There's no question that PEPLUM movies, from Hollywood or Italy, had a lot of beefcake and cheesecake. But the emphasis was centered on men and their bodies, which is why so many bodybuilders and physique models where cast in leading roles. The success of HERCULES (1958) confirmed this. In a subtle, or not so subtle way, not only were these movies focused on muscular bodies and quickly became a selling point but the characters within the movies also enjoyed the muscle. This page will spotlight these moments.
Reminder: I didn't create these scenes. They are there to be seen in the movies themselves. And I've already written posts on this for specific movies (such as SANDOKAN - PIRATE OF MALAYSIA) already, which I'll repost here. It's not a new topic for the blog.
For example, CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982) made a point of this in the scene below, which I wrote about 13 years ago: the friendly Priest (Jack Taylor) takes an admiring look at chest/body of Conan (Arnold). The pretext was to verify if Conan had any tattoos of the cult but its played more on a lascivious level.
Priest: Afraid to bare yourself? Why? You're so big and so well grown. You should be proud of your body. How do you expect to reach emptiness without knowing your own body
The scene toyed with the mainly male crowd's innate distrust of any other man attracted by the obvious physical beauty of men. But it's a statement on how the filmmakers perceived old PEPLUM movies: a pretext to ogle attractive men's physiques, which the director, John Milius, clearly stated he was against while filming the movie. Milius failed spectacularly since people went to watch the movie to check out Arnold's 'impressive' sculptured body. This scene was uploaded to Youtube (oops...video was removed) and the comments prove this point. The Priest is killed by Conan (he is a barbarian after all) for admiring Conan's body all the while the mainly male audience in theatres are safe as they admire Arnold's physique.
Priest: Afraid to bare yourself? Why? You're so big and so well grown. You should be proud of your body. How do you expect to reach emptiness without knowing your own body
The scene toyed with the mainly male crowd's innate distrust of any other man attracted by the obvious physical beauty of men. But it's a statement on how the filmmakers perceived old PEPLUM movies: a pretext to ogle attractive men's physiques, which the director, John Milius, clearly stated he was against while filming the movie. Milius failed spectacularly since people went to watch the movie to check out Arnold's 'impressive' sculptured body. This scene was uploaded to Youtube (oops...video was removed) and the comments prove this point. The Priest is killed by Conan (he is a barbarian after all) for admiring Conan's body all the while the mainly male audience in theatres are safe as they admire Arnold's physique.
The perception of PEPLUM movies from Hollywood was made fun of for years, certainly after the hilarious AIRPLANE (1980) scene in which the pilot (Peter Graves) asks a kid if he loves gladiator movies. The obvious subtext was anyone who watches these movies is sus.
Fortunately, the stigma, even it's still there to a certain extent, was dismissed gradually after the huge success of GLADIATOR (2000) and certainly 300 (2006) and the SPARTACUS TV series, which all unabashedly displayed male physiques.
There are many such 'lascivious look' scenes in PEPLUM movies, no matter how brief they are. They're like Rorschach tests: how a person perceives a scene. Many won't see it. But to others, like me, they are quite obvious. Also, it's not all about physiques and muscles even if it's the predominant and obvious aspect. There are plenty of scenes which the Hero is fully clothed and they still draw that attention.
Fortunately, the stigma, even it's still there to a certain extent, was dismissed gradually after the huge success of GLADIATOR (2000) and certainly 300 (2006) and the SPARTACUS TV series, which all unabashedly displayed male physiques.
There are many such 'lascivious look' scenes in PEPLUM movies, no matter how brief they are. They're like Rorschach tests: how a person perceives a scene. Many won't see it. But to others, like me, they are quite obvious. Also, it's not all about physiques and muscles even if it's the predominant and obvious aspect. There are plenty of scenes which the Hero is fully clothed and they still draw that attention.
The correct word to describe this subject would be 'homoerotic' since most of the attention our beefy Heroes get are from other men even if some of this attention also came from women as well, certainly with love-starved evil Queens and rulers (which I'll be including), but it doesn't compare. I won't use that word because I find it silly.
This is an on-going article and I'll be updating it from time to time.
This is a companion piece with THE REAL PEPLUM X and WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS.
It's also important to note that in many of these examples the men rarely talk about women. It's the male characters' disinterest to women that also fuels these lascivious moments. A perfect example is the following movie:
SANDOKAN - PIRATE OF MALAYSIA
This film is a perfect example of the Lascivious look running throughout the movie even if the display of male physique is mostly covered. Many have stated that the movie is kinda boring. And in a way, it is. It doesn't have the usual exploitive aspects many look for in their entertainment. It's pretty much discreet. But once you figure out how it was made, and yes it's intentionally made this way, the movie changes.
In it, Steve Reeves plays Sandokan. In a movie that's nearly entirely male, our chiseled and handsome Hero becomes the object of attention. Since there's only one female character who doesn't do much, the male characters in it are drawn to the best looking specimen in it, which is Reeves, by a mile. It's automatic. The language of cinema dictates that at least one character in a movie has to be the hot one. In standard movies, it's almost always one woman. But in many PEPLUM films, which are often mostly male casts, someone in that cast has to fit the role.
In SANDOKAN - PIRATE OF MALAYSIA, Steve Reeves as Sandokan is the focus of attention.
In the first scenes in which Sandokan appears, he's fully dressed in his elaborate and colourful attire, standing out from everyone. He's more dazzling than a peacock.
In the tavern scene below, Sandokan places an object in his belt. There's nothing special about the object or this scene but his friend makes sure to take a good look. He looks at Sandokan. We, the audience, in turn, also look at Sandokan along with him. Sandokan's revealing clothes make him stand-out from the rest of the men in the tavern.
The entire moment on the steam boat is filled with lascivious looks. Sandokan is dressed in a way that makes him stand-out from the rest of the cast (this is very important in all PEPLUM movies). Sandokan is fully dressed but in a revealing way: an unbuttoned, knotted yellow shirt. Tight britches sashed at the waist, showcasing his small waistline. Yes, men wears these kind of shirts in South Asia, even today. But most of them don't have the physique of Steve Reeves. It makes him stand-out even more. Everyone is drawn to him.
Sandokan is cleaning the deck of a steam boat. He's wet and looks unlike the other men. Water spills on one of the officers who gets angry and wants to punish Sandokan. But the captain (Pierre Cressoy) intervenes and stops the officer from escalating the situation. The captain automatically helps Sandokan. There's literally zero reasons for the captain to help Sandokan, unless...
The suspicion the crew members might have toward Sandokan is never explained so their intense focus on him can only be interpreted one way.
Later, Sandokan brings breakfast to Lt. Clintock (Nando Gazzolo). Again, no explanation is given as to why would this benefits Sandokan except infiltrating the crew members closed off section to meet them one on one. Hmm...
The Lieutenant says Sandokan looks more like a pirate than a cabin boy. Sandokan's eye-catching appearance arouses suspicion in the man and yet he asks the muscular man to fetch his sword. Now would you ask a pirate to get a sword that he might use in combat and kill you? (sometimes PEPLUM movies are not very logical). Or maybe...the lieutenant, like the captain above, was just smitten with the unusually exotic looking man. There are multiple lascivious looks in this scene alone.
The lieutenant quickly examines Sandokan from head to toe.
The lieutenant asks Sandokan to fetch his sword, while still examining him.
An incident happens while Sandokan is in the lieutenant's room. A group of people have been arrested by officers, on suspicions that they're not really who they say they are. The people are escorted out and we learn that a handsome young man spied on them and told the officers (above). The lieutenant rewards the young man for doing good work. This shows the lieutenant has a history of hiring young men to do his bidding. No one notices Sandokan, who stands in the background, listening.
With everyone gone, Sandokan and the lieutenant are alone again.
The brief moment that disrupted their intimate encounter is quickly swept away and the two continue with their 'flirting,' with Sandokan handing the lieutenant his sword. The lieutenant is bemused and looks pleased once Sandokan is out of the room.
There's more on this movie in the next installment
More to come!