Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus (1965) Poster

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2/10
Boring
dbborroughs16 April 2004
Peter Lupus made several Hercules type movies and while he was always good, the movies rarely were. Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus continues that winning tradition.

A princess is being escorted to meet the prince she will marry when the caravan is attacked and she is taken prisoner. Goliath is sent to rescue her and the remaining 80 or so minutes is more talk than action as we watch varies power plays unfold.

The film looks good and wonderfully fake, in ways that only well financed dull movies can. The money is up there on the screen in the sets and costumes, unfortunately they forgot an interesting script or a director that could do more than have people stand and talk. Almost everyone, except Lupus is robed from head to toe and it looks completely unreal, but it was done no doubt to hide the fact that people are doubling and tripling in crowd scenes (which do look well filled out)

The action is better than in Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon which at least shares cavalry footage and some of the horse back battle sequence with this film. But being better doesn't mean its good. Wrestling matches in the city square would never have made it in the wrestling ring, a bar fight is hampered by cheap props and a lack of energy on the part of the crowd- all heavily robed- who swing their fists and clubs like they have better things to do. Even the final fight is dull because the costumes look so darn perfect no matter what happens.

This is a perfectly dull movie that gets a 2 out of ten because it at least looks good even if it's really not.
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2/10
So this is what killed Peplum.
mark.waltz27 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While TV would jump on the bandwagon in the airing of gladiator and sword and sandal films, 1965 was the end of an era for most of the franchise, and the craving for them came to an end. The magic was just gone, the stars were aging, and the box office was most likely declining in the decreasing markets where they were being released. Hollywood never stopped making epics, but they had the budget to create historical epics like "Genghis Khan" and "Marco the Magnificent" so films like this with cheap looking sets and little plot surrounding the action seemed like a waste of effort to continue.

Rock Stevens (real name Peter Lupus) is Goliath in this one, involved in the efforts to rescue a kidnapped princess. There's lots of action, boring exposition chat and long periods where it seems nothing is happening. Standing sets are appropriately used, and the costumes haven't quite yet worn out. But it's just your standard boring badly dubbed action film with costumes, and the lack of anything mystical (although there is a magician) makes it all seem much longer than it is and extremely boring. Stevens, like "Moon River", is impressive, with muscles that are "wider than a mile", and exotically handsome, but brings no magic to the screen other than that. One dimensional villains and bland damsels in distress add to the cliches. Definitely easy to pass on.
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