The Avenger (1962) User Reviews

THE AVENGER (Giorgio Rivalta and Albert Band, 1962) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 28 April 2006]

This is an unnecessary and very much inferior sequel to THE Trojan HORSE (1961), evidently made on a reduced budget (though the murky, pan-and-scan print I watched certainly did no favors to it or the scenes from the original which were interspersed into the narrative as flashbacks!); Steve Reeves reprises his role of Enea - whose lineage, we are told, eventually led to Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome (incidentally, the actor appeared in a peplum about that very event called DUEL OF THE TITANS [1961]!) - but his performance here is somewhat mechanical and less convincing...though that may be due to the English dubbing, whereas I had watched the earlier film in Italian!!

As a whole, THE AVENGER (the print I watched bore the title THE LAST GLORY OF TROY, given to it when sold to TV) is only marginally better than the ordinary peplum: the plot is rather dreary this time around, in comparison to the fascinating events depicted in the original; the cast - despite the presence of Euro-Cult regulars like Gianni Garko (essaying the role of the villain) and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (effectively dispatched by a hail of arrows in the style of Akira Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD [1957]!) - is less interesting; and the battle sequences are only memorable for the ridiculously-shaped helmets with which the warriors on both fronts are saddled!!

Decent Peplum with the corpulent Steve Reeves , inspired by the classy ¨The Aeneid¨ written by Publius Vergilius Maro

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 23 July 2017]

At the beginning there are some flashbacks about Aeneas and the Trojan war . As the Greek warriors under the command of Ulysses get to hide out in the Troyan horse with his fellow soldiers and get those Trojans when they take the wooden beast into their city . When they're successful and having survived the destruction of Troy , the nobleman Aeneas takes his men to getaway : Euryalus (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) and Nisius (Benito Stefanelli) , as the survivors deciding to go off , making their way to Italy and found the city of Rome . As Aeneas leads escapees from the Trojan war to new land in Italy , and must deal with new threats to his people , as the powerful Aeneas and his mighty sword avenged a nation . This time muscleman Aeneas/Steve Reeves , helped by the Etruscos , leads the Trojans in battle against the Rutuli army commanded King Turno (Gianni Garco) .

This is supposedly a rendition of the Aeneid by Virgil . The film has neither expecting historical , not mythological accuracy . Acceptable Peplum with drama , noisy action , thrills , sword-fights , and resulting to be pretty entertaining . It's an adventure film with all the ingredients as sword-play , action , fights , betrayal , a love story and typical confrontation between good guys and bad guys . The film displays some impressive scenes about battles in spectacular style , including lots of extras . Here Steve Reeves plays Aeneas ; He-man Steve was a hunk who made great number of roman epic films also called ¨Musclemen movies¨ . He was the most known of a number of bodybuilder and physique model types in the early 60s and won campy notice playing Herculean characters in those campy Italian sand-and-spear epics . Ursus , Maciste , Goliath , Samson , Hércules , Atlas , Rocha ..., those Italian Muscle man producers must have had a hard time figuring out what to call the musclebound actors who played all these legendary muscleman heroes . Being other second-class Muscle men players the followings : Gordon Scott , Dan Vadis , Rock Stevens , Gordon Mitchell , Brad Harris , Samson Burke , Reg Park , Ed Fury , Richard Harrison , Kirk Morris , Alan Steel or Sergio Ciani and subsequently Lou Ferrigno . As Reeves played various Sword and Sandal movies , such as : ¨The Trojan horse¨ , and his sequel : ¨The avenger¨ , ¨The giant of Marathon¨ , ¨Goliat and the Barbarians¨ , ¨The last days of Pompeii¨ , and especially ¨Hércules¨ and ¨Hércules unchained¨ by Pietro Francisci . Although Steve also played adventure genre as ¨Pirates of the seven seas¨ , ¨ The thief of Baghdad¨ and ¨Morgan the pirate¨ . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Gianni Garco : famous Spaghetti hero as Sartana , Liana Orfei , Nerio Bernardi , Ferrari , Enzo Fiermonte and the ordinary master of arms : Benito Stefanelli who also did some of the stunts , trained the other players in fencing and choreographed the battles .

The motion picture was regularly directed by Giorgo Rivalta who produced several adventure movies as : ¨Il Cavaliere Di Maison Rouge¨ , ¨La Vendetta Dei Tughs¨ , ¨Misteri Della Giungla Nera¨ , ¨Treasure of Bengala¨ , ¨I Piombi Di Venezia¨ , ¨Son of Lagardere¨ and ¨Le Marchand De Venise¨ and directed ¨Los Cosacos¨ , ¨Il Prigioniero Del Re¨ and ¨The avenger¨ . Being co-directed by veteran filmmaker Albert Band . Albert was one of Hollywood's most prolific filmmakers who started his career in the early 50s . He began financing a number of motion pictures through the seventies and seventies and directing in Italy some films as Spaghetti westerns : ¨The tramplers¨ and ¨Massacre in grand canyon¨ . Albert helped his son , Charles Band, bring together his own production company, 'Empire Pictures' , in the early eighties , producing/directing films as : ¨Zoltan hound of Drácula¨ , ¨Ghoulies¨ , ¨Doctor Mordrid¨ , ¨Robot Jox¨ , ¨Robot wars¨ . Upon the collapse of Empire Pictures in the early nineties, Band continued to work with his son and help bring a number of low-budget and medium budget films to the Hollywood screen and direct to video releases such as : ¨Pet Shop¨ , ¨Prehysteria! 1 and 2¨ , ¨Dragonworld¨ , ¨Oblivion¨ , ¨Remote¨ , ¨Trancers¨ series , among others.

Further adventures of Aeneas and those exiled Trojans

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 24 March 2017]

The Avenger covers the story of Aeneas and how he led some survivors of Troy into exile on the Italian peninsula. Steve Reeves repeats his role Aeneas from The Trojan War as the exiled Trojans look to make a new home.

Unfortunately in Etruscan Italy their addition complicates what looks like a delicately balanced situation among a lot of petty kings. One of them covets the land the Trojans have been granted on to settle.

In the tradition of the Trojan War the film is cut above a lot of the Peplum epics that the Italians were churning out in the early 60s, taking advantage of those sets left over from Ben-Hur and Quo Vadis. It's all based on Virgil's Aeneid.

And we get to see more of Steve Reeves physical development. That's what many were plunking their money down to see/

Not a bad entry in the genre.

[Poseidon-3 · 6 January 2006]

Famous muscle man Reeves appears here in a sequel of sorts to "The Trojan Horse". Having been displaced, along with a large contingent of his people, after The Trojan War, Reeves attempts to settle in a patch of land along the Tiber River. The King who governs the area is fairly agreeable to this, but most of the surrounding territories are against it. The Queen is especially repelled by the idea and wants her daughter to inherit everything through her own contributions and an arranged marriage. Reeves and his people are betrayed and reviled until finally a large battle erupts with several different contingents fighting it out. Reeves is as handsome as ever, but perhaps less animated than he was in other, more lively films such as this. He flashes back occasionally (and briefly) to the previous film, which, by comparison, seems like a more grand one. There are still things to enjoy here, though, such as Reeves competing in an archery contest in order to thwart the cocky Prince who thinks he's unbeatable. There's also an interesting assault on Reeves' compound in which arrows fly while the inhabitants try to collect them for their own use in resistance. Camp arrives in the form of Orfei, as a curvy, but strong warrior princess. She rides with the men and fights with them while wearing a teeny mini-dress and a gold band around her impossibly bouffant hair (which she does manage to smash under a helmet for the big skirmish!) She's startlingly similar to Stefanie Powers, which adds an almost surreal element to her scenes. Then there's another ruler (on Reeves' side) who, while riding horseback during the archery contest, lifts up in his saddle to reveal a wedgie and two gleaming butt cheeks! While this is certainly not the greatest sword and sandal flick out there, it remains watchable and reasonably engrossing. Reeves is always easy on the eyes, in any case and should be admired for his commitment to healthy, steroid-free body-building.

Not one of Reeves' best efforts

[bear407 · 2/10 · 7 March 2005]

I discovered the sword and sandal films of Steve Reeves about 12 years ago, and this is easily the most wooden and boring one of all. Most of Reeves' muscleman acting efforts are compelling enough and have a couple of good supporting actresses and veteran Italian actors. The VHS tape I have was of poor film quality, I believe it was even B&W. This one fails to keep your attention either on Reeves himself or a decent storyline. Better efforts are obviously Hercules, Giant of Marathon, Duel of Titans (massive hero role), Morgan the Pirate, and Thief of Baghdad (good costume roles w/solid story lines). This one will put you to sleep - it was a rushed afterthought of this genre.

Dull film about the founding of Rome

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 26 June 2015]

THE LAST GLORY OF TROY - aka WAR OF THE Trojans, aka THE AVENGER - is the sequel to THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY, a film that portrayed the Trojan War and also starred Steve Reeves as the eponymous hero Aeneas. This time around, the Trojans are a defeated people, having fled from their sacked city, but a mixture of courage and cunning sees them go on to found what is modern-day Rome.

Unfortunately THE LAST GLORY OF TROY is a somewhat lacklustre sequel that more often than not is a rather BORING peplum flick. It has relatively lengthy running time, and much of that running time is made up of small talk between dull characters. Even Steve Reeves doesn't have much of a part to play here, feeling like a supporting character in his own movie, although the cast is populated with familiar faces including Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Liana Orfei and Gianni Garko.

The film does pick up for its second half, offering a handful of battle sequences, although the choreography isn't particularly great in these. But it lacks the tight script and focus of the first film and with six different scriptwriters credited it feels like a bit of a confused mess, struggling to make sense of itself.

Dumb Dumb Dumb

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 10 April 2004]

Did Steve Reeves make any decent movies outside of the first two Hercules films?

This is a sequel to the Trojan Horse.

Trojans, fleeing from the remains of Troy end up in Italy and get mixed up with the Etruscans. The Trojans want a place to stay, but... The king is cool with it,the prince is not. A princess loves Reeves, but ends up involved with the prince... The prince sets up the Trojans and after 40 to 45 minutes of court intrigue a war breaks out, but its dull. Ultimately it comes down to Reeves and the prince fighting in silly helmets, which isn't revealing anything since its supposedly history and its in the trailer.

I paid for this on video tape for what reason?

Don't make my mistake, avoid this film.

Greek and Roman History with Steve REEVES

[ZeddaZogenau · 7/10 · 19 October 2023]

The Trojans in Lazio - Steve Reeves as Aeneas

This historical adventure film by Giorgio Venturini, made in 1962, was based on motifs from Vergil's (also known as: Publius Vergilius Maro) Latin epic "Aeneid". The film, called "La leggenda di Enea" in Italian and "The Avenger" in English, is the sequel to "La battaglia di Troja" by Giorgio Ferroni, also starring Steve Reeves. The filming took place in what was then Yugoslavia.

After losing the war for their hometown of Troy, the remaining Trojans flee across the Mediterranean and, under the leadership of Aeneas (Steve Reeves), reach Latium, where they finally want to settle after a long wandering. The local King Latino (Mario Ferrari) is benevolent towards the Trojan refugees and would like to allow them to settle. The leaders of the other tribes are not really happy about this, so violent conflicts arise. Important opponents are Liana Orfei as the combative Camilla (like her cousin Moira Orfei ("Ursus in the Valley of the Lions"), she comes from an Italian family of artists and was seen several times in Italian films of the time, including alongside Lex Barker in "I pirati della costa"), Gianni Garko as the frighteningly cunning Turnus and Maurice Poli as his willing henchman. Euryalus (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) and the beautiful Lavinia (Carla Marlier) stand by Aeneas and his Trojans.

With the powerful fight scenes, in which not only Steve Reeves can shine as the title hero, and the relatively large number of characters with their different ways of acting for a peplum or sandal film, this film strives to achieve a certain level in order to do justice to the literary original become. This is also quite successful. However, it's all too easy to see the tricks in film, for example when Steve Reeves' double is used or individual fighters don't seem as motivated as they should be.

The end of the fighting shown in the film creates the basis for the later emergence of the city of Rome, which would then result in Roman world domination for almost a whole millennium. The Trojan Aeneas is considered a pioneer of later Rome, which is what Virgil's "Aeneid" is also about. The area around today's Rome is still called Lazio, which can be seen, for example, in the name of the well-known football club Lazio Roma.

With slight reservations, this film is not only worth seeing for fans of the peplum genre!

Not up to other standards

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 19 August 2020]

Yes Steve Reeves has done better movies. Maybe just his presence here will make you feel differently about this (and the rating I and many others have given). But if you try to be as objective as possible, this does not really stand out against most of the other Sword and Sandals movies .. it isn't the worst either of course, but there are so many ... it's exhausting.

So yes this is a Trojan story or some resemblance of that. It may even continue from another movie as another reviewer has suggested. Nothing of that seems to be needed to get the gist of it all. Fight scenes are ok, not anything to get too excited about either

Hopefully you don't end up with the Trojan Horse copy of this movie.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 7 January 2022]

I'm speaking of course of the very dull looking black and white print of this film that is a part of multi pack sets of public domain films released by cheap DVD labels. I watch this simultaneously online in color with my print in black and white just to get an idea of what it was supposed to look at so I wouldn't judge it from the lack of quality. But there still is a lack of quality as it is a cheap sequel to a previous movie about the fall of Troy with Steve Reeves repeating his role and even having a flashback of what happens there. Now the citizens of Troy are granted asylum in a foreign land under the reign of someone named King Latino.

There's intrigue behind the throne as like the the queen wants him overthrown and her obvious lover made King which leads to Civil War. She's so evil that she plans to marry her lover to her own daughter. What is a good plot on the surface is actually very dull in the way that is presented. The sets and costumes are pretty good for a cheap Italian peplum Epic, and a scene with some very scary masks is quite memorable. The real issue is that these Italian sword-and-sandal epics truly are in need of major restoration, but outside of the cult audience for these films, that wouldn't be financially a wise investment. So we're stuck with these faded color prints or some for reason in very poor black and white that looks more like early television than something that would be on a big screen.

The Legend of Aeneas Continues

[steven-222 · 8/10 · 12 February 2006]

It's easy to forget, when watching the worst or campiest entries in the sword & sandal genre, that the Italians also produced serious historical epics in the 1960s. Here, Steve Reeves reprises his role as Aeneas, whom he previously played in the superb THE Trojan HORSE (LA GUERRA DI TROIA).

Having survived the destruction of his city, the Trojan noble and a band of survivors have made their way to Italy, where they hope to create a new life for themselves. But the region is already populated by various tribes, ruled by warlords, and Aeneas's longing for peace cannot be accomplished without recourse to battle and bloodshed.

The screenwriters take their inspiration from Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid. The scale of the sets and the rustic costumes evoke a convincing atmosphere of Bronze Age Italy. (Small details like the king's peculiar-looking crown are based on authentic artifacts). The curious customs of the natives have the ring of historical truth; the bird-shooting contest on horseback is a brilliant bit of cinema.

A part of Steve Reeves' notable legacy as a performer was his portrayal of three of the great hero figures of the ancient Greek and Roman world: Hercules (in two films), Romulus (in DUEL OF THE TITANS/ROMOLO E REMO), and Aeneas (in two films). Of the three, his Aeneas is the most complex, admirable, and ultimately heroic.

Average Film, OK Story

[Rainey-Dawn · 4/10 · 21 January 2017]

Plot: Aeneas leads escapees from the Trojan war to new land in Italy, and must deal with new threats to his people. The film is based one Publius Vergilius Maro;s epic poem: "Aeneis".

I found nothing special with the story or the film. For me it's average and does not stand out in the crowd of the 1960s peplum fad. It's far from awful but certainly not great. It does have some depth to it - most so than most of them.

This one is in B&W - so you won't see vivid or even faded colors in the film. B&W films are fine with me, some of favorite films were made that way.

4/10

One of the better Peplums

[Maciste_Brother · 10/10 · 16 April 2008]

I saw "The Trojan Horse" a few months ago, the version starring Steve Reeves and I enjoyed it. It's one of the best Sword & Sandals. I thought it was more successful than Robert Wise's HELEN OF TROY or the recent bloated version starring Brad Pitt, which is best forgotten. Wise's HELEN OF TROY is a sharply directed film that's hampered by a lack luster script and a freadfully dull ending. After enjoying the Steve Reeves version of the famous Greek story, I was ready to watch the sequel, "The War of the Trojans".

Though another Steve Reeves film like GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS might be more entertaining to most viewers, the cheese factor keeps it from being a great film. Well this isn't the case with "The War of the Trojans". The cheese factor is very low and the direction is taught and tight. The story is somewhat predictable, certainly for someone who recently watched something like 75 S&S films in a few months but even the familiar storyline wasn't enough to diminish the film's impact.

The story continues right after the excellent "The Trojan Horse", when the fleeing people of Troy arrive in Italy and try to settle there. Problems arise when the King of a nearby Kingdom grants the people of Troy the right to live near the Tiber river. In-fighting within the Kingdom, lead by Turno, who sees the Trojans as a threat, creates a scheme to make the Trojans look evil. A war between the Trojans and the Kingdom erupts. Losing the battle, the Trojans, lead by Aeneas (played by the legendary Steve Reeves), become allies with the Etruscans, the sworn enemies of the Kingdom. The neverending battle causes a lot of deaths and casualties on both sides. Desperate to end the war, both sides agree to settle the war with a duel between Aeneas and Turno.

The beginning is talky but it's worth staying on for what's to come. Here's a short list of memorable scenes: when Aeneas sees the mural which recounts the battle of Troy, with flashbacks from "The Trojan Horse". For once, flashbacks from another movie actually work here; the archery duel; the scene with the wild boars; the killing of Eurialo; the duel at the end.

The cast is surprisingly good, with memorable characterization by the Queen and King Turno. The Queen is unforgettable, whoever played her. And King Turno is well played by Gianni Garko. Fans of SPACE 1999 will recognize Garko, who was Toni Cellini in the famous DRAGON'S DOMAIN episode. The only really weak part of the cast is Camilla, the young Amazonian woman. The purpose of her character is interesting but her dated hairstyle and appearance are the only incongruous elements in the film. The sets look real. Yes, it's not as spectacular and elaborate as "The Trojan Horse" but it doesn't need big moments to demonstrate the struggle of the displaced Trojan people which lead to the creation of Rome. And the score is excellent, one of the best I've heard in a Peplum. But the thing that tie all this beautifully together is the mature and assured direction. The compositions and constant smooth tracking shots give the film a greater professional look/feel than most films of the genre, which are often described static. Many moments could have easily turned into typical Peplum camp or silliness but here they were sharply set-up, creating tense or genuine emotional moments up to end. And one feels they actually learned something about history too. The film is believable too, which is no mean feat for a Sword & Sandal film.

I've watched many S&S films recently and this one stands out from the pack. It's clearly overlooked. People must have had Peplum fatigue back then for this film to be forgotten as it is now.

"The Trojan Horse" and "War of the Trojans" make an excellent double bill, for fans of Steve Reeves but history buffs as well.

Second movie of the Trojan is the second best of Steve Reeves career !

[Majid-Hamid · 10/10 · 11 August 2010]

Wow! This is the only word i could describe. This is definitely one of the best peplum movies i've ever watch (only for Steve Reeves movies) so far. I've watched all Steve Reeves movies except 3; Sandokan The Great, The Slave @ Son Of Spartacus, and A Long Ride From Hell. So, from here so far The Avenger remains as the second best movie of Steve Reeves while the Trojan Horse remains the best. Oh wait! I've seen most of the comments in Steve Reeves movies are saying that The first Hercules movie in 1958 is the best Steve Reeves movie among all...is that true?? I don't think it is, because to me, i think it is only OK to watch, not very good indeed. Hercules Unchained is better than the first, but if you wanna watch something better in Steve Reeves movies, then check out The Avenger and the Trojan Horse. Others which is also good is Morgan The Pirate, Thief Of Baghdad, Last Day Of Pompeii, Duel Of Titans and Sandokan The Pirate Of Malaysia..try to avoid Goliath And Barbarians and Giant Of Marathon(not very good indeed,huhuhu).

As for this movie; sure it's not a perfect movie, but still i'm giving it a chance, so i'm giving it a 9.5/10 stars... :)

A boring and too long 'sword and sandal' film.

[oscar-35 · 20 September 2012]

*Spoiler/plot- 1962, A young wandering Aeneas finds Italy after the Trojan war. He helps the country with his best abilities.

*Special Stars- Steve Reeves, Carla Marlier

*Theme- Inside a bodybuilder, there's a political leader trying to get out.

*Trivia/location/goofs- Italian film. Dubbed in English. Mr. Reeves (an award winning international bodybuilder) becomes the icon for this type of legendary hero role and later helps Arnold Swartzenegger to take over Mr. Reeves cloak of strongman stardom. Horses' saddle stirrups and cornfields are not of this early Roman period.

*Emotion- A boring and too long 'sword and sandal' film. I tend too like these epics. But, even Mr. Reeves appearance can't help the simplistic and one dimensional plot and script action.

As exciting as pouring molasses

[Wizard-8 · 29 September 2014]

I haven't seen too many of these Italian sword and sandal movies that were so popular in the 1960s, but I feel pretty confident with my guess that experts of this genre would consider this entry to be a below average entry. The biggest problem that this movie has is that it is more often than not gosh-darn DULL. Especially the first half of the movie, which is talk talk talk and with almost no action. The second half of the movie slightly improves things - there is a lot of action. Unfortunately, the action is choreographed and directed in a way that saps out all excitement, instead generating a matter-of-fact feeling. Fans of Steve Reeves will be disappointed by the fact that he doesn't get to do a lot that is heroic, instead almost coming across as a secondary character. I will say that the movie does boast some good production values, but this eye candy does little to keep the audience awake.