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Also known as: Tyrant Against the Son of Hercules and Goliath and the Rebel Slave
- Director – Mario Caiano, also directed Ulysses Against Hercules (1962)
- Music – Carlo Franci, also for Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules (1963)
- Gordon Scott – Goliath/Gordian, also in Beast of Babylon and six Tarzan movies
- Ombretta Colli – Princess Cori, blond love interest that Gordian saves, taken by King Marcius
Notes:
- Common feature: Blonde love interest.
- Common feature: There’s always a wrestling scene in the first part of the film where Goliath bests one or two strongmen in a friendly match
- Elaborate head pieces! Usually just for the men.
- A little racism? Persians are bad, Mediterraneans are good.
Story:
300s BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedonia marches into Asia to confront King Darius of Persia. Persian allies are overrun. Alexander approaches Sardis, Lydia, who is neutral in the war.
Zoe, the seer of King Marcius of Lydia, cannot tell whether Alexander or Darius will win and they must decide who to ally with. Marcius’s cousin Artafernes wants to ally with Darius; Gordian wants to ally with Alexander in order to save Lydia. They depart to meet with each respectively. Meanwhile, the king hides his treasure in an escape tunnel. He, along with soldiers and slaves, inspects the tunnel as the last of his treasure is brought in, then kills all but one of the slaves (Milan) to keep the location a secret.
Bedouin raiders attack a caravan with Princess Cori (daughter of the Satrap of Phrygia) and her attendants on their way to seek protection with Alexander after Darius’s forces invaded Phrygia. Gordian, on his way to ally with Alexander, intervenes and saves them. Together they continue together to Alexander. Gordian becomes friends with Alexander and returns to Lydia to tell Marcius that Alexander will visit Lydia as an act of good faith. Marcius sends a retinue of ambassadors to accept Alexander’s offer, but Artafernes sets up Bedouin raiders to make it appear Alexander has attacked them on their way. Anticipating this, Gordian had sent Milan to also relay the message. Milan returns successfully, and Artafernes has the Bedouin leader killed to keep his silence.
Princess Cori may have a right to the Lydian throne so Barbuk (a weasley opportunist) works with Zoe to kidnap Cori. Gordian again intervenes and saves her from the Bedouins sent to carry her off.
During a festive banquet held by Marcius, an ambassador (from where?) is poisoned and Artafernes accuses Cori and Gordian plotting as agents of Alexander. Milan helps Cori escape the city, but Gordian is captured and imprisoned. As they flee, Cori’s friend is captured, killed, and passed off as Cori so Marcius can declare himself the rule of Lydia. Cori wanders alone in the wilderness and is found by slave traders who take her back to Sardis.
Rebels wanting to overthrow Marcius’s regime find out about Gordian’s imprisonment and help him escape. Freed, he first goes to Alexander to send out a search party for Cori, then back to Sardis to help prepare for Alexander’s army to return in order to both liberate them from Marcius and protect them from Darius. Barbuk (the weasel) finds out Cori is being sold as a slave and buys then imprisons her. A friend of Gordian also sees her and tells the rebels, but by the time they get to the slave trader Barbuk has already purchased her.
Barbuk goes to Marcius and demands to be prime minister in exchange for Cori. She must be killed so as not to ascend to the throne.
Gordian sneaks into Sardis hidden in a haybail (classic) and rejoins his rebel friends. Milan leaves the city via the treasure tunnels to let Alexander’s archers in while Goridan and others go to save Cori. They kill the soldiers who guard her cell (which is also in a tunnel?) but she had already been taken to the temple to be executed. They race through the tunnels to the secret temple entrance! Gordian and his friends save Cori just in time and have fight off Marcius’s army. Barbuk (weasel) is killed in the fight. Just as Gordian and the rebels are cornered by the army, Milan leads Alexander’s archers in through the secret tunnels and to their rescue. Artefernes (also weasely) uses Zoe as a shield against an archer and she is killed. Gordian fights Artefernes one-on-one and is triumphant.
Alexander congratulates Gordian and Cori as they become the king and queen of Lydia. End.