Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20808 in VHS
• Released on: 2000-05-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: Italian
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Customer Reviews

Take part of Homer, mix with Virgil, and add Steve Reeves
"The Trojan Horse" ("La Guerra di Troia") is one of those films that might inspire young boys to actually and go read Homer's "Iliad," at which point they will discover that this 1962 Steve Reeves film has little to do with that epic poem. Screenwriters Ugo Liberatore, Federico Zardi and Giorgio Stegani do incorporate parts of the "Iliad" into this film, but every time we see something familiar they put a twist on it that will make those of us who study classical mythology wince. The two English speaking stars in this film are muscle man Reeves, who plays Aeneas, and John Drew Barrymore (son of John, dad of Drew) plays Ulysses (using his Greek name Odysseus would apparently confuse the audience).

Like Homer's epic we begin in the 10th year of the Trojan War, which began when Paris (Warner Bentivegna) abducted the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen (Edy Vessel), despite the fact she was the wife of Menelaus (Nando Tamberlani), King of Sparta. Basically the film picks up at the end of the "Iliad": Achilles (Arturo Dominici) has killed Hector to avenge the death of his friend Patroculus, and has been dragging the Trojan prince's corpse around behind his chariot. While the Greeks hold the funeral rites for Patroculus, King Priam (Carlo Tamberlani) comes to beg for the body of his son, accompanied by Aeneas. The memorable scene when Priam moves the heart of Achilles to pity is now replaced by one in which the Greeks mock the king of Troy.

At this point it becomes clear this is a Steve Reeves movie: Achilles invites Aeneas to join in the funeral games and fight the Greek hero Ajax (Mimmo Palmara). Aeneas agrees, provided he gets Hector's armor back if he wins, which, of course he does. The story then focuses on the struggle to fill the power vacuum left by Hector's death. Paris has all the nobility and upper class, while Aeneas leads the regular soldiers. Because of his leadership position Aeneas actually argues the Trojans should return Helen to her husband, but nobody agrees with this idea. Instead Aeneas is sent off to find much needed reinforcements from nearby kingdoms, while Paris lets himself get suckered in negotiations with Ulysses. The next thing you know, the Greeks are building a giant wooden horse.

To be fair, "The Trojan Horse" does touch on the key points of the end of the Trojan War, not only with regards to the trick by which the Greeks enter the city but also the death of Achilles. Keep in mind that this was a French-Italian production with an Italian director. Given that Aeneas is the central figure in Virgil's epic poem "The Aeneid," and that Rome was founded by his descendants, it makes perfect sense that the characters role would be beefed up (hee hee hee) in this retelling of the climax of the Trojan War. The battles scenes are descent and the cinematography by Rino Filipponi is pretty good overall, but the acting is (altogether now) about as wooden as the horse (ha ha ha).

In the end, the audacity of the adaptation ups the entertainment value of this film for me. I have seen plenty of great works of literature dealt with less faithfully than Homer and except for the opening of the film, most of the action here does take place after the "Iliad." If you are a devout student of classical mythology, then "The Trojan Horse" will probably offend you greatly. But if you are a fan of Steve Reeves then you will find this film to be more literate than any other one of his he-man films.

One of the better sword and sandal movies
I was always partial to Reeves. He seemed to have a certain charisma about him and his movies were above the rest of the flock.This movie is about the Trojan war and is moderately entertaining. There are some good war scenes and I didn't feel that it dragged as one reviewer said.There was a sequel called the Avenger which is also a decent film.Good movie starring the incomparable Mr. Reeves.

The Trojan Horse
This movie is great. Steve Reeves is at his best in this. Lots of action, large battle scenes. Lots of troops.This movie is a must for any real Steve Reeves fans.