Review of The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) by Christopher S — 23 Jun 2009

I'll be honest: I only watched 30 mins of this before switching to the audio commentary by Leone historian Christopher Frayling. Probably because I was so unbelievably bored by the non-commentary version.

Perhaps it's that sword-and-sandal movies bore me to tears no matter who they're made by (Spartacus is probably my least favorite Kubrick film, too).

Anyway, this is the first movie Sergio Leone made on his own, and at first glance, it's completely unlike the six better-known films that would follow it. Perhaps it's the absence of Ennio Morricone and his usual closeups, but unless you saw the opening credits or knew beforehand, you'd never know Leone made this.

However, as Frayling points out in the commentary, Leone's uses of parody and homage.... Sort of make this recognizable. You really have to squint to figure that out.

So, it's really not worth your time, unless you're into sword-and-sandal movies, or like me, you're a fan of Sergio Leone. It's interesting to see where he'd go from here, and it's fun to hear Frayling point out a gaggle of extras from Leone's future films and point out that Jorge Grau, director of The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, aka Don't Open the Window), was an assistant director on this.

So, the best part (other than the commentary), would be making me want to watch that zombie movie.