User reviews

Elaborate sets, imaginative monsters, bloody battles, and the usual quota of oiled hard-bodies fighting over sultry beauties, "Giants of Thessaly" is a coherent and well-produced entry in the 'peplum', or sword and sandal genre. Here, the evil Adrasto (Farnese wearing a great beard sans moustache) is plotting to overtake Thessaly and forcibly acquire the yummy-mummy Creusa (brief international starlet Rodann) as his wife, but must first persuade the kingdom that his cousin and rightful ruler King Jason (Carey) is not returning from his treacherous journey to recover the coveted golden fleece.

Jason and his argonauts battle a giant cyclops, a mysterious island of witches masquerading as beauties, and encounter talking sheep as they bumble their way to glory and return to Thessaly to find Adrasto on the brink of taking Creusa as his wife. It's formulaic but satisfying nonetheless. Carey isn't quite as ripped as his contemporaries Reg Park or Brad Harris, but he still seems to charm the ladies.

Some bloody battles (check out the guy with the arrow through his ears), a ubiquitous dancing scene and even a sermon on the virtues of first true love, there's surely something for everyone if you're prepared to ensconce yourself in this unique brand of Italian film-making.

Not the greatest movie of its kind, but far from the worst. Certain things are low points. Like continuity. Its so so. When a terrible storm hits the Argos you'd expect the deck to pitch and not be stable. As the movie moves from one part of the story line to the next certain things seem to be left out. But for the most part these things are nonessential and their lack does not make the thing hard to follow, so the loss is minimal. But the upside ... The sets and costumes are well done. The movie, despite the lack of continuity in spots, flows well and is easy to follow. The dubbing, this flick being Italian, is OK. Dubbing, I think, can never be better than just OK. When a person speaks in one language and then the thing gets dubbed in another, well, the mouths and words are never going to match up all that well. But the folks who did the dubbed voices did their job very well. They carry the emotions that go with the plot and characters very well. In fact thats probably the best aspect, technically speaking, of the whole film. The choreography is pretty good. Fights actually look, more or less, like fights. The one eyed monster is campy style cool. The plot is fair for a movie about Jason and his friends. Its not hard to watch. If you like this genre I think you'll enjoy this movie.

This is an earlier version of the same events narrated in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), arguably the screen's finest mythological epic and Ray Harryhausen's magnum opus, and it's a reasonably intelligent and enjoyable retelling in which, surprisingly, even the comic relief works. Still, Roland Carey makes for a colorless Jason - but Massimo Girotti is a suitably morose Orpheus, though his contribution is minimal and was probably only featured for marquee value!

Though a subsequent effort - MACISTE ALL' INFERNO (1962) - proved a disappointment, Riccardo Freda's involvement here ensures that this is one of the better peplums, even if the result is rather static and hokey overall (particularly the cheap-looking Cyclops). Besides, Carlo Rustichelli's score - which may have been borrowed from some other film or was perhaps re-used, as it sounded oddly familiar to me! - is pretty good...

The tale of Jason and the Argonauts has understandably attracted a number of filmmakers over the years. I haven't seen every adaptation, but I am pretty sure that this particular one would be considered the dullest. The biggest sin the movie makes is that it's simply boring for much of the running time. There isn't a terrible amount of action, and the little action there is is at its best just routine. To be fair to director Riccardo Freda, the script didn't just give him little opportunity to try and add some excitement. The story plays like a Cliff's Notes look at Jason and company. The story starts in the middle of the quest, and the various adventures and encounters that we do get to see often feel rushed and/or missing key footage. Although this particular telling can be found cheaply (since it's in the public domain), you'd be better off spending a few extra bucks to view the much superior 1963 British movie "Jason and the Argonauts" instead.

I was expecting something from this film, but considering the channel it was on and the date made and where, I was expecting the worst.

The story tells you of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts and the hunt for the Golden Fleece. Heavy on the drama, you get to follow all the principal characters.

Yes, this may be the style and genre of this particular film maker's style of films and you will either be okay with the dubbing or hate it, it probably loses something in the translation perhaps, and you may therefore feel this drama is that little bit worse. If you are a film enthusiast, you will notice this film looks dated and is NOT a big budget production. If you are a fan of these films and like the drama, even perhaps not the best drama, you may like this film; but it is not as good as many, many other productions made before or since, in this genre or even others that you can compare it too. You don't have to look too closely to see when the low budget kicks in and hence why this film is focused more on drama.

Worth watching once (if you are into films), but this is one I would not want to watch ever again and this will be the first online rating I will give that will be the lowest I have given to date, (and I have been keeping a film list (offline of my own) for exactly 30 years, with as many as 8,000+ films on that list)!

As stated by another reviewer, not the worst, but not the best either, far from it in fact. It would have got a worse review from me but it had a storyline, which probably saves it from being a total waste of time, shame it was let down in so many other ways, but you can judge for yourself. However, if you are expecting action, you will just get more drama instead.

Pretty average spectacle of the crank 'em out kind that showed up every weekend when I was about six or seven.

Mickey Hargitay musta been busy greasin' up his biceps or frolicking around with Jayne and Reeves wanted good money so they opted for Roland Carey who despite a decent chest is very colorless and blah.

The plot is as thin as pizza but serves well for the usual blend of fight,flounder and flex.

TO it's credit there is some good fantasy music,a hilarious one eyed gorilla,a wacky witch and the requisite harem dance.

If you got some pals that are good with the MST3K style of back talk you'll have plenty of fodder here.Fans of SOuth Park will hardly resist a remark or two about Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride.

If your a fan ,check it out otherwise forget it unless you want something to clear the kids out of the room.

Although Giants of Thessaly suffers by comparison to the Ray Harryhausen film, Jason And The Argonauts, still it does tell the same classic story reasonably coherent. But if you're expecting Ray Harryhausen's special effects magic then settle back and prepare for disappointment.

Jason and his trusty picked crew of Argonauts set sail for the distant land of Colchis where it is reputed that the golden fleece is to be found. I never did understand why the dead hide of an animal has any magic in it. It certainly didn't work any magic for the ram that was previously alive in it.

Still the guys have a lot of adventures as described by Homer and back home in his kingdom of Thessaly, Jason as played by Roland Drew has to worry about a palace coup motivated by a lust for power from Alberto Farnese and an equal lust for Ziva Rodann, Jason's queen.

Giants Of Thessaly is a cut above the usual peplum epics that were a glut on the market from Italy back in the day, but it just ain't a Harryhausen.

This is one of the best Peplum or sword and sandals film from the history , retelling the legend of Jason in search of the famous fleece for uncharted sea . The film deals about the myth Jason (Roland Carey) , he travels in search for the fabled Golden fleece located in the Colchis . It's based on a poem of Greek poet named Apolonio of Rodas titled ¨The Argonautika¨ (250 B.C) . In order to stifle the anger of Zeus and other Gods and with volcano's eruption included , Jason must retrieve the magical calf housed from distant land of Colchis and bring it toward city of Iolco . Meanwhile , his nephew Adrasto (Alberto Farnese)and underling Antinoo (Raf Baldasarre) have usurped the kingdom , taken his throne and imprisoned his spouse queen (Rodan) named Creusa (she's actually Medea who later to be revenged Jason , killing their sons) . Jason assembles a motley , brave crew formed by a valiant band as Orpheo (Massimo Girotti, father of Terence Hill or Mario Girotti) , Euristeo (Luciano Marin) , among others . Jason has to climb an enormous sculpture where is the Golden fleece . Jason successfully leads his crew of would-be heroes throughout a series of outstanding adventures . They're confronted by a heinous witch named Gaia at an island of women called Lemmos . Besides , he embarks in the ship a stowaway named Atlanta , she's condemned to death but the philosopher , musician Orpheo , a love expert , saves to her(as the poem says , Orpheo actually accompanied the Argonauts though his love for Euridice was much later) . They sail unharmed along sea storm , suffering thirsty , famine and incredible adventures , encountering a giant monster (made by Carlo Rambaldi : ET) and a scheming witch . The film even rips off from Homero's Odyssey , when there appears a giant bearded Cyclops (such as Kirk Douglas in Ulysses by Mario Camerini) and Jason hurls a lance into his only eye .

As usual in Musclemen films here appears the choreographic girls dancing and lots of action with several adventures including spectacular fights , storms , witchery, and some good effects . This elaborate recounting is well directed by Riccard Freda although with little relation with the poem by Apolonio of Rodas . The film contains an evocative and spectacular music by Carlo Rustichelli . Fun for the whole family though it tends toward the ponderous at times but for the most part , it's a marvelous movie . Other adaptations about this classic story are the following : Jason and the Argonauts (1963) by Don Chaffey with Todd Armstrong and for TV (2000) by Nick Willing and with Jason London.

The version I watched was very low quality (audio and video). Some of the scenes were too drawn out, but that is common in fantasy movies of the time. There were jumps in scenes which seemed hurried. Overall the movie felt too stretched out at times.

However the visual effects were the worst part of the film. I was expecting a lot more, but there are many movies which offer a much grander and spectacular look. The poor use of special effects made this an average movie.

The acting, dramatic and romantic was as good as could be expected. The costumes were pretty good too. Overall, an average movie

This was the American dubbed version entitled The Giants Of Thesally.

This movie whisks you away to a magical land of far far away, where men were real men on boats, women were slightly thinner men on boats, and real women stay at home to deliver plot dumps whilst staring wistfully off into the middle distance.

Badly made, appallingly edited, poorly dubbed, with effects that only 1940s BBC sci-fi would admire, yet bizarrely, very nicely scored.

Brought to you in No Continuity-O-Vision!

Goes well with a few beers and laughs.

Set in 1250 B.C. when Jason was already away seeking the Golden Fleece; as usual there's far more male flesh on display than female (which is why 'Films and Filming' were so fond of these movies at the time!) and also as usual there's far more emphasis on making war than love (despite the incredible line that "The stars are truly the most beautiful thing that God has bestowed upon men. They remind us that true love is eternal..."). Ziva Rodann is hardly in it other than to bear Jason a son and be lusted after by the wicked King in Jason's absence; and the hottest chick in the film has to be Cathia Caro as a princess identified as Aglaia in the cast list but addressed throughout the film as 'Atalanta'.

The scene with the Cyclops is a highlight; Jason's climb up an enormous statue to retrieve the Golden Fleece a straight lift from Sabu scaling a similar statue to obtain the All-Seeing Eye twenty years earlier in 'The Thief of Bagdad'.

THE GIANTS OF THESSALY is one of the better PEPLUM films made during the PEPLUM/Musclemen/Sword & Sandal explosion of the the late 50s/early 60s. The assured hand of Riccardo Freda keeps it going even if there are some weak spots in it, the weak aspects being the acting (there's a scene with an actress tied to a rock and her acting is pitiful) and some cheesy sets and effects. But the bad aspect of this film do not diminish the entire overall effect and it's pretty cool. British actor Roland Carey makes a nice change over the usual Steve Reeves or Mark Forest or Gordon Scott. Physically, Roland is imposing. He looks tall and built but not too built like a body builder. His physique is believable. Roland plays Jason and the story is basically the quest for the Golden Fleece (part of this story was already incorporated in HERCULES(1958) ).

He leads a boat filled a beefy crew and they got through a bunch of great and not so great adventures, culminating with the finding of the Golden Fleece. The scene when Roland Carey gets the fleece is one of the greatest moments ever made in a PEPLUM. From the boat, to climbing up a cliff that leads to the statue where Jason as to climb all the way to the top of the statue to retrieve the fleece is simply amazing. Combined with the rousing score (one of the best and most familiar scores in any Sword & Sandal) and you have a brilliant scene. It makes the movie and Riccardo Freda's direction really shines here.

The DVD available in the US is of terrible quality. I've seen a clear fully widescreen HD version and it's amazing. The US DVD doesn't do it justice.

And to those who think this is nothing more than a weak rip-off of the Ray Harryhausen version of Jason & the Argonauts, well THE GIANTS OF THESSALY was made 3 years before the Harryhausen flick.

The Giants of Thessaly actually pre-dates the famous American Greek mythology movie Jason and the Argonauts (1963) which sported the celebrated Harry Harryhausen stop-motion effects. It's worth remembering this as the default position normally assumed is that the Italian genre film industry simply ripped off all of the latest American trends. This assumption really isn't correct at all with the Italians often now rightly acknowledged as innovators a lot of the time. In this instance, we have an earlier version of the famous Homer story with Jason and the Argonauts on a quest to obtain the Golden Fleece in an attempt to appease the Gods and make them stop the volcanic eruptions around the city of Thessaly. While he is away on this dangerous mission, Jason's traitorous cousin tries to steal his empire and his wife from him.

This one was directed by Riccardo Freda who was one of the more consistent Italian genre directors. He is not as well-known as some of his peers yet he seemed to always put together a good product from what I have experienced. The Giants of Thessaly is at the very least a way above average Italian sword and sandal peplum flick. It seems to have had a reasonable budget for this sort of thing and production value is a particularly important element when it comes to these types of fantasy films. In this one we have two plot-strands playing out simultaneously – the one in Thessaly involving political manoeuvring and underhand shenanigans, while the other strand has Jason and his men encounter various dangerous obstacles on their adventure. To this end we have interesting segments involving, amongst others, an island of witches and a giant hairy Cyclops. I thought it was all rather entertaining stuff and, in keeping with the earliest peplum films such as Hercules Unchained (1959) was a cut above the vast majority that were to follow in the early 60's.

It doesn't really get going until the talking sheep turn up , about 1/2 hour or so in , boring as hell before that, at best very average film

In the English dub this film seems to have been jumbled all around, the events, we are told take place over a year after Jason has left to get the Golden Fleece, but later events seem to indicate its not. The dubbing is so bad that the mouth movements don't match what's being said.

The plot has the Regent waiting to take control of the kingdom, and the Queen once he's certain that Jason and his men are dead, while Jason continues on his quest for the golden fleece. This should be exciting, but its incredibly dull, only becoming interesting at odd moments, such as when they battle a giant one eyed gorilla.

I like these type of movies but this is so terrible that I can't even suggest anyone watch this for laughs because its coma inducing. If you must see the Gorilla, the one part of the movie thats worth seeing, it appears for about five minutes around 40 minutes into the movie.

I would love to type several lines of Ha-Ha-Ha as a review of this film. I thought this film was going to bore me to tears but I got some really good laughs out of it instead. I have to say this is the best version of Jason And The Argonauts ever and it's an awful film.

I'm sorry but I had loads of fun watching this version of the story. Some of the voice acting is way over the top while the other voice actors sound like robots. (My version is dubbed into English).

The cyclops ape-creature is pretty cool in this one too. Love the costuming as well.

4/10

Giants of Thessaly was a decent flick. The music score and mass movement of people early in the movie was an attempt to make it have splendor & grandeur like the classics 'Cleopatra' or 'The Ten Commandments' but it didn't work. It is a film from the early '50's so take it for what it is worth. The movie is based on Greek Mythology though not exactly as written. The lighting & photography were poor on occasion, possibly from the film being refurbished or when they transferred it to digital. I wish it had subtitles as the sound sometimes glitches...

Jason goes sandal-ing about. Beautiful women, most of whom are pretending to be Italian but are not, throw grapes about and shimmy. Beards move around dramatically in speeches. Muscle definition on the heroes meant they do not have a gut - other than that, the gym was not visited before shooting. But who needs protein shake airheads anyway. I watched the dubbed version - and it was a hoot hearing the dubbing writer keep up with fast Italian/ French original mouth/script. Good film - and at one point a stunt guy truly puts himself in danger by real jumping on a statue - its dangerous and you absolutely know there was no sponge mats to catch him

Here's an Italian variant of the classic Greek tale of Ulysses which manages to work a few wonders on what must be a low budget, by cutting out expository sequences and concentrating on a small group of actors over large armies. The emphasis here is on the human rather than the mythical aspects of the tale - to save costs on effects work of course - and it holds together as a nice little movie, with plenty of suspense and melodramatics to make it worthwhile to the adventure fan. Some of the more exciting adventures that befall Jason and the crew of the Argo include an excellent storm-at-sea sequence, all gushing waters and falling masts; an island of seductive witches who turn men into sheep (relax, it isn't as silly as it sounds); an encounter with the cyclops (hooray!), which gets a spear gorily thrown into its eye; and the finale, an uprising against the evil king which has a cool child-in-peril moment to it. As a result of this, the film is rather episodic in nature but this is no real flaw.

The music track (all chants and male vocal choirs) is familiar but fitting for a film of this calibre, whilst the set design (the Argo in particular is authentic-looking) and costumes are spot-on. The sequence in which Jason climbs up a huge statue to reclaim the fleece is a good one and a fitting end to the journey, although the choppy editing (perhaps the movie was edited down for the US release - I know not) suddenly has action jump from the location of the fleece back to Jason's arrival at his home lands, resulting in some conclusion. Luckily the director is Riccardo Freda, who always brings out the best of his cameramen and the sun-drenched Mediterranean locations fit the bill nicely as a backdrop for the story. Freda adds atmosphere and style to a film where none may have existed otherwise.

Roland Carey (who he?) takes the role of the lean and muscular Jason, and whilst I would have preferred Richard Harrison in the role (he would have been perfect, but didn't arrive in Italy to star in pepla until the following year), he's perfectly capable as the heroic leading man. The supporting cast, despite the lack of familiar faces, is above average and nobody puts a foot wrong here. The relationship interludes are romantic without being sloppy and the special effects are passable by genre standards (however, with the presence of ace technician Carlo Rombaldi in the crew, I would have expected something a little more, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere). Add to this a good script and above-average direction and what you have is a fine old-fashioned peplum yarn, although my money's still on JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS being the definite cinematic retelling of this story, even if it does take huge liberties with the text.

This movie is actually pretty decent, if you like the old ancient mythical -type "sword-and-sandal" movies. If you're familiar with them at all, you'll know the routine: swordfighting; some boring conversation that you can't possibly give a rat's _ss about; more swordfighting; weird monsters that mangle a few guys, then are slain by the hero of the story, who looks like he's the black market poster child for steroids; MORE inane, boring conversation; then usually at the end some really evil guy that did nothing but stand around and talk during the entire movie gets whacked. THE END. And, when reminiscing about the movie, all you will remember is: MAN that guy made Arnie in "Hercules of New York" look like someone who needs sand kicked in his face! But it does have a very slight entertainment value for the really cool cyclops battle(especially the final spearshot lol!). If you like the old Italian strongman flicks dubbed in english it's a pretty decent flick, if not, you're wasting your time, unless you're an insomniac and don't like to take pills.

I still don't quite know or can grasp the concept of Italians being able to make more movies about Greek mythology than the Greeks themselves. I don't think our economy was always that weak. Anyway, as with most those sword and sandals movies, they are somewhat losely based on tellings or as said mythology and other tales.

The Argonauts story is well known and Harryhausen made a far better movie out of it (even with creative liberties taken). This is kind of fair and decent if you are into the genre itself. Taking you on a journey and being somewhat exotic overall instead of more or less just having one location for the entire movie.

Rare Peplum pearl featuring Roland Carey and Massimo Girotti

After his stint as a stuntman for Burt Lancaster in "Trapez" and a foray into German local films ("The Country Doctor"), the attractive Swiss actor Roland Carey (1933-2019) was ready for leading roles in the sandal films of the Roman film industry. Unfortunately, this film from 1960, which was only released in West German cinemas on March 6, 1964, didn't really hit the mark. Director Riccardo Freda (1909-1999) later distanced himself from his own work for unspecified reasons. Elements from the Jason and Odysseus epics were mixed too unfavorably.

Jason (Roland Carey), the King of Thessaly, sets off with his mentor (Massimo Girotti, 1918-2003) and his Argonauts to Colchis to search for the Golden Fleece. His wife Creusa (Ziva Rodann, born in Haifa in 1933) is left alone and has to fend off the intrusive advances of Adrastus (Alberto Farnese). The Argonauts (including Raf Baldassarre and the physically very impressive Greek bodybuilder Takis Kavouras) experience a number of adventures fighting monsters and beautiful women. On the island of the beautiful Queen Gaia (Nadia Sanders) the men experience their blue miracle. The lovesick young man Euristeus (Luciano Marin) particularly stands out. Ultimately, Jason manages to steal the Golden Fleece from the red giant. The men happily return to their native Thessaly, where they still have to defend themselves against Adrastus and his men. Victims are inevitable...

There is action in this film, but it lacks the necessary cohesion. The story is too thin, and apart from the great Massimo Girotti ("Ossessione" (1943), "The Last Tango of Paris" (1972)), the actors can't make up for it. Roland Carey also remains all too pale and can only score points with his outstanding looks. He didn't have a really big career in Rome, but he did make a few films.

Nevertheless: A thoroughly enjoyable pastime, and not just for genre fans!