6/10
Italian/Spanish co-production typical of the genre with haunting scenarios , wonderful outdoors and functional production design
5 November 2017
Hercules is rescued by Prince Maytha (Giuliano Gemma) and his warriors . Athualpa (Franco Fantasia) , King of the Incas, is about to sacrifice Princess Yamara (Anna-Maria Pace) to the Sun God. Hercules must save her and defeat the King . He must use his strength to rescue his friends and attack the city of Tiguanaco and the woman he loves . As Hércules is up to his pecs in trouble as he fights nasty Incas in order to save the abducted daughter of a King Inca , Huascar . As the bare-chested warrior goes on an all-out rampage to save her . As he battles the evil King of the Incas by building unstoppable fighting machines . It deals with the deadly war between Huáscar and his half-brother Atahualpa . The battles reported by Spanish chronicler Juan Betanzos talk of Quizquiz (Atahualpa's commander) leading armies of 60,000 men against armies of 60,000 men supporting Huáscar. Betanzos's account also enlightens us on the bloody nature of Inca wars. Atahualpa's punishment of the Canares saw him rip the hearts from their chiefs and force their followers to eat them .Huascar was defeated in the battle of Chimborazo and the Battle of Quipaipan and he was made prisoner . The war had Atahualpa in the clear ascendancy on Pizarro's arrival. Furthermore , Atahualpa had Huáscar killed so that he was not in a position to offer Pizarro a larger ransom of gold than Atahualpa was offering for his own release .

This is a decent spaghetti , myth-opera with action , love , battles and luxurious landscapes . The movie has not mythological accuracy neither expecting historical . Breathtaking scenes when take place spectacular Inca archers dances and overwhelming final battle with surprising and violent scenes . In the picture turns up Peplum ordinaries as the veteran Franco Fantasia who along with his brother Andrea Fantasia worked much as maestros of weapons in this genre , and uncredited Rosalba Neri . Being a Spain/Italy co-production here turns up some Spanish actors as José Riesgo as Huascar , Ricardo Valle , and Ángela Rhu as the Queen . It stars Mark Forest , he is perfect as the mythical hero who encounters many dangerous situations while trying to save a princess of numerous odds . Forest who played the mythic Maciste in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath , Samson or Aron for U.S. viewing . Bouncing and strong Forest was the second American actor bodybuilder , after Steve Reeves , to be recruited by Italian producers to star in Peplum films . The muscle-man Forest left allegedly the sword and sandals genre for the Opera . He used the amount of money he made acting as hero and gladiator films in Italy to study Opera , he currently teaches in the Los Angeles zone . He was one along with Ed Fury , Dan Vadis,Brad Harris , Alan Steel , Reg Park , Gordon Scott whom to seek fortune acting absurdly as muscle mythological figures but nobody topped Steve Reeves in popularity . He only starred Peplum such as : 1964 Hércules against sons of sun , 1964 Lion of Tebas , 1964 Maciste Nell'inferno Gengis Khan , 1964 Maciste, Gladiatore Sparta , 1963 Maciste Contro i Mongoli ,1963 Maciste, l'Eroe più Grande del Mondo ,1962 Maciste, Gladiatore più forte Mondo , 1961 Maciste, the Son of Hercules , 1960 La Venganza De Ercole . This film titled "Ercole Contro I Figli del Sole¨ or "Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun" or "Hércules Frente Al Sol" belongs to a group of peplums attempting to change the ordinary formula by changing scenarios as ¨Samson and the treasure of the Incas¨ by Piero Pierotti with Alan Steel and Mario Petri and ¨Legacy of the Incas¨ by George Marischka by Rick Battaglia , Guy Madison , Fernando Rey .

Interesting screenplay by María del Carmen Martínez Román , a prolific writer who wrote a lot of Spaghetti , Gialli and Peplum . This spectacular Sword and Sandal movie displays a colorful and glimmer cinematography by Julio Ortas , filmed on location in Spanish/Italian exteriors and Elios Studios, Vides Cinematografica, Rome, Lazio, Italy , among others . Beiong necessary a perfect remastering because of the film copy is washed-out . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Coroliano Gori . The motion picture was well directed by Osvaldo Civiriani . He was a craftsman who made several genres such as Western : ¨I due Figlio Di Trinitiy¨ , ¨I Figlio Dgango¨, ¨Died for a roller¨ , ¨Trusting is good shooting is better¨ ; Erotic movies as ¨Voodoo sex¨, ¨Sexy Prohibite¨, ¨Lucrecia¨, ¨Mayra Black Venus¨; Eurospy : ¨Case Becket¨ , ¨Operation Poker¨, and about car races as ¨Summer love¨, ¨2 Della Formula1¨ and adventure : ¨Kínder Lion of desert¨ and this one . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable muscle-men fodder and better than most muscles operas-spaghetti,thanks to Mark Forest and by Peplum specialist as is the director Osvaldo Ciriviani .He along with Vittorio Cottafavi ,Giorgio Ferroni and other professional filmmakers continued to realize films in the historical-spectacular style , at which he developed a considerable skill and mastery .
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