Friday, June 28, 2013

Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963)

Alan Steel is in this movie as "Hercules" but really, he's more of a circus strongman than the actual demi-god.  I'm thinking this was made right after SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN, since the opening shot is lifted right from that movie, and Steel looks exactly the same in both films.
stars as Don Juan/the Masked Rider and is really the star of the movie.  he's battling Don Ramiro, the despotic lord who is oppressing his people and also is pledged to marry Blanca, his true love.

here he meets up with the gypsies and has to battle Hercules to prove his worth.  it's a fun fight, and both men do the entire scene without stuntmen.
once the allotted time period has passed, they are true friends.  the leader of the gypsies is a woman, and that's a nice twist.
Juan dons a rather outlandish outfit to hide his identity from Ramiro.  he's not really Zorro, but almost close enough.  an  interesting note, Mimmo formed a dubbing company in Italy in  1967, SINC Cinematografica.  one of his English names later on was Dick Palmer.

it's a fun movie, with plenty of action.  gotta love dollar DVDs!

No comments: