I always hated the way they portrayed the character of Bangor in this film, which is about the only criticism I have. Bangor may have been intended to be a comedic relief, but instead he was shown to be cowardly, stupid, even weak, although he was a match even for Machiste, when they wrestled before the ape fight, and there was no way that Machiste could have pulled that column down by himself without the help of Bangor. It took all of his strength just to move the wheel by itself, slowly. His limit would have been revealed by the attempt of that final feat, and I think he knew it, too. I guess the director blew it with Paul....was he prejudiced?
I disagree. Maciste is the strongest man in the world (original title of film). Bangor is strong but nowhere near a strong as Maciste. Bangor wouldn't have been able to lift those slates during the Feat of Strength or when Maciste hauls in a whale at the beginning of the film or stop that smasher when he was on the conveyor. Bangor helped with the wheel but he couldn't have done it by himself. Bangor was also incapable of setting himself free from the chains when he was tortured. So even though Paul Wynter is impressive, physically, more so than Mark, in the story Maciste is still the most powerful of the two. As for his portrayal I think Bangor is shown to be 'green' (so of course there's going to be some funny stuff) while Maciste, a veteran of several adventures, was shown to be the more experienced one.
Well, that's the thing. We'll never know how strong Bandar was because he was never tested, particularly. However, there was a definite difference between the two personalities. Let's say they were both under a bunch of plates. When Machiste was under all 8 of the plates, his strength was fading fast, and he knew it. He said goodbye to his friends because he knew that he was about to fall to his limited power. But he saved himself because some portion of his being refused to be beaten by the queen, and so he got mad at her, and this anger drove him to dig down deep, and he was then able somehow to lift all 8 at once. (The effort exhausted him completely. The next scene has him being released from that little prison they made for him, and he couldn't even stand, so tired was he. A little child could have defeated him at that moment.) But were Bandar under the plates, he would have given up soon after the first one was placed on his much larger shoulders. He knew he would lose, and so he would have.
In short, Machiste was a fighter. Bandar was a loser, and expected to be defeated at every turn. And that, really, was the main difference between them.
3 comments:
I always hated the way they portrayed the character of Bangor in this film, which is about the only criticism I have. Bangor may have been intended to be a comedic relief, but instead he was shown to be cowardly, stupid, even weak, although he was a match even for Machiste, when they wrestled before the ape fight, and there was no way that Machiste could have pulled that column down by himself without the help of Bangor. It took all of his strength just to move the wheel by itself, slowly. His limit would have been revealed by the attempt of that final feat, and I think he knew it, too. I guess the director blew it with Paul....was he prejudiced?
I disagree. Maciste is the strongest man in the world (original title of film). Bangor is strong but nowhere near a strong as Maciste. Bangor wouldn't have been able to lift those slates during the Feat of Strength or when Maciste hauls in a whale at the beginning of the film or stop that smasher when he was on the conveyor. Bangor helped with the wheel but he couldn't have done it by himself. Bangor was also incapable of setting himself free from the chains when he was tortured. So even though Paul Wynter is impressive, physically, more so than Mark, in the story Maciste is still the most powerful of the two. As for his portrayal I think Bangor is shown to be 'green' (so of course there's going to be some funny stuff) while Maciste, a veteran of several adventures, was shown to be the more experienced one.
Well, that's the thing. We'll never know how strong Bandar was because he was never tested, particularly. However, there was a definite difference between the two personalities. Let's say they were both under a bunch of plates. When Machiste was under all 8 of the plates, his strength was fading fast, and he knew it. He said goodbye to his friends because he knew that he was about to fall to his limited power. But he saved himself because some portion of his being refused to be beaten by the queen, and so he got mad at her, and this anger drove him to dig down deep, and he was then able somehow to lift all 8 at once. (The effort exhausted him completely. The next scene has him being released from that little prison they made for him, and he couldn't even stand, so tired was he. A little child could have defeated him at that moment.) But were Bandar under the plates, he would have given up soon after the first one was placed on his much larger shoulders. He knew he would lose, and so he would have.
In short, Machiste was a fighter. Bandar was a loser, and expected to be defeated at every turn. And that, really, was the main difference between them.
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