The Colossus Of Rhodes casts American expatriate actor Rory Calhoun as an Athenian warrior visiting Rhodes for a bit of R and R from the wars back on the Greek mainland. But no sooner does he get there than he's hip deep in Rhodesian politics with two factions trying to overthrow King Roberto Camardiel. One are the freedom fighters led by Georges Marechal with whom Calhoun throws his lot with. The other is a group led by prime minister Conrado San Martin who has smuggled in Phoenician soldiers in the guise of slaves and he's got them hidden in the city catacombs awaiting a propitious moment to strike.

The king is having some good reason to celebrate what he thinks is the apex of his regime symbolized by the construction of what became known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Colossus Of Rhodes is this statue of Apollo astride the entrance of the harbor and like the arch in St. Louis is hollow. Unlike the arch it's also a weapon of war keeping folks in and out of the harbor at the bidding of who controls the Colossus.

In actuality the Colossus was not hollow it was a statue and most likely did not set astride the harbor entrance. If it had been when the earthquake that destroyed it after about one hundred years it would have fallen in the harbor and blocked it for years. It was quite the engineering feat whether it was the real colossus or the special effects in this film.

Sergio Leone made his directorial debut and this was before he started doing the spaghetti westerns for which he became famous. As a Peplum film, The Colossus Of Rhodes is above the average. I remember seeing it in theaters back in 1961 and it was quite the marvel back then for a 14 year old.

A big-budget (for a change!) Italian sword-and-sandal epic, partly filmed in Spain to give it that extra picturesque look. And at two hours its also certainly one of the longest films in the peplum subgenre, although fast pacing means that the film never succumbs to boredom as many straight court intrigue/historical films sometimes do. The film is mainly of interest to modern film fans as being the first movie that Sergio Leone - famous for his spaghetti westerns - directed, and his skill shows even here with the interesting visual compositions on screen which make the movie highly watchable.

Although lacking in his particular artistic style which became prevalent after FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (you know, slow scenes of high tension, extreme close-ups intercut with long-shots, a reliance on props as symbols),THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES shows none of the amateurish mistakes that a first-time director might make and instead is a fully watchable and well-directed movie. The crisp and genuinely colourful photography also helps in bringing out the best of the sets and costumes, which are very expensive-looking; every penny was put on screen here and it shows.

One word of advice though: stick with this movie, as it starts off very slowly and takes some time to get going after the initial set-up. Indeed it's over half an hour before the main plot thrust involving the slave revolt really gets going, and the movie just sort of dawdles along before that. Once the action has begun, however, it doesn't let up until the appropriately impressive finale. There are lots of different sub-plots involving an invasion of Rhodes by a foreign army, the central slave revolt, some romantic interludes between the lead Dario and various court women and also the intervention of Mother Nature at the climax when a devastating earthquake destroys the city.

The acting is fairly efficient for a sword-and-sandal movie with most of the cast acquainting themselves well with their various roles; the villains are despicable and the good guys muscular and honest. Rory Calhoun is the inevitable imported American lead (he's more familiar in the western genre) but to be fair he wears his toga well and overcomes his initial awkwardness by creating a charismatic, heroic and likable leading man. Also worth noting is the performance of Gordon Mitchell-lookalike Georges Marchal who plays Peliocles, the slave leader, and is very good.

What I like most about this film (and what I feel it has over others) is the attention to detail. For example in a torture chamber scene we see one men get put inside a huge bell as it is repeatedly struck and another have acid dripped onto his back. Imaginative touches that you usually don't see in other genre movies. The Colossus itself is a hugely impressive bronze statue which dominates proceedings and comes with all manner of hidden doors and secret weapons, like a pot that pours molten lead onto passing ships underneath and a head that opens up to catapult lead through the air! Inevitably it's destroyed in the destructive climax which is also thoroughly impressive and closely-detailed (with extras crushed by falling masonry and more crumbling buildings than in a GODZILLA flick!).

The action sequences are hugely exciting, from the expected battles between armies and the slave-revolt to some high-spirited and surprising arena action. One torture victim is hung above a lion pit while a sadist whips him - until he grabs the whip and pulls the sadist to his own doom in a moment guaranteed to make even the sternest viewer cheer. There are lots of extras to give the film an epic look and feel and the screen is always packed with period detail - well done, set-dressers. All these factors combine to make THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES one of the biggest peplum movies I've seen, and also one of the most well-made and well-portrayed.

A few years before he made Clint Eastwood famous, Sergio Leone made his directorial debut with "Il colosso di Rodi" ("The Colossus of Rhodes" in English),a sword-and-sandal epic. As can be expected of the peplum genre, there's no shortage of bare-chested men, women wearing thin garments, and really nasty torture. The star is Rory Calhoun, who actually seems a little out of place: the movie is set in Greek-Roman times, so most of the cast members sound English, but then in comes a guy with an all-American accent! Of course, one could argue that this makes the movie more fun.

The best scenes are the battles, the Colosseum (or whatever their equivalent is called) and what happens during the final ten minutes of the movie. It's one flick that they must have really had fun making, and it's truly fun to watch. Made even better by the fact that the director soon gave Dirty Harry a career.