of the body parts were vaselined out. The dialogue is 20th century American dreck; Victor Mature, the movie star Samson, gives an embarrassing performance eating a chicken leg; and Belinda Bauer is no Hedy Lamarr and let's face it, Hedy Lamarr was not the most exciting actress to hit the screen, even if she was one of the most beautiful. This movie concentrates on bodies making out in the pool, a near-naked Samson getting tossed into the lake by his buddies, love-making between nearly naked Samson and nearly naked Delilah and good looks at Samson's muscles throughout. As far as I'm concerned, this is a no miss, having nothing whatsoever to do with the story. It is depressing, however, to realize that Hamilton died at such a young age and, all kidding aside, that is a very sad loss.