Not content with featuring just one mythological muscleman, SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE is a peplum film which fills the screen with an astonishing four muscular heroes, making for a film packed with biceps, brawn, and bravery. It's also officially the peplum film with the most musclemen, as far as I'm aware, featuring Italian legends Hercules, Samson, Maciste, and of course Ursus. Made at the tail-end of the genre, when fantasy and comedy filled the sword-and-sandal yarns after the more predictable historical story lines had been used up and over-exposed, this film was further spoofed by being re-dubbed by Australians and released as HERCULES RETURNS in the early '90s.
The original itself has plenty of comedy, involving slapstick, amusing music, and a comic relief dwarf as per the norm for the genre. The plot seems fairly predictable to start off with, but once the four genre titans are paid up the fun really begins and there are lots of fisticuffs to be enjoyed, including a scene in which a tavern is literally demolished into rubble! Alan Steel is Hercules, the genuine and first hero in the film who talks to his father Zeus in the clouds and does heroic deeds like saving bathing beauties from being caught in nets and the like. Later, Maciste and Ursus turn up and are little more than good-natured body-builders who become a little thuggish when they have too much to drink. The most interesting character is Samson; this time he's the genuine article, the long-haired Biblical character, but unfortunately he gets a haircut early on in the proceedings and is left somewhat limited in strength for the rest of the film.
As well as all these muscular men parading their wares around, regular genre actresses Helene Chanel and Moira Orfei turn up to add plenty of glamour to their female characters. The production values are solid and the action, when it comes, is pretty entertaining, especially the free-for-all fight which concludes the film in an upbeat, comic fashion. A pleasing amount of buildings and pillars are mindlessly demolished during the film's course. This is no classic, but is sure to appeal to fans of the peplum genre as easy minded fun.
The original itself has plenty of comedy, involving slapstick, amusing music, and a comic relief dwarf as per the norm for the genre. The plot seems fairly predictable to start off with, but once the four genre titans are paid up the fun really begins and there are lots of fisticuffs to be enjoyed, including a scene in which a tavern is literally demolished into rubble! Alan Steel is Hercules, the genuine and first hero in the film who talks to his father Zeus in the clouds and does heroic deeds like saving bathing beauties from being caught in nets and the like. Later, Maciste and Ursus turn up and are little more than good-natured body-builders who become a little thuggish when they have too much to drink. The most interesting character is Samson; this time he's the genuine article, the long-haired Biblical character, but unfortunately he gets a haircut early on in the proceedings and is left somewhat limited in strength for the rest of the film.
As well as all these muscular men parading their wares around, regular genre actresses Helene Chanel and Moira Orfei turn up to add plenty of glamour to their female characters. The production values are solid and the action, when it comes, is pretty entertaining, especially the free-for-all fight which concludes the film in an upbeat, comic fashion. A pleasing amount of buildings and pillars are mindlessly demolished during the film's course. This is no classic, but is sure to appeal to fans of the peplum genre as easy minded fun.