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With multiple series already underway, the Italian sword and sandals soldiers were already in the mix when this movie came out. Steve Reeves, who starred as Hercules in the first two of these films, went on to have a career in a whole slew of non-Herculean Peplum films. One of them is Goliath and the Barbarians, which came out alongside Hercules Unchained in 1959. Goliath and the Barbarians was just one more nail in the coffin of success enjoyed by Italian movies that were sold in America. Now, this is very relevant because when attempting to resell the 1960s Revenge of Hercules, they gave it the name Goliath and the Dragon in order to capitalize on the popularity of Goliath and the Barbarians. This is why producers savagely butchered, edited, and altered Revenge of Hercules to make it whatever movie they wanted for the American market. This shift in everything, it’s all the same attitude is what has led to one of the most baffling movies this year. Seriously, what even is happening right now?
I will now refer to the protagonist as Herculiath because for the sake of this film, Goliath and Hercules are one and the same character. This makes it a whole lot easier.
The beginning of movie starts with Herculiath diving into the underworld and piecing together what looks like a circus puppet in order to get the Blood Diamond of the God of Vengeance. This is loosely inspired by one of the Labors of Hercules, but don’t get your hopes up for any form of mythology because the movie is going to make things up on the spot. Once Herculiath exits from the underworld, a goal begins that sets the stage for a politically intricate drama to unfold. For anyone wishing for pointless displays of power and brutal combat with phantoms, it would be best to sit tight until the end.
It is worth trying to locate the translation or, as can be seen, the striking lack of a coherent one. Like all things to do with dubbing or Automated Dialogue Replacement, it is a fascinating world of context, art, and its preservation. It can be at times, delicate or downright foolishly silly. Goliath and the Dragon has already shown itself as not really caring. Thus, its dubbing is poor, bordering on the ludicrous. It is clear from virtually every viewing that the performers of the English dub, and the English translation sought to use 75% of what was said or just enough so that there was no need for a great deal of effort for coming from the actor’s mouth. Therefore, the end result is one of a motion picture stunted and devoid of emotion, the dialogue sounds like a social studies project one would expect from a middle schooler. This is why translation errors that most people have to deal with are common in cinema. But, when paired with the sloppy way the work was done, this kind of mistake only makes the movie much worse than it already is.
But most of Goliath and the Dragon is not about a dragon. Or even about Herculiath. It’s actually more about King Eurystheus, who is like that stupid sadist who everyone just wishes would die an awful death. Herculiath’s brother Illus (son in the original film) loves Thea, who is the daughter of a family that Hercules has a feud with. There is a note that Herculiath thinks this family is partly responsible for the death of his family, and I am not sure if this story is strictly adhering to the original mythology, because after all, Hercules did kill his family. Let us just say it is highly interpretive, to make it a mix of neo-noir and psychological thriller. Eurystheus is convincing Illus that Thea has feelings for Herculiath, which is really strange if it is his father instead of his brother, but this leads him on a path of trying to kill Herculiath. If it wasn’t for some convenient gods, this would actually happen. But this whole scheme gets Illus, Thea, and Dejanira, Herculiath’s wife, all ensnared in the vile web of Eurystheus’s evil. Is there a dragon in here somewhere?
I would not be honest if I said I was not entertained during the middle of Goliath and the Dragon.
While there is no action and the acting is horrible, the film seems to follow an absurdly pulp plot which makes it hard not to at least laugh before dozing off. In addition, like many other American Peplum films, the score was also done by the very prolific Les Baxter, who I have grown fond of due to his work in the exotica musical genre. It seems that the main attraction for this film is believing the poster which promised the most complete clusterfuck of special effects. That is a combination of puppetry, animation, and poor direction. One such special effects blunder is the terrible excuse of a creature that is supposed to be a centaur. Instead of something majestic and mythical, it looks closer to animated roadkill.
Let me summarize this narrative for you. Illus attempted to poison Herculiath due to a beauty contest gone wrong, but that did not go according to plan. This leads to him going on a suicide trip intending to redeem himself. While Herculiath sets out to look for him, his wife is captured by the ugly centaur. Simultaneously, Alcinoe, a slave girl who assisted with the poison plot against Herculiath, is getting ready to be dropped into the well-known pit of snakes if Thea does not marry Eurystheus. Thea gives in so that her almost-husband does not get chomped by the enraged snakes. Herculiath makes his way to the revenge god shrine, destroys the original blood diamond, and starts breaking some of the falling statues. By now with these events, I know Herculiath is angry. He learns that his wife is to be sacrificed to a dragon and he goes berserk on a puppet dragon. If at this point, your gut reaction is that everything feels a little rushed, let me warn you, this pace is consistent throughout the film. After taking his anger out on the dragon, Herculiath goes to Eurystheus’s city, breaks the mountain that supports the city, and as a result, the entire city crumbles. To retaliate, Eurystheus tries to kill Herculiath’s wife with snakes and is instantly done in by Alcinoe, who saves the day.
Wow! I am feeling massively perplexed right now.
Goliath and The Dragon is highly regarded in the cult community, or at least among people who are somewhat familiar with this genre. Their reverence does not stem from quality, but rather from its sheer silliness, especially from the small corners of the film that touched its monsters. Mark Forest, our leading actor, is a magnificent Hercules who has the odd ability to smash his perfectly fine house in the middle of the film simply because he is hungry. Goliath and The Dragon was the film that innovated the ongoing attempt of Peplum oddities in to United States market. I am suspicious of all other upcoming films that feature the iconic alien battle, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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