This is a very bad film--there's no denying this. Imagine having a young Arnold Schwarzenegger (whose command of English was MUCH worse than when he did his movies in the 1980s) playing a Greek god who comes to New York for a few laughs! Now the concept COULD have actually worked--if the leading man hadn't been barely cognizant of the English language. And, had the writers not been chimpanzees, the story could have been turned into a cute little tongue-in-cheek tale. But, in the end, through total incompetence, it's a dreadful movie. BUT, for people who like watching stupid films and laughing at them, then they are in for a treat with HERCULES IN NEW YORK!
The film begins in a very minimalistic Mount Olympian headquarters for the gods. Including the cost of the pillars, I think the set was created for about $47.50. Well, in this sketchy looking layout, the gods are all standing around when Hercules announces he's bored and wants to go back to Earth. Zeus forbids him and they argue. Ultimately, Zeus tosses him out of the sky onto the earth and from here on Hercules has a lot of adventures. For the most part, Schwarzenegger plays the role like he's a lovable moron...goofy and looking a bit like Jethro Bodine when he first went to the big city! Among the exciting(?) adventures he has are various wrasslin' matches, fighting an escaped bear (a guy in one of the worst bear suits I've ever seen) and hanging out with Arnold Stang--a man who has somehow learned to talk entirely through his nose. I'd tell you more about the story, but really don't think it's all that important. Suffice to say, Jethro runs around New York (often with no shirt) and gets into wacky trouble.
As far as the research for the writers goes, I think they'd have been better off if they'd read a few comic books or asked the average high school student for advice. When it comes to knowing even the basic information about the Greek gods, they often got is completely wrong--mixing Greek and Roman names for the gods again and again (for example, Juno, Venus and Hercules are Roman names and Zeus and Nemesis are Greek) as well as having little understanding (or care) about the gods themselves (Mercury was NOT Hercules' brother, Pluto was NOT the Devil nor did he live in Hell, etc., etc.). In addition, at the end of the film, Samson (from the Old Testament) and Atlas (whose job it is to hold the Earth) come to the rescue!
There are also two versions of this film. Traditionally, the version most have seen has a dubbed voice for Arnold, as he's occasionally barely comprehensible. But, this is also really silly as the voice is very robotic and obviously not his. This is the case with the version posted on IMDb (though, oddly, this version also lacks music and many basic sound effects). For those wanting to see and hear Arnold, the DVD has the original restored voice--but won't give you the option to hear either one. Additionally, at the end, when he talks to Stang from the radio, it's NOT Arnold's voice but that of the robot-dude.
Overall, the film was a shoddy and silly mess. But there was a certain goofiness that make it fun to watch despite its many, many obvious shortcomings. Not a good film at all, but fun to watch if you need a laugh.
