We're taking our first crack at the Sword and Sandals genre with 1961's The Colossus of Rhodes, and the beer, Mill-Pocalypse Belgian Quad, was generously provided by Millstream Brewing, out of Iowa, my home state.
This Quad is big, tasty, and hides its booziness well. It's delicious. We want more.
The sword and sandals genre ran from 1958 to 65.
Spaghetti Western legend Sergio Leone made his directorial debut with this one.
This film is not historically accurate. At all. The casting is also confusing. Three very similar looking actors play three different characters.
Jayson really wanted to do a sword and sandals B-Movie, and wanted to use one that hadn't already been covered by MST3K, which we love.
The costuming. The costuming. Short short tunics and go-go boots. Interesting.
Rory Calhoun's doing a nice Dean Martin impression, but his character is not the classic hero.
You catch glimpses of what Sergio Leone will become as a film maker.
There's some really odd humor in this film. And a fight scene between Darios and the rebels that's awkward, and not only because of the micro mini tunics and go-go boots.
The inventor of the Colossus, Carete, also invents the catapult in this one.
The plot of this one left us very confused, even after several viewings. Lots of conspiring, backstabbing, plotting, assassination attempts.
King Serse's soldiers run away like King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Mill-Pocalypse is getting to Jayson, but it's oh, so good. We can't thank Rebecca at Millstream enough, for being a fan of the podcast and hooking us up with this outstanding beer.
The rebels are getting their plan in full swing, and plan to invade the Colossus. Darios thinks their fools, so he decides to invade it alone. Okay, then.
Darios, an allegedly legendary soldier, gives up the rebels secret hideout to his lady, Diala. Nice job, fella.
The Colossus is a pretty impressive piece of engineering. And, the high point is a fight that starts in the head and leads out onto the arms of the Colossus, ending with Darios diving 300 feet, with a flip, into the harbor. This moment also reveals Carete's daughter is in cahoots with the bad guys. He confronts them, and gets killed for his trouble.
The big showdown at the arena is a chance for Darios to prove himself to the rebels that he didn't betray him, and he does it.
The conspirators in the Colossus are confronted by Darios and Kronos. We enter a long sequence of fighting.
The head of the Colossus opens and it looks like a crown. But it's only a chance to reveal the newly invented catapults, that launch burning substances on the attacking rebels.
There's an interesting moment when the main bad guy is killed by a secondary character, not the hero.
The Colossus finally falls in the midst of the storm and earthquake. This whole sequence is filmed really well.
I wouldn't recommend this, but with a caveat: Sergio Leone's first directing gig. If you're really into Leone or Rory Calhoun, I suppose you'd want to cover it at some point. Jayson thinks it's shaky and convoluted, but if you're 12 you might like it. I have to point out a 12 year old in 2021 likely wouldn't watch it due to pace. He wouldn't recommend it, in the end, except for the same reason I did. He did way too much reading up on Rory Calhoun, and found a video he recommends. Absolutely we recommend this beer. If you can find it, buy it, you won't be disappointed. One more huge thank you to Millstream Brewing.
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain].
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