Hercules, Samson & Ulysses [Ercole Sfida Sansone] ** (1963, Kirk Morris, Iloosh Khoshabe, Enzo Cerusico, Liana Orfei) – Classic Movie Review 11,470

Writer-director Pietro Francisci’s entertainingly campy and enjoyable 1963 Italian Metrocolor peplum movie Hercules, Samson & Ulysses [Ercole Sfida Sansone] is more foreign sword-and-sandal adventure epicry, with three musclemen for the price of one, including Kirk Morris as Hercules, Iloosh Khoshabe (aka Richard Lloyd) as Samson and Enzo Cerusico as Ulysses, plus the alluring Liana Orfei as Delilah.

Ceruscio as a canny Ulysses is the show’s hit turn and the script’s tongue-in-cheek attitude is the film’s main saving grace.

Release date: 20 December 1963 (Italy).

The costume designers used re-purposed Nazi helmets for the Philistine headgear!

It is a sequel to the 1958 film Hercules and the 1959 Hercules Unchained, both starring Steve Reeves. Italian bodybuilder Kirk Morris was cast as Hercules as Reeves was busy making Sandokan the Great in 1963. Italian actor Andrea Fantasia kept his role as King Laertes of Ithaca from the Reeves films, but Diletta D’Andrea takes over as Hercules’ wife Iole, and Enzo Cerusico takes over as Ulysses.

The cast are: Kirk Morris as Hercules, Iloosh Khoshabe (aka Richard Lloyd) as Samson, Enzo Cerusico as Ulysses, Liana Orfei as Delilah, Diletta D’Andrea as Leria, Fulvia Franco as Ithaca Queen, Aldo Giuffrè as Seren, Andrea Fantasia as King Laertes of Ithaca, and Pietro Tordi as Azer.

It opened on 20 December 1963 in Italy and on May 1965 in the US.

Kirk Morris was born in Venice as Adriano Bellini on 26 August 1942.

Italian bodybuilder and actor Kirk Morris (born in Venice as Adriano Bellini, 26 August 1942) was the winner of Mr Italia Bodybuilding Contest 1961.

Iranian bodybuilder Ilush Khoshabe (1932-2012) is best known as star of Italian peplum films including Vulcan, Son of Jupiter (1962), The Seven Tasks of Ali Baba (1962), Hercules, Samson & Ulysses (1963) and The Invincible Brothers Maciste (1964).

Liana Orfei (born 6 June 1937) appeared in 37 films between 1959 and 1971.

Italian film actor Enzo Cerusico (22 October 1937 – 1 July 1991) appeared in 55 films between 1951 and 1984.

You might like to question its sense of history. Whether real people or mythological, Hercules would have been around 1600 BC, Ulysses would have lived around 1250 BC when the Trojan War took place, and Samson would have lived around 1100 BC.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,470

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