User reviews

"Terror of the Barbarians" with STeve Reeves of "Hercules" fame, is a very enjoyable sword and sandal epic. Reeves stars as Emiliano, aka Goliath, a Italian in the 4th century who seeks vengeance on the Barbarians who killed his father and plundered his village. Reeves is just great in this type of picture. Chelo Alonso is the love interest here and she's a real knockout, sort of a Halle Berry type with a great figure. Bruce Cabot, of "King Kong" Fame, co-stars at Alboino but shares no scenes with Reeves. Sigh.

Emiliano is a one-man army at first, so he dons a lion's mask and basically scares the tar out of the barbarians by yelling at them and then beating them senseless! They manage to capture him, but unsure of who Goliath is, they put him to feats of strength. Terrific torture ensues as Reeves is stretched, pulled and finally put between two horses to be torn apart! Wowza! Reeves of course triumphs and the surprisingly fair leader of the horde lets him go. This sits not well with Igor, Alboino's right hand man.

Reeves, despite himself, falls for the barbarian princess Landa, played by Chelo Alonso, and uses all his resources and some loyal friends, to save the day for his village. Nicely paced and well shot, I finally saw this on DVD and its one of Reeves' best efforts. It makes one wonder what he could have done with a real director and a solid cast. The music is better than average too. The barbarians are shown raping and pillaging, but they're not cardboard cutouts here and some are given real personality, i.e. Landa's father Delfo and Igor's sometimes ally, well played by Arturo Dominici. A well done b-movie.

This Muscle man movie contains adventures , thrills , a love story and hokey historic events . Being a so-so Italian production financed/written by Emimmo Salvi and professionally directed by Carlo Campogalliani . Colorful sword-and-sandal odyssey , well-plotted, with an appealing performance from Steve Reeves , dealing with the time of King Alboino and his Longobards in which Barbarian armies sweep the Ancient Roman empire . When Barbarians invade his village and kill his father , a local man wages an one-man war against them . Then , there appears a corpulent mysterious masked man . He will kill 10,000 Barbarians . And all of them will call him GOLIATH! . As Goliath and his men go after the Barbarians who are ravaging and terrorizing the Northern Italian countryside , attacking Verona and Milan , during the Fall of the Roman Empire . Goliath must fight Barbarians to save enemy princess (lovely Chelo Alonso) and he conquers all . The picture is partially based on historical events , here shows up the powerful Alboino (American secondary Bruce Cabot) . After gathering a large coalition of peoples, Alboin crossed the Julian Alps in 568, entering an almost undefended Italy. He rapidly took control of most of Venetia and Liguria. In 569, unopposed, he took northern Italy's main city, Milan. Pavia offered stiff resistance however, and was only taken after a siege lasting three years. During that time Alboin turned his attention to Tuscany, but signs of factionalism among his supporters and Alboin's diminishing control over his army increasingly began to manifest themselves. Alboin was assassinated on June 28, 572, in a coup d'état instigated by the Byzantines. It was organized by the king's foster brother, Helmichis, with the support of Alboin's wife, Rosamund, daughter of the Gepid king whom Alboin had killed some years earlier .

This is an entertaining Peplum movie , full of action , thrills , double-crosses and of course , a lot of battles and fights . Another sword and sandal flick , this is acceptable . The production values are better than average, and the acting and direction at least try , including noisy action , spectacular combats , court intrigue , and usual dances performed by the gorgeous dancer Chelo Alonso . Screen-written by Emimmo Salvi who wrote and produced lots of Peplum , Giallo and Spaghetti Western . Lots of intrigue , treason , evocative scenarios , twists , thrills and ordinary spectacle as bouncing man carried out by the great Steve Reeves . Well sculped Steve plays yet another mesophorn to the rescue in this poorly dubbed Spaghetti legend . Sympathetic performances by main star cast such as Steve Reeves in one his main films of his fruitful career , beauty Chelo Alonso and agreeable secondary cast ; as the marvelous main actors are completed by a stellar cast full of veteran Italian players as Arturo Dominici , Gino Scotti , Livio Lorenzon , Andrea Checchi , Carla Calò and special appearance by Bruce Cabot , John Ford's regular secondary .

The picture is well starred by the hunk man Steve Reeves as the notorious war-time hero against Lombards captained by Igor : Livio Lorenzon and Delfo : Andrea Checchi , all of them governed by King Alboino : Bruce Cabot . In 1957, Reeves went to Italy and played the lead character in Pietro Francisci's Hercules, a very low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role . Steve performed the mythic Maciste in a number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Goliath , Hercules or Samson for US viewing . From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on relatively small budgets , and although he is best known for his portrayal of the Greek hero Hercules, he played the character only twice: in the 1957 film and its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained (released in the US in 1960) . He played a number of other characters on screen, including Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Glaucus of Pompeii ; Goliath ; Tatar hero Hadji Murad; Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome (opposite Gordon Scott as his twin brother Remus); pirate and self-proclaimed governor of Jamaica, Captain Henry Morgan; and Karim, the Thief of Baghdad . Twice he played Aeneas of Troy and twice he played Emilio Salgari's Malaysian hero, Sandokan . Steve Reeves played the Umberto Lenzi Sandokan saga ; the first was "Sandokan, La Tigre di Mompracen¨ or "Sandokan the Great" (1963) and second was ¨Pirati Della Malesia (1964) .

This film is colorfully photographed by Bitto Albertini who bit later on launched his career as a professional filmmaker . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Carlo Innocenci and compellingly conducted by Franco Ferrara . The picture was decently directed by Carlo Campogalliani (1885–1974) , a veteran and good craftsman director . He worked in silent cinema , shooting early Peplum as Il Testamento Di Maciste 1920 , Il Viaggio Di Maciste 1920 , Maciste Contro la Morte 1920 , Il Teschio D'Oro 1920 , La trilogy Di Maciste 1919 and Maciste I . In the sixties Carlo directed four Sword and Sandals movies : Ursus 1961 , Maciste Nella Valle Dei Re 1960 , this Goliath and the Barbarians 1959 and Rosmunda e Alboino 1961 , the latter dealing with Alboino (Jack Palance) , the Lombard ruler, wants to marry the daughter of a neighboring king, but she loves another . This barbarous war lord has his eyes set on princess Rosmunda (Eleonora Rossi Drago) and her father agrees to a marriage of convenience , subsequently to take place Alboino's killing .

It's easy to get these Italian sandal-and-spear movies mixed up, but clearly the best "hero" to emerge from the genre was Steve Reeves. His mere presence elevates a movie from the "also-ran" to the "must-see" status. Reeves looks great in this predictable but lively outing which has him tied between two horses charging in opposite directions. Rather than being pulled apart like a wishbone, Reeves manages to rein them in, and you know something? His powerful physique and straining muscles almost make this seem plausible. The dubbing, as usual, is sloppy, but hey, who's looking at the lips?

You have to wonder how smart or stupid the Hollywood movie studios in the late 1950 were....first of all they all passed on a cheaply made Italian muscleman movie named "Hercules" with Steve Reeves and then passed again on "Hercules Unchained" with Reeves again in the title role....independent producer Joseph E. Levine picked up the options on both of these films and waged a massive advertising campaign in newspapers and television and those two "Hercules" films became monster hits at the box office. Not to learn from their previous mistakes, Reeves then made a muscleman "epic" called "Goliath and the Barbarians".....independent American International picked up the option on the film and it made a monster amount of money for them. Go figure out Hollywood....In "Goliath and the Barbarians" Reeves is the leader of a band of Italian villagers hell bent on revenge against a massive horde of barbarian huns led by a maniac named Igor. After a massacre of his village including the murder of his father Reeves decides enough is enough. He secretly starts to wipe out the barbarian horde one by one until his methods are found out by Igor. Along the way the beautiful Chelo Alonso, a barbarian queen becomes his love interest. Talk about a beauty.....she is a dancer and a romancer. Reeves tries not to get too involved with her but that is a lost cause. Check out the scene with Reeves in a test of strength pulls two horses with his hands tied to a pair of ropes....then he pulls down a slew of barbarians trying to pull him into a sword pit on a wall.....great stuff for the kids and the Saturday afternoon matinée crowd. Reeves ripling, bulging muscles are shown to the max in those scenes. By the end of the film Reeves and his men wipe out the barbarians including their leader and all is well. Final scene shows Reeves riding off into the sunset with Alonso sitting on his saddle.....at that time Reeves was the king of the muscleman movies with three blockbusters to his credit. All the muscleman actors that followed were no match for the physique and looks of Mr. Reeves. He certainly was the king of the Italian muscleman flicks.

Set in the 4th century, it follows the start of the Barbarian invasions and deals with one group that attacks a village and destroys anything that is there. One man, Emiliano, is left, and he swears revenge and wages a one man war against the evil tribes. He also is helped by the survivors and Landa, the daughter of the tribal leader.

Loosely based around the Lombard invasion of Italy in AD 568, Goliath and the Barbarian is a lively peplum starring the king of the genre, Steve Reeves, and as expected his muscles bulge as he swears revenge on the barbarian who slayed his father, and hence he goes around wearing a cat mask, clobbering any barbarian in sight. He isn't renowned for his acting but he's always sincere in his role, and there's a standout scene where he has to go through a test to prove he isn't the cat man, and that's by withstanding the pull into some arrows and keeping the two horses tearing him apart. He passes, but it's obvious that's prove he's the cat man! But he's let go, much to the chagrin of one barbarian.

As the daughter of a barbarian grand duke, Chelo Alonso almost steals the thunder from mr Reeves- she wears lightweight costumes and dances over swords and falls in love with Goliath, who she meets in the wood after her horse gets set in a trap. Bruce Cabot as the king of the barbarians and Livio Lorenzon as a champion brute leer with villainous relish. It's not the best Steve Reeves film, but it's entertaining enough and has good production values, is well mounted, has enough spectacle to keep fans happy. This is the kind of film Manowar watch for inspiration before recording their albums!

Though best known for playing Hercules, Steve Reeves only played that character twice and spent most of the rest of his Italian film career playing similarly situated mythological or legendary heroes. "Goliath and the Barbarians" (originally titled "Il terrore dei barbari") has him, in the English-language version anyway, playing Goliath, the nom de guerre of Emiliano, a woodcutter whose Italian village is over- run by the multicultural barbarian hordes in the oddly specific year 568 A.D. Conveniently ignoring that Italy had been the seat of the most powerful empire in the West and had done plenty of conquering and pillaging of its own, this film portrays the Italians as salt-of-the-Earth, hardworking peasants beset by the evil foreigners. You know they're evil because 1) they are boorish; 2) they spend a lot of time in revelries and generally seem to be having much more fun than the Italians; 3) one of them is named Igor (a terrific Livio Lorenzon) and sports a vaguely Mongolian hairstyle; and 4) they spend as much time plotting against each other as they do conquering and pillaging. Basically, they're rude and not very disciplined -- straight up signs of bad guys.

Among the least disciplined is Chelo Alonso, as the barbarian chief's headstrong daughter Landa, who naturally falls for our hero as soon as she lays eyes on his big biceps. Alonso is usually one of the star attractions of Peplum cinema and she doesn't disappoint here, having not one but two exotic dance numbers (the second especially energetic and involving fire), and a parade of fabulous costumes. She brings a manic energy to her role and to the film and helps carry Reeves, who is more subdued here that he was in "Hercules Unchained." He has almost as much chemistry with Alonso as he did with Sylvia Lopez in that film. Also appearing is former Hollywood boy starlet, Bruce Cabot, who never quite managed to become an A-list star (despite rescuing Fay Wray from the original "King Kong") but had a long career as a supporting player.

The plot gets fairly convoluted, what with in-fighting and double- crossing among the rival factions of barbarians plus the Romeo-and- Juliet nature of the romance between Emiliano and Landa (being from opposing sides and all), but it mostly holds together. It tries hard to sell a particularly nonsensical bit where a captured Emiliano, whom the barbarians strongly suspect is this Goliath guy who has given them so much trouble, is given two tests of strength, called by Landa "Tests of Truth." The fact that he is strong enough to pass them is supposed to mean he's telling the truth when he says he isn't Goliath, but the fact that he passes them is also a pretty clear indication that he is the heroic strongman. It's a conundrum the film doesn't quite manage to solve, but it's fun watching it try, and those scenes are the best opportunities in the movie to show off Reeves's impressive physique. (Alonso is very impressed!) The only major Peplum trope omitted is a battle with some kind of mythological or wild creature, but since Emiliano dresses in costume as Goliath, to scare the barbarians, I guess he is supposed to substitute for an actual monster.

This is a crisply directed, well-paced film that provides plenty of battles and plundering and an all-around good time, if you're inclined to like this genre.

The scene where Steve Reeves reigns in two horses going off in opposite directions, his perfect biceps fully flexed, may be just about the final word in male physique in these muscleman "epics". On the feminine side, Chelo Alonso does her part with a couple of scorching dances. They make a hot couple in this otherwise uninspired, run-of-the-mill movie. *1/2 out of 4.

I was 11yrs. old when I saw this movie for the first time. I was immediately "hooked" on Steve Reeves. This is still the only movie 45 years later that I get excited talking about. Reeves had an on-screen presence that was mesmerizing. The scene in which he is strapped to two horses that are pulling in opposite directions designed to split him apart is breath taking. And this is one of many scenes that exploits the magnificence of Steve's fantastic physique. Along with Reeves is the beautiful actress, Chelo Alonso who plays Reeves' love interest. They are truly electrifying on screen.(If you can call anything filmed in 1959 "electric"). I've seen about every movie that Steve Reeves made...from HERCULES to LONG RIDE FROM HELL. Even though HERCULES is the movie Steve will most be remembered for, GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS will always be a top 10 favorite of mine!!!

This is probably the guiltiest pleasure of any of the late 50's, early 60's European peplum movies. Released in the US by American International Pictures (under the supervision of Arkoff and Nicholson), this picture was an amazing box-office coup for that studio and one of the most memorable exploitation pics of it's day. Though this film is less famous than his star-making vehicle, HERCULES, Mr. Universe Steve Reeves is on display to much better advantage here, and thanks to the extraordinary participation of the fabulous Cuban beauty, Chelo Alonso, more memorable, too. These two superstructures were, and probably still are, the stuff of adolescent daydreams and adult fetishes. This sword-and-sandal flick is pure sexist fun and exemplifies an era in films when marketing a movie was practically an art form in itself, instead of the crass, big-business system it is today. Hopefully someone can bring this potboiler to DVD in a widescreen version that does it some justice. Aside from Steve and Chelo, there's a memorable music score by AIP's lead music director, Les Baxter, which was used to perk up a lot of the muscleman epics of the time. I think the title card for this picture, paraphrased, says it all: "569 A.D. A TIME, WHEN, IF YOU DIDN'T FIGHT OR LOVE, LIFE WAS A VERY SHORT AND DULL AFFAIR." Stop the presses! You gotta love that! Enjoy.

Hercules was good, Hercules Unchained better still, and Morgan the Pirate was nothing to scoff at. Still, this remains the best Steve Reeves mini-epic of all, if also the hardest to get ahold of on VHS and DVD. He's typecast as a gentle giant who becomes a masked avenger when a horde of barbarians invades his terrain, leading the good people on a guerilla campaign against the marauding mob. Until, that is, he gets a good look at the barbarian princess (Chelo Alonso) and falls apart at the seams. Don't blame him - you will too. This former dancer at Paris nightspots is an exotic beauty, dark and dangerous looking, and she has not one but two extremely erotic dance numbers. They may seem relatively mild today, but this was real hot stuff for those of us who were adolescent boys when the movie was first released in America. The fight scenes are well staged, considering the tight budget, and this rates as the kind of exciting fun that used to make up the top half of a double bill at Saturday matinees during the late fifties and early sixties.

There were a lot of 50s and early 60s swashbuckling costume dramas that must have played in saturday afternoon double features in this country.I didn't get a chance to see a lot of them until the middle 60s,when they would show them on local tv on saturday afternoons.This is one that I didn't get a chance to see until December,1973.There isn't a whole lot more that I can add to what Dinky said.I think that Chelo,as the heroine,is simply ravishing,and,depending on how your tastes run,maybe Steve is quite delectable,too.And she's the only one in the film whose chest rivals his in size.

In 1960 I was a 13-year-old boy, undergoing the initial fires of puberty, pimply and awkward and ugly (well, STILL ugly), when I saw this movie. BONG!! Immediately wanted to BE Steve Reeves. Thought if I saw the movie enough times, I might metamorphose. Sigh. For me, this was THE Steve Reeves movie - didn't see "Hercules" till much later. Thrilled with the music, too, I wrote a letter to the studio (amateurishly addressed to "Hollywood") asking if an album was available. A few weeks later, a copy of the soundtrack album arrived, gratis! That album was damaged in a house fire, but the cover, a photo of the lead actress in arms-raised dancing pose (underarm hair!?!) is still largely intact. I dream of seeing this movie again before I die!!!! Pleeeeese, powers that be, DVD it for me!!

Adventure film about the migration period with Steve Reeves and Chelo Alonso

This film HERKULES, DER SCHRECKEN DER HUNNEN, also known as "Il terrore dei barbari" and "Goliath and the Barbarians", was released in West German cinemas on December 11, 1959, making it the third Italian sandal film to star Steve Reeves (1926-2000). His first two real Hercules films were now also box office successes in American cinemas, so it made sense to stick with the name Hercules, even though this film by director Carlo Campogalliani has nothing to do with Greek antiquity.

Steve Reeves plays a young woodcutter named Emiliano who lives in northern Italy at the time of the Great Migration. The Huns under the bloodthirsty captain Igor (Livio Lorenzon) repeatedly attack and plunder his village. When Emiliano's father is murdered, he swears bloody revenge. Disguised with a mask and armed with sharp claws, the extremely strong young man becomes the terror of the Huns. Of course, this can't last forever. And so one day Emiliano is brought as a prisoner to the King of the Huns, Albuin (Bruce Cabot). There he is confronted with the mysterious intrigues of an advisor (Arturo Dominici) of the Northern Italian Duke Delfo (Andrea Checchi) and of course with the vicious attacks of his adversary Igor. However, there is also a ray of hope: During a dance, the prisoner sees the beautiful Landa (Chelo Alonso), with whom Emiliano falls madly in love and who also plays a role in the Huns that should not be underestimated. But first the most difficult tests await the hero, which he can only pass with the help of his huge muscles.

This film isn't Steve Reeves' most famous, but it's something of an insider tip. When it comes to muscle play, the actor is at the peak of his attractiveness, which he can prove especially during the test when Emiliano is about to be torn to pieces by two horses. And then he has a breathtaking beauty at his side in the Cuban dancer and actress Chelo Alonso, who exudes erotic sparks that are second to none. The chemistry between her and Reeves is so convincing that she was cast alongside him in "Morgan il pirata" (1960) the next year. Chelo Alonso (1933-2019) was considered the discovery of the year in Italy in 1959, who easily managed to steal the show from even Anita Ekberg in another film. In addition to these two outshining erotic force fields, Giulia Rubini and Luciano Marin almost disappear as the young lovers Lidia and Marco.

For fans of peplum or sandal films, this film is a must see. Steve Reeves' muscles have never been more pronounced, never again has he had such breathtaking beauty at his side.

I saw Steve Reeves In Goliath and the Barbarians first . I was nine years old. I am now 51. I had been enchanted with Samson And Delilah with Victor Mature up until I saw Stevie in this movie. Stevie Immediately made me a follower of his movies after that. I want them all!

If movie makers can bring Weismuller's tarzan movies to dvd or vhs, then, with Steve Reeves' baby -boomer following ,it should be lucrative to bring ALL of his movies back. If I'm willing to buy all of them then hundreds of thousands baby-boomers are too. I got very lucky and dubbed Goliath from a television transmission in the late 80's. Even my children liked this movie then and they still watch it now! This movie is really that remarkable and probably that marketable. Keep Steve Reeves alive; keep his artistic creations alive. Please put Goliath and his other movies on plastic so we can play our part. THANKS.