Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators (1964)

Fantastic!

Don't Believe the Hype

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

As I've mentioned before in the past, I generally don't think much of the sword and sandal movies that came out of Europe in the 1960s. So you might imagine my surprise when I found this particular example of the genre to be not that bad at all. Now, I'll admit it's far from perfect. The movie does have a major weakness, and that is with the characters. The ten gladiators, for one thing, are pretty much interchangeable; we hardly learn a thing about them such as their names, and they all seem to talk and act alike. Spartacus isn't that much better written, one reason being that he doesn't make that many appearances, and the few times he shows up are pretty short in length. As for the bad guys, they are straight out of the stock character catalog. But if you're willing to put up with the poorly written characters, the movie does all the same manage to be reasonably entertaining. The story is snappily paced, and even manages to put in a bit more plot than usual. The production values aren't bad, and the main selling point of the movie - action - is well done. There's quite a bit of action, and the action is choreographed and directed in a manner to be quite exciting at times. "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" isn't a great movie, but it does satisfy the lazy weekend audience. It is perfectly fine non-think entertainment. We all get in that mood on occasion, so when you're in that particular frame of mind, give it a spin in your DVD player.

From a female standpoint of view, there is no (real) beefcake here because they all look like a bunch of apes. Spartacus being the ugliest of the apes. Good thing this is a comedy! They have Spartacus and his 10 merry men rebelling against fighting their own in the coliseum sports. Yet half of the film is of Spartacus and his 10 men fighting their own. Ironic ain't it. They roll around really well on the ground too. :P It's a terrible B film but does have some funny stuff that makes it worth watching on this rainy morning. It's an awful movie but it is cheap entertainment from the Mill Creek Warriors 50-Pack.3.5/10

I don't exactly follow this genre, but there was a series of 10 Gladiator films in which ten muscle dudes went around in ancient Rome doing the good deeds and flexing their pecs at every opportunity. Dan Vadis heads the group and the Italian producers seem to be trying for a Seven Ronin type film without the success. Other than Vadis as the head gladiator the others develop absolutely no identities of their own. Hardly like the Seven Ronin or the American The Magnificent Seven.In this one the ten gladiators are tricked into leading a vicious Roman Senator into the camp of Spartacus. Later on the gladiators lead a pack of newly freed slaves into rescuing Spartacus from a Roman trap set by that selfsame Senator. That's about the sum and substance of the film that no one will ever confuse with the Stanley Kubrick classic.Besides, I thought Spartacus was a gladiator, wasn't he?

There are three films featuring the Ten Gladiators and starring Dan Vadis as the muscleman Roccia (literally "The Rock"!); this is the second entry in the series and, with a title like that, comparisons to Stanley Kubrick's SPARTACUS (1960) are bound to arise which, frankly, do it no favors at all! For one thing, the Spartacus of this film is overage and engages in an interminable fight with Vadis on their first meeting (after which they become allies); on the other hand, the slimy Roman senator and chief villain here is given a Charles Laughton-like voice in the English dubbing but is saddled with an incompetent giant (!) for a henchman (actually the same 'actor' was equally ill-at-ease in SAMSON [1961], which I had watched earlier in my peplum marathon). At least, Euro-Cult regular Helga Line' is on hand as the attractive heroine