Given the fact that sword and sandal films were Italian, one would assume there were quite a few Italian actors filling the starring roles. One would be wrong, however. Most of the peplum stars of the 1960s hailed from the United States. Only a few were born in the land which spawned the genre. Of these select few, Kirk Morris was one of the first. After leaving a lucrative career as a gondolier, Morris (real name Adriano Bellini) made his film debut in 1960’s Samson and the Sea Beast. Morris always seemed stiffer and less engaging than guys like Mark Forest and Reg Park, but what he lacked in on-air charisma was compensated for by the fact that the movies in which he starred were just so damn weird.

This movie opens with scenes from the end of Fire Monster Against the Son of Hercules in which cavemen flee an erupting volcano. Leading the retreat is Maciste, who casually struts out of the jungle and into the mayhem. Did he not notice the volcano erupting? Sure, he was probably thinking about important stuff like hurling a boulder or scoring some Joe Weider Ultra Bulk-Up vanilla drink mix, but a volcano tearing apart the entire island on which you're strolling is really something that tends not to go unnoticed. Well, whatever he was thinking about, Maciste is quick to assume command and set sail for a new home. Since Maciste is a show-off, rather than just sail a few miles away to another city, he has to go all the way across the ocean to a strange new land.

Upon arriving in the promised land, Maciste and some pals lead an expedition into the jungle while everyone else gets captured by some very Greek looking natives. Maciste soon learns they are not all that bad as far as jungle folk go, and in fact are the people of a noble king who Maciste has heard of. They are in a pickle because another tribe is bullying them around and trying to force a marriage between the evil leader and the good queen Amoa so they can control the whole territory. The good guys ask Maciste to help, and although Maciste feels their pain he says he is too busy to help, as he must first help his own people find a new place to live.

Maciste eventually feels pangs of regret for not lending a hand when he could, so he decides to return and help out after all. Well, too late, because the evil tribe has already attacked and slaughtered a bunch of people! When Maciste returns to find Amoa under more pressure than ever to surrender to the evil king, he decides to lead them in battle. The evil king has a bargain with some headhunters, and they serve as his foot soldiers even though it's never really clear exactly what they get out of the deal.

Despite the promising set-up of Italian beefcake ancient heroes clashing with headhunters, Colossus and the Headhunters is a better surf guitar band name than it is sword and sandal movie. For starters, the main villain is about as imposing as Charles Nelson Reilly. Secondly, Kirk Morris is pretty stiff in this outing. There's no real charisma on display. It's certainly not an awful movie, and it fact it's perfectly serviceable, but there are better sword and sandal films.

What is lost as a result of these weaknesses is made up for in other areas. Director Guido Malatesta makes up for the lack of charisma on behalf of his main players by throwing a wild script at us full of two-fisted gusto. This is one of the bloodier peplum entries. The wild spirit behind the film lifts it a couple notches. It's worth checking out because it's not every day you see Hercules beat up a bunch of headhunters and their foppish leader.

Labels: Set: Warriors