502-Hercules

Film Year:  1958

Genre:  Fantasy, Adventure

Director:  Pietro Francisci

Starring:  Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Gianna Maria Canale, Fabrizo Mioni, Arturo Dominici, Mimmo Palmara, Lidia Alfonsi, Gina Roveri

MST Season:  5

The Movie

Given that Hercules is something of an iconic mythological figure, it's funny to think he hadn't been very prominent in film until the 1950's.  The earliest film featuring Herc as a prominent character is a comedy called The Warrior's Husband from 1933, directed by The King and I's Walter Lang, which featured him as an cowardly antagonist to a group of Amazons.

Then there was a lot of nothing.

And suddenly Steve Reeves.

Hercules became a template for the musclebound hero on a fantasy quest in Italian cinema.  Sweeping tales featuring Maceste, Colossus, Samson, and many loinclothed kin would follow suit, as well as many more adventures starring Hercules himself.  This particular film features Hercules joining the quest of Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece and reclaim Jason's right to a stolen throne.

Lavish, lush, and full of energy, Hercules starts the endless Italian Hercules franchise with style.  Hercules goes on his adventures and accomplishes his amazing feats, and the movie never slows down to bore the audience.  There is always a new location and a new foe to keep the adventurers on their toes, from soldiers, to Amazons, and even dragons (who stole Godzilla's roar!).

There is no real artistic value to the movie, but the movie is primarily an entertainer first and foremost.  Hercules's primary ambition is to get children into seats and watch the oily and muscular hero wrestle the bad guys to the ground and even tear down an entire structure using only a pair of chains.  In its modest ambitions Hercules is more successful than most, and even for a non-demanding adult the movie is addictively playful.

Hercules would go on to star in many more Italian films, with Steve Reeves only reprising the role for the direct sequel, Hercules Unchained, which was featured earlier on Mystery Science Theater.  Once the box office dropped, all good things must come to an end, though Herc did pop up from time to time.  Following in Reeves' footsteps, other musclebound stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson all took a crack at the role.  There was a TV series series in the 90's that was produced by Sam Raimi and also spun off into the even more popular Xena:  Warrior Princess.  Walt Disney's animation studio took a crack at it, albeit with a loose interpretation of the mythology (but they've all been loose to one extent or another).  Hell, even the Three Stooges went up against their own version of the demigod.  But as far as pure entertainers go, Steve Reeves set a high bar that very few have been able to match

The Episode

I've always really liked this one.  First of all, this movie is wildly entertaining and it's easily the best of all the Hercules movies featured on the show.  The movie is so fun to watch that the only thing that could sink this episode is a lackluster commentary, but by season five everyone is truly firing on all cylinders and failure is not an option.  While there are probably episodes with bigger laughs out there, what Hercules has going for it is its variety.   Most Hercules movies stay stationary for good long portions, while this one is more episodic, moving from location to location.  The riffers are constantly on their feet keeping up with the film and they always have something up their sleeve for every scenario.  Probably the most fun they have with it is when the crew of the Argo bumps into a group of Amazons, who contrary to the myths of Amazons, are less noble warriors and more sexy, flirtatious nymphs basking in the attention they get from the men.  Joel and the Bots have a lot of fun with the film's sexual tension and let it ride.

The ending host segment does point out that the Amazons of the film bear little resemblance to the myths that inspire them, as Servo and Crow daydream of being waited on hand and foot by them before Joel comes in and corrects them.  This sets up a pretty wonderful cameo by Bridget Jones and Mary Jo Pehl as the "modern" Amazons, who are basically a traveling group of soccer moms.  Probably the most memorable of the remaining segments is Crow's little riff on Match Game, which is admittedly a bit odd, though anybody who has ever watched classic Match Game can appreciate the work that went into it.  Servo also comes up with new constellations and Joel tries to explain Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds to the Bots, both to middling laughs.  The Invention Exchange is fun, offering up the Cellular Desk and Instant Karma, which are both fun visual props.

Hercules does rely on a lot of jokes we've heard before, like Herc being a muscle-headed jerk and men wearing skirts and the like.  But there is so much confidence in this riff and the movie works so well in this format that when I'm in to mood for MST taking on Hercules I usually pop this one in.  This was nearly the last time they showed Hercules on the show, until the series was rebooted and they featured The Loves of Hercules anyway.  But if it had been Herc's final bow then it would have been a grand sendoff.  It's funny, it's engaging, and you get to see Steve Reeves slap people with chains.  I might be overrating this episode, but I've always been honest about how I feel about every episode and I'm not about to stop now.

Classic

The DVD

The might of Hercules was featured on Shout Factory's Volume XXXII box set, featuring good audio and video.  Bonus features include an introduction by Frank Conniff, who discusses the entire Hercules series and how they were suited for the show.  Following that up is Barnum of Baltimore:  The Films of Joseph E. Levine, which chronicles the career of the producer who brought the original Hercules film to the United States, as well as a host of other foreign films such as the original Godzilla, and also had a hand in the creation of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  Finally is a trailer for the film.