Monday, December 5, 2016

By the Gods!

A fight erupts between Remus (Gordon Scott) and Romulus (Steve Reeves) in DUEL OF THE TITANS

That's Piero Lulli between Scott and Reeves.

There are a lot of people who dislike the PEPLUM genre and yet love this film. It's an odd situation. I like the film but the script could have been stronger. The film sorta needed some structure. But those who love it mostly like it because it sorta reminds them of a Spaghetti Western, with togas. It's true. The director, Sergio Corbucci, went on to direct many Italian westerns including the original DJANGO. As you might have guessed by now, I'm a *big* PEPLUM fan and when I watch this film I see a western more than a PEPLUM film. In fact, it even reminds me of WESTWARD THE WOMEN starring Robert Taylor, which, IMO, is a great western (I'm not a big fan of westerns. I find the genre pretty dry). There was this odd attempt back on the 1950s / 1960s of trying to sell PEPLUM stories are 'westerns of the old continent,' since westerns were still popular during that period, which drives me crazy since the two genres are as unlike each other as anything I can think of. Apples and oranges.

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