Though top-billed, Alan Steel -- he of the muscular chest -- has little to do in this modest swashbuckler which has the novelty of being set in post-medieval Spain. (The "Hercules" in the title was obviously added for American and other audiences who might still be interested in the sword-and-sandal cycle.) Basically this is a Zorro or Robin Hood adventure pitting the band of common folk, led by a charismatic hero, against the entrenched forces of the villain. It's efficiently done but offers little in the way of style or flair and is likely to fade from the memory quickly and without regret. Mimmo Palmara plays the hero and one of the movie's few "highlights" is his bare-chested knife-fight with Alan Steel. Steel's big "beefcake" scene comes when he engages in a tug-of-war with six men, three men pulling on a rope attached to each of his outstretched arms. Rather than being snapped like a wishbone, Steel manages to pull the men together, just as Steve Reeves mastered those charging horses in a somewhat similar scene in "Goliath and the Barbarians." Worth noting is the presence here of Ettore Manni who died young and in troubled circumstances but who left behind a number of notable performances.
Review of Hercules and the Masked Rider
