The Colossus of Rome [Il Colosso di Roma] [Hero of Rome] ** (1964, Gordon Scott, Gabriella Pallotta, Massimo Serato) – Classic Movie Review 8108

Director Giorgio Ferroni [Richard McNamara as English language director]’s 1964 The Colossus of Rome [Il Colosso di Roma] [Hero of Rome] [Arm of Fire] stars Gordon Scott as Mucius, Gabriella Pallotta as Clelia, Massimo Serato as Tarquin, Gabriele Antonini as Arunte, Roldano Lupi as Porsenna and Maria Pia Conte as Valeria.

Former lifeguard Scott became Tarzan in 1955, and made six Ape Man movies, but he quit the part in 1960 and moved to Italy where he became a popular star of sword and sandal epics, such as this one in which he plays Mucius, the hero of the starving Romans who have besieged the Etruscans.

The Colossus of Rome is merely a mediocre Italian muscleman epic, and features cardboard-looking sets, with performances to match, but there is a bit of brio in the handling, and it looks good in the Eastmancolor widescreen cinematography by Augusto Tiezzi.

It is written by Antonio Visone (scenario) and Remigio Del Grosso (screenplay), based on a story by Alberta Montanti.

Soon after this in 1967 Gordon Scott (Gordon Werschkul, 1926–2007) disappeared from view from the movies but, for the last 40 years of his life of his life, he was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows, still a favourite with fans who remembered him from his Tarzan days. He seems to have made a living from the film conventions and autograph shows and from selling souvenir knives.

Scott was a friend of Hercules star Steve Reeves, and played Remus to Reeves’s Romulus in Duel of the Titans (1961). Scott also played heroes Goliath, Zorro, and Buffalo Bill.

Scott starred in Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle (1955), Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957), Tarzan’s Fight for Life (1958), Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure (1959), Tarzan and the Trappers (1960) and Tarzan the Magnificent (1960).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8108

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