Hercules (1958 film)
| Hercules (Le fatiche di Ercole) |
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Original poster
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| Directed by | Pietro Francisci |
| Produced by | Federico Teti |
| Written by |
Ennio De Concini Pietro Francisci Gaio Frattini |
| Starring |
Steve Reeves Sylva Koscina Fabrizio Mioni |
| Music by | Enzo Masetti |
| Cinematography | Mario Bava |
| Edited by | Mario Serandrei |
| Distributed by | Lux Film (1958, Italy) Warner Bros. Pictures (1959, USA, dubbed) |
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Release date
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Running time
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107 min. |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | $4.7 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
Le fatiche di Ercole (English: The labours of Hercules; English title: Hercules) is a 1958 Italian epic fantasy, peplum genre film based upon the Hercules and the Quest for the Golden Fleece myths. The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole. Hercules was directed by Pietro Francisci and produced by Federico Teti. The film spawned a sequel, Hercules Unchained (Italian: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia), that also starred Reeves and Koscina.
Hercules made Reeves an international film star and effectively paved the way for the dozens of 1960s peplum (or "sword and sandal") films featuring bodybuilder actors as mythological heroes and gladiators battling monsters, despots, and evil queens.
Hercules is on the road to the court of King Pelias of Iolcus to tutor Pelias' son Prince Iphitus in the use of arms. Pelias' beautiful daughter Princess Iole updates Hercules on the history of her father's rise to power and the theft of the kingdom's greatest treasure, the Golden Fleece. Some suspect—and it eventually proves true—that King Pelias has acquired the throne through fratricide. Hercules and Iole are attracted to each other and a romance eventually develops.
King Pelias is warned by a seeress about a stranger wearing one sandal who will challenge his power. When his nephew Jason, the rightful King of Iolcus, arrives in town wearing one sandal, Pelias takes fright and packs him off to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the distant land of Colchis. Jason and Hercules sail aboard the Argo with their friends Ulysses and his father, Laertes, Argos, the twins Castor and Pollux, the lyre-strumming Orpheus, the physician Aesculapius and others.
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