Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

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A brightly colored, exciting array of characters and colors adorn this poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules

Little Hercules is born half man half god, and he gets bullied for his over-strong clumsiness, until he meets a creature who wants to train him - and a fair lady, who ignites his hormones.

 

Hercules is written by Don McEnery, Bob Shaw (A Bug's Life (1998), both), Irene Mecchi (The Lion King (1994)) and master filmmakers, co-writer/directors Iowan Ron Clements and Illinoisan John Musker (Aladdin (1992), both), whose 4th film it is. 13 more individuals are credited with contributing story elements.

The film is overloaded with references and wisecracks for adults that regrettably don't add up to many laughs but certainly make Hercules seem an early study for what later came to successful fruition with Shrek (2001). Danny DeVito (When in Rome (2010)) and James Woods (Nixon (1995)) are among the fine voice performers.

Hercules is stylistically a wildly diverging, almost messy mix visually. It is enjoyable but essentially little more than a colorful children's party of a film.

 

Related posts:

 

Ron Clements and John Musker: Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The Little Mermaid (1989) - The fantastic, romantic return of Disney animation

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 252.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.97 times its cost)

[Hercules was released 13 June (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Development began in 1992. Jack Nicholson was sought to voice Hades but didn't pan out due to his enormous salary demand. Production took place in California and in France. The film was opened in 1 and then 2 theaters for its first two weekends before widening to open #2, behind Face/Off, to a 21.4 mil. $ first 'real' weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 99.1 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). Though successful, the performance was disappointing in light of the preceding year's many Disney smash triumphs and Disney stock slipped 9.7%. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Song (Go the Distance by Alan Menken and David Zippel), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. By summer 1998, the film had reportedly already brought in additionally 165 mil. $ in VHS sales and rentals. Clements and Musker returned with Treasure Planet (2002). Hercules is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hercules?

Hercules Against the Moon Men/Maciste e la Regina di Samar (1964) - Maciste becomes Hercules in Franco-Italian trash

[ZERO]

 

A painted, amazing-looking, sensationalist - and wildly over-selling - poster for Giacomo Gentilomo's Hercules Against the Moon Men

Hercules, strange 'moon men' and a beautiful woman.

 

Hercules Against the Moon Men is written by Arpad DeRiso (The Last of the Vikings/L'Ultimo dei Vikinghi (1961)) and Giovanni Scolaro (Erik il Vichingo (1965)), with Angelo Sangermano (L'Inconveniente (1976)) and co-writer/director Giacomo Gentilomo (Condottieri (1937)) contributing story elements. The original title translates to 'Maciste and the Queen of Samar'.

This is a dubbed version of a Franco-Italian adventure romance, which switches out the local Maciste lead strongman character with Hercules, an established franchise icon. As the plot outline above suggests, I simply didn't understand it. A long part of the film is recordings of volcanic eruptions. Following are several minutes of the characters fumbling around in a dust storm.

Hercules Against the Moon Men seems inadmissible as a film; there's simply nothing positive to say about it. Its unimportance leads one to almost consider it non-existing in affect.

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia (1964) - New US actor in hopeless Hercules effort 

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

 

 

Watch a short promo for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Hercules Against the Moon Men was released 27 June (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in Italy, including in Rome. Details concerning the release and performance of the film are not readily available and possibly simply lost. Gentilomo retired from filmmaking with the release of the film, after 37 credits, but lived another 36 years. Sergio Ciani (Samson (1961)), billed as 'Alan Steel', returned in Sansone e il Tesoro degli Incas (1964). 1.9k+ IMDb users have given Hercules Against the Moon Men a 2.9/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Hercules Against the Moon Men?

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia (1964) - New US actor in hopeless Hercules effort

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This dramatic and colorful poster for Domenico Paolella's Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia seems to indicate that the film is in 3D (it isn't)

Few are with Hercules! And many are against him!

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia is written by Luciano Martino (Il Tifoso, l'Arbitro e il Calciatore (1982)) and co-writer/director Domenico Paolella (Gli Ultimi della Strada (1940)). The Italian title translates to 'Hercules against the tyrant of Babylon'.

The short, simple outline above seems to more or less be the plot of this bizarre mess. The oiled-up Hercules (Peter Lupus (Police Squad! (1982, TV-series)) billed as Rock Stevens) goes through the film without a shadow of humanity, - his facial expression is vacant, as he for instance ignores the omnipresent slaves.

Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia mainly consists of seemingly endless, wretchedly choreographed fights, as Hercules meets and faces various antagonists: In the end these are 'boosted' with the use of archive footage of a horseback attack. The script is about as agile as a tree trunk. The photography (by Augusto Tiezzi (Il Mostro dell'Isola (1954))) is helpless. The acting - and dubbing - deplorable. Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia makes you wonder if Hercules presides over the worst movie franchise in the world?

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia was released 25 December (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Little is noted of the production, which seems to only have been theatrically released domestically in Italy and in France. The cost and gross details are not to be found online. The film is in public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Paolella returned with Golia alla Conquista di Bagdad (1965); which was also Lupus' next film, in which he played Goliath! 517 IMDb users have given Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia a 4.2/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Ercole Contro i Tiranni di Babilonia?

Hercules and the Captive Women/Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide/Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis/Hercules Conquers Atlantis (1961) - Reg Park debuts in rotten peplum pic

[ZERO]

 

Almost pornographic sexploitation-style poster for Vittorio Cottafavi's Hercules and the Captive Women

A woman is saved from some 'monsters', and Hercules almost goes to war in the city Atlantis, (which hasn't sunk yet.)

 

Hercules and the Captive Women is written by Sandro Continenza (The Inglorious Bastards/Quel Maledetto treno Blindato (1978)), Duccio Tessari (Marco Polo (1962)), Nicolò Ferrari (Laura Nuda (1961)) and co-writer/director Vittorio Cottafavi (I Nostri Sogni (1943)).

What exactly this film is about may be difficult to say. It is bad to the point of being demented, and especially the infernally noisy 'score' (by Gino Marinuzzi Jr. (Appointment for Murder/Amo un Assassino (1951)) and Armando Trovajoli (Gangsters (1992))) rests as a curse over Hercules and the Captive Women. 

The work done here is dreadful behind the camera, script, acting and special effects. There's also an enormous waste of resources (sets, costumes etc.) in this utter trash.

 

Related posts:

 

Other Hercules movies: Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker 

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut 

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

In this short 1951 video clip, Reg Park is named Mr. Universe

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Hercules and the Captive Women was released 19 August (Italy) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in Rome, Italy. It was released re-edited, rescored, retitled and with a new title sequence in North America in 1963. Cottafavi returned with 13 TV movies prior to his theatrical return with 100 Horsemen (1964). Reg Park (Hercules the Avenger/La Sfida dei Giganti (1965)) returned in Hercules in the Haunted World/Ercole al Centro della Terra (1961); Fay Spain (Gunslinger (1961, TV-series)) in 4 TV-series prior to her theatrical return in Black Gold (1962). 1.4k+ IMDb users have given Hercules and the Captive Women a 4.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Hercules and the Captive Women?

Hercules in New York (1970) - Arnie's big, bulging debut

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This bright poster for Arthur Allan Seidelman's Hercules in New York, - which bills Arnold Schwarzegger using a made-up last name that would soon be retired, - certainly doesn't sell itself short

Hercules rises as a young rebel from Olympus and winds up in New York City, where his extraordinary strength soon arouses attention.

 

Hercules in New York is written by Aubrey Wisberg (The Big Fix (1947)) and directed by debuting Arthur Allan Seidelman (Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2014)).

In the following escapades of Hercules, he meets a woman and beats a bear to death, among other things. Naturally this acting debut for Arnold Strong, - better known as Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan the Destroyer (1984)), - holds quite a bit of curio value. For unknown reasons it wasn't until well into the 1980s that Schwarzenegger would be taken seriously as a starring power in his breakthrough Conan the Barbarian (1982).

The effects are crazy (bad), and the story is loony, - but you can't argue with Schwarzenegger's Mr. Universe shape. It is impressive!

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 300k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - but presumably a flop

[Hercules in New York premiered 25 February (North Carolina) and runs 92 minutes. Schwarzenegger, 22 years old at the time, was encouraged to audition by his bodybuilding friend Reg Park, who had appeared in a number of Hercules movies. He was paid 12k $ for his performance. Shooting took place in October 1969 - ? in New York. Several scenes, including the Times Square chariot race scene, were shot without permits. Schwarzenegger's voice was deemed unusable due to his thick Austrian accent and he was dubbed over by an uncredited voice actor; but Trimark's 'original English dialog' DVD release has Schwarzenegger's voice, only not in the final scene, in which he was not present at the time of shooting. The film seems to have been a flop, but the numbers aren't available to back up the claim. RAF Industries, the only production company behind it, folded up after its release, which seems to have been solely in North America. Rights holder Premiere Pictures attempted to auction off the rights in 2006 for 550k $, but it is unclear (and doubtful) whether they were successful. Seidelman returned with NET Playhouse (1970, TV-series) and theatrically with Children of Rage (1975). Schwarzenegger returned with an uncredited appearance in The Long Goodbye (1973); Arnold Stang (Flying Saucer (1976, short)) with a voice performance in Marco Polo Jr. (1972). 18k+ IMDb users have given Hercules in New York a 3.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Hercules in New York?

Hercules (2014) - Ratner and Johnson's forgettable noisemaker

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Dwayne Johnson allegedly trained for something like 8 months for his portrayal of Brett Ratner's Hercules

Hercules, Zeus' half-human/half-God son, has lost his own family, but he fails to remember how. With his band of mercenaries, he fights for Thrace and an answer.

This is as close to a plot summary as I can come after watching this unvisionary revival of the Greek myth figure and movie hero by great Florida-born filmmaker Brett Ratner (Red Dragon (2002)). It is an adaptation of Steve Moore's (Red Fang (2000)) graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars (2008) by Ryan Condal (Colony (2015-), TV-series) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (2008), video).
Hercules is a visually polished, uninspired presentation of general ruckus without a single scene that stands out after it is over.
The cast is not too shabby at all: Dwayne Johnson (Faster (2010)) is dedicated in the title lead, Reece Ritchie (The Lovely Bones (2009)) is a snack to behold; (so why doesn't Ratner gratuitize him more than he does, (this is a sword-and-sandal movie, dammit!)), and John Hurt (The Elephant Man (1980)) and Ian McShane (Coraline (2009)) light up some, although they all deserve better direction and a better script than what they're given here.
Hercules, at least (?), is committed to being silly, as it provides ludicrous lines such as; "Fucking centaurs!"

Related posts:

Brett Ratner: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Tower Heist (2011) - Ratner's so-so financial crisis comedy

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 100 mil. $
Box office: 243.3 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Moore, who died a few months before the film's release, apparently didn't receive any payment for his graphic novel's use for the film. Hercules came out in a year in which Hollywood (by chance) released two major Hercules titles: The Kellan Lutz-starring The Legend of Hercules (2014) came out earlier in the year and bombed, (it is apparently a lot worse than Ratner's film!) Hercules opened #2 domestically to 29 mil. $, behind Lucy (2014), to reasonable reviews, based often on benevolence towards Johnson. The film grossed 72.6 mil. $ (29.8 % of the total gross) in North America. It opened #1 in countries like Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Singapore. 6 mil. $ (2.5 %) of the gross came from IMAX. The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia (22.2 mil. $/9%) and Brazil (14.2 mil. $/5.8 %). Hercules is fresh at 60 % with a 5.4 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hercules?

Hercules Unchained/Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades

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Look! Someone once offered you to see Pietro Francisci's Hercules Unchained in a cinema for just 10 cents! ... boy, those must have been the days!

Here's a movie for you:

Hercules goes on a diplomatic adventure with his pal Ulysses and wife Iole and quickly lands in deep trouble, as he drinks from a well of forgetfulness and therefore forgets everything the mission and himself are all about!

Director Pietro Francisci (Hercules/La Fatiche de Ercole (1958)) has a long list of tall adventure films to his name, and he is probably a good exponent for the kind of filmmaker that Italian cinema's prominent newcomers at the time, like Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rosselini, rebelled against in their neo-realist films of the 40s and early 50s. Those films are generally better than this kind, just to make that clear. But here we are, still, with good old Hercules, undoubtedly the silver screen's favorite Greek god. This is the second of 19 (!) Italian Hercules movies made from 1958-65, which are part of the Italian peplum tradition. - The genre, also known as the swords-and-sandal movie, derives its name from the scant tunic-style Greek/Roman garment often worn by the heroes of the films.
Hercules Unchained is good fun, if you have an interest in film history and/or can enjoy a big costume adventure film that obviously doesn't compare to what is possible in the genre today in terms of scope or effects.
There is in its very beginning a very bizarre song sung by Hercules' wife Iole, (Sylva Koscina (The House of Exorcism (1975))), who obviously just lip-syncs some other singer with a much deeper voice's recording. It looks bizarre, and Koscina's mouthing is very off.
The script, by Ennio De Concini (Taras Bulba, il Cosacco (1963)) and Francisci, based on two old-Greek plays based on Greek myths and Francisci's story idea, and tone of the film has the flexibility and predictability of a wood log, but Hercules Unchained still manages to stay entertaining; through its many oiled bodies, (Steve Reeves (War of the Trojans/La Leggenda di Enea (1962)) playing Hercules is in quite spectacular shape himself), homo-erotic scenes of massaging, long dances and fights, - even a few quite well-made ones with live tigers, - and also simply due to the pompous scale of it all. The costumes, make-up and hair of Unchained are all very over-the-top and, in effect, very Italian.
If you can handle lines like, "By the way, what is my name?" (coming, of course, from the amnesia-stricken title hero), and you generally lust for myths and corny adventure, Hercules Unchained will not disappoint you.
The film's cinematography, some effects and second unit directing work was done by Mario Bava (Black Sabbath/I Tre Volti Della Paura (1963), director), who soon after became the 'Baron of Blood' and one of the great Italian horror filmmakers of all time.
The Eastman colors of Unchained look vibrant and alive. - Unfortunately, the version I saw was not restored, and I am not sure that a better version even exists.
In probably the film's best fight scene, Hercules battles Anteo the giant played by Primo Carnera (Mighty Joe Young (1949)), the real life heavy weight boxing champ, in his last of 21 short, TV and film acting credits.
Reeves has later told of his experience with director Francisci that in one instance, where Reeves refused to swing the apparently real chains (!) hard enough over his enemies so as not to hurt them, Francisi had said; "If they don't get hurt, they don't get paid!" - Not surprisingly, hunky Reeves didn't do any more Hercules films after this one.

In lieu of a proper trailer, which isn't currently on Youtube, watch a wonderful excerpt from the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2.5 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertain (but likely a big or huge hit)
[Hercules Unchained was released 14 February (Italy) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place at the Titanus Appia Studios in Rome, Italy. The film was almost certainly a big hit. Besides its substantial American run, Unchained was also the third biggest film at the British box office in 1960. Film critic Howard Hughes, who has chronicled Italian cinema in his book Cinema Italiano - The Complete Guide From Classics to Cult (2011), has stated that this film is better than Francisci's predecessor from the year before, because it has a better script, "punchier action" and more convincing acting. Francisci returned with Siege of Syracuse/L'Assedio di Siracusa (1960). Reeves returned in The White Warrior/Agi Murad il Diavolo Bianco (1959). Hercules Unchained has a 2.6/5 audience score, based on 1,737 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.]

Greek myths in movies, - what is your favorite?
What do you think of Hercules Unchained?
If you locate a restored version of Hercules Unchained, shoot me a comment with a link to it, - thanks!