The Giant of Marathon

Starring:Steve Reeves, MylÃ¨ne Demongeot, Sergio Fantoni, Daniela Rocca, Philippe Hersent, Alberto Lupo, Daniele Vargas, Miranda Campa, Gianni Loti, Anita Todesco, Ivo Garrani, Sergio Ciani, Franco Fantasia, Carlo Lombardi, Ignazio Balsamo, Gian Paolo Rosmino, Walter Grant
Director: Jacques Tourneur, Mario Bava
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

the giant of marthon
Stunning Body of Work
low resolution, poor quality image
The Giant of Marathon
Small Giant

The Giant of Marathon
Starring: Steve Reeves , Mylène Demongeot , Sergio Fantoni , Daniela Rocca , and Philippe Hersent
Director: Jacques Tourneur , and Mario Bava
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Gods of War
Hercules Unchained
The White Warrior
Hercules
Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules

ASIN: B0000A0DWP
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Customer Reviews:

the giant of marthon.......2007-03-12

i did not like the quality of this dvd it often lost its color and it often stop while viewing.I was never able to finish seeing.I do not believe this dvd was digitally re-mastered.I do not recommend to purchase.

Stunning Body of Work.......2007-02-09

The sight of Steve Reeves at the peak of his physical glory will keep you mesmerized since he displays nearly all of it in this entertaining swords and sandals saga of ancient Rome. Wearing his brief loin cloths and showcased in several battle scenes where his torso is given a complete workout, you thank the miracle of film for having preserved this modern day Adonis when he was just starting out in the early 60s. To me, it was always a tie as to who was the most charismatic bodybuilder who played Hercules: Reeves or his fellow American counterpart, Mark Forest. Both had phenomenal bodies with Forest injecting a more powerful trait of sensuality in his portrayals. In real life, he walked away from his booming career in Italy to sing opera and now teaches singing in a Florida college. Oh, those lucky students. Reeves passed away several years ago, having passed up on the chances of playing James Bond and the Clint Eastwood role in a "A Fistful of Dollars." But at least we have the Hercules series to keep both Reeves and Mark Forest with us forever. IF you've never seen Mark Forest, try his "The Lion of Thebes," where he is one sexy muscle giant.

low resolution, poor quality image.......2007-01-30

This movie is in a very low resolution, the image is of poor quality; the eyes of the actors are scarcely discernible, the figures are diffuse. Evidently it is a copy of a copy of a VHS video-cassette.
Otherwise, the film has no plot, is not based on historical facts,
the actors are bad.

The Giant of Marathon.......2005-10-23

Good souvenir to see this film again, I am glad that I bought it at the low price

Small Giant.......2005-08-05

I have long waited to start a collection of Steve Reeves movies on dvd. So important to me as a kid, I'd rush to see every new one that came out. Some were actually rather good! This DVD has I imagine been issued simply to make some money. Advertised as WideScreen it is NOT the cinematic ratio of 2.35:1 (Cinemascope/Panavision) so the sides are chopped off. It is also a really dirty and badly graded OLD print. All in all it is something I ended up skimming through before putting on the shelf to be replaced one day by hopefully a properly graded really wide screen version with some good extras. This is a very cheap dvd thank goodness, else I would be really upset!

Average customer rating:

Hercules/The Giant Marathon

Manufacturer: Vina Distributor
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Hercules
Hercules Unchained
The Giant of Marathon
Gods of War

ASIN: B000FVUVTY

Average customer rating:

The Giant of Marathon

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000FJVUTG

Average customer rating:

I'm huge!
Muscles and Spectacle!

The Giant of Marathon

Manufacturer: Digiview
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Gods of War
Hercules

ASIN: B0008061EQ

Product Description

Big muscled Steve Reeves (Original Hercules) stars in this sword and sandal tale of a legendary Greek warrior.

Customer Reviews:

I'm huge!.......2006-04-23

One of the few facts offered by the summary on the back of the Digiview Productions DVD case is that THE GIANT OF MARATHON features "a bevy of beautiful actors and actresses outfitted in very skimpy costumes". While I welcome words like "bevy" from a DVD distributor that once put the word "rewenge" (sic) on a front cover, this description -- appealing as it is -- does not suggest that the film will be filled with witty dialog, cunning plot twists and well-drawn, multi-dimensional characters.

And after viewing the film, I feel my initial suspicions were proved correct. However, this does not make GIANT a bad film. Indeed, I felt this was only half a bad film. The good half of the film is its large-scale battle sequences which are truly staggering and go a long way towards affirming the DVD cover's proclamation of this film as an epic.

But before we get to the battles, we must discuss the story. You'll remember Steve Reeves from his stint as Hercules in the most famous "sword and sandal" movies (a genre in which this film comfortably sits). Here he plays Phillipides, the eponymous hero, a person defined almost entirely by the characteristics of being huge and strong (I had to keep reminding myself that he wasn't playing Hercules again). Phil opens the movie winning the Olympic Games by being better at throwing pointed sticks, hurling massive stones, running in circles, and all the other sports from before the introduction of aberrations such as Olympic beach volleyball and snowboarding.

After doing so well at these sports and being declared the champion, he is naturally given the opportunity to head the Athenian army (thankfully this practice of awarding military commands in lieu of gold metals has been discontinued today, thus we are spared the spectacle of Rear Admiral Flying Tomato). Unfortunately, this isn't a cushy Pentagon desk job; these are busy times for the Athenian military. Not only are they facing an impending invasion by the Persians, but there are traitors in their midst. Sadly for Athens' sake, Phil may be an excellent javelin thrower, but he is unable to realize that the Very Obviously Evil character is actually working for his enemies.

Phil basically has two things to accomplish during the course of this film. He wants to win the affection of Andromeda (an Athenian woman, not the galaxy, and apparently no relation to the Andromeda of myth) away from the man her father has declared she will marry. He also must unite Athens and Sparta against the incoming hordes of Persia. Fortunately for Phil, he's a hell of a lot bigger than anyone else, so he can accomplish these goals without too much effort.

The depiction of Ancient Greece is actually not that bad at all. Of course, you must realize that this is an Ancient Greece where both women and men run around in mini-dresses and baggy underpants because dignity would not be invented for hundreds of years. But there are some nice references to actual mythology which should bring a vaguely remembered story out of the far recesses of the audience member's mind. Of course, the movie does take some liberties. Phil, for example, becomes the man behind the story of the first marathon runner (note the film's title). While -- according to legend -- the first marathon runner died after high-tailing the 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens in order to bring news of the Battle of Marathon, Phil just needs a couple minutes of rest to recover.

However, for the most part, this is a fairly dull movie. Even allowing for the fact that I'm not a big fan of the sword and sandal genre, this one seemed particularly slow at moving pieces of the story around. The characters need to do things that are obvious, their schemes are predictable, and they take forever to actually do anything.

That said, when the movie does get around to having something occur, it's surprisingly good at it.

Now keep in mind that I am usually bored by most battle sequences. For my money, large battle sequences are the points in movies where audiences are expected to get up and get themselves a fresh beer or, alternatively, to get up and empty the previous beer from their person. (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is the ultimate get drunk or get dehydrated movie.) However, this film truly does offer a spectacle worth watching.

It's not just a bunch of sweaty Italian extras beating the hell out of each other (though there is that); there are some very well staged battle sequences that look extremely impressive and must have taken a lot of time and effort to implement. I don't know if real life huge battles with long lines of soldiers on horses attacking rows of men in fixed shielded positions would have looked exactly like they're portrayed here, but they must have looked damn close.

While most of the fights look impressive, even the more ludicrous or physically impossible scenes are hard to dislike. Case in point: there's a long underwater battle which would have required the soldiers to hold their breath (while fighting!) for about a quarter of an hour. It's silly on its face, but I won't deny it's still visually spectacular.

It's hard for me to summarize my overall reaction to this film, because I spent no time between the two extremes of either falling asleep or staring at the screen in awe. So, I'll give this a wishy-washy middling ranking. If you like the sword and sandals genre, then I'm guessing you'll like the Scenes That Didn't Involve Massive Bloodshed a lot more than I did. And even if you don't care for the genre, I dare you not to be impressed by the Scenes That Do Involve Massive Bloodshed.

Muscles and Spectacle!.......2005-07-22

This spectacular entry into the "swords and sandals" genre of the '60s has been unfairly forgotten over the passing decades. Watch it and be stunned by the most handsome hero to ever grace the silver screen: Steve Reeves. In this movie, he has never looked so incredible--with his beautiful torso, that deep (dubbed) voice and god-like presence. The most amazing sequence in this entertaining film is the underwater battle between Steve's army of handsome warriors as they battle to conquer the enemy. How they filmed this would make a fascinating story since you actually see spears and arrows shooting through the water to injur and kill some of the good guys. If you're into beefcake, this is a fascinating two-hours of beautiful men in skimpy outfits. If you're looking for a fun two-hours of excitement and beautiful location photography, then this is also a winner. Now, just to find some DVD company who could present this in a restored version and not the washed-out copy that's now in Public Domain.

Sci-Fi Movie Marathon Volume 5: 8 Movie Pack

Average customer rating:

Sci-Fi Movie Marathon Volume 5: 8 Movie Pack

Manufacturer: RightNow Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video
Product Features:

BONUS: Each movie comes with a portable-media friendly version that can be downloaded to your Apple iPod!
Eight feature films on four DVDs
The Giant Gilla Monste,Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet,The Lost Jungle,Phantom From Space,The Galaxy Invader,Prehistoric Women,Destroy All Planets,Tales of Frankenstein

ASIN: B000GTFQ68

Product Description

The legends of Science Fiction are gathered here for you in this definitive DVD collection of some of the greatest Sci-Fi classics to ever come out of Hollywood. This 8 DVD collection is sure to provide you with countless hours of entertainment. Volume 5 includes: The Giant Gilla Monste directed by Ray Kellogg and starring Don Sullivan; Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Basil Rathbone; The Lost Jungle directed by David Howard and starring Clyde Beatty; Phantom From Space directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring Ted Cooper; The Galaxy Invader directed by Don Dohler and starring Richard Dyszel; Prehistoric Women directed by Gregg Tallas and starring Laurette Luez; Destroy All Planets directed by Noriaki Yuasa and starring Carl Craig; Tales of Frankenstein directed by Curt Siodmak and starring Richard Bull

DVD:

DVD List

DVD

DVD

World of Swing DVD #2 - Collegiate Shag 3 & 4 (Int/Adv)

Superchick

Cute & Cuddly Critters, Set 1 (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: James A. Michener's Texas

Kriegerin des Lichts