Goliath and the Barbarians

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Goliath, who dared gamble his fantastic strength against wild horses, in the flesh-taring test of truth.

(00:06):
Goliath, the dream of desire of every woman in the land, except one, the talented and sought after dancing virgin,
born with a courtesan's wisdom.
Who are you?
Only to find herself enslaved by a passion beyond her control.

(00:27):
Goliath, who made himself a fantasy, a monster from the hills,
matching untrained men against armies, and a nation's people against tyrants.
Fire!
We're not talking about actors, we mean a real monster.

(00:50):
I brought her back.
She'll live and I'll get her another buddy.
I know they’re gonna catch me but don't let anyone see me like that, please Doctor!
Help me!
Biologically speaking, it's of primary importance that man should want to make.
Hey, that's right!
You don't get all your kicks from surfing, do you?
We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man.
And we want to get loaded.

(01:13):
You think you're gonna make a slave of the world?
I'll see you in Hell first!
The American International Podcast
Are you ready?
Hi there, you found the American International Podcast.
I'm Cheryl Lightfoot.
And I'm Jeff Markin.
And today we repel an invading horde with Goliath and the Barbarians from 1959.

(01:33):
Goliath and the Barbarians was directed by Carlo Campogalliani,
written by Emimmo Salvia, Gino Mangini, Nino Stresa and Giuseppe Taffarel,
produced by Emimmo Salvi, for Standard Produzione and Alta Vista Productions.
Goliath and the Barbarian stars Steve Reeves as Emiliano/Goliath,

(01:53):
Chelo Alonso as Landa, Giulia Rubini as Sabina,
Luciano Marin as Marco,
Arturo Dominici as Svevo,
Livio Lorenzon as Igor,
Carla Calò as Bruno's Mother,
Fabrizio Capucci as Bruno,
Furio Meniconi as Genserrico
Andrea Checchi as Delfo and Bruce Cabot as Alboino.
Goliath and the Barbarians opens as a horde of Barbarians

(02:16):
are writing their horses charging through the countryside.
As Strident March music plays, we hear an aerator tell us.
In the year 568 AD, Alboina,
ruthless king of Lungabars descended upon Italy,
the savage bands of warriors invading the country from nearby Pellonia,
the Barbarian hordes were composed of many races and united only by their desire for conquest.

(02:38):
They inundated the peninsula,
initiating a period of domination that was to last for more than 200 years.
This is the story of the man who rose up against them,
the young giant who struck terror into the hearts of the invaders,
and assumed the name Goliath to match his size and feats of strength.
As the warrior bands descended upon the city of Verona,
a trio of messengers were sent to meet them to plea for mercy

(03:00):
and asked that their city be spared in return for their surrender.
The answer from the Barbarians was a resounding no,
as all three of them get speared.
And the narrator says that Barbarian hordes swept on
and their rate of Verona had begun. In Verona, the overconfident citizens go about their day,
believing a little too much in Barbarian's capacity for mercy.
But when the Barbarians reached the village,

(03:21):
the scene changes and the townsfolk begin to scurry.
Well, we see first a woman take a spear to the chest as she's buying cloth or something.
So that's what changes the mood, I think.
Igor, the leader of this band, calls on for his men to take the towers.
Several women are attacked.
One woman, Sabina, knocks on the door to evade the rampage.

(03:43):
She gains entry just as a spear and beds itself into that door.
This is her father's house and he meets her in the courtyard.
Her father is apparently the chief leader of the people.
That's why he's got a well-dened house and everyone else is out on the street.
Sabina tells her father they have to get out of there.
But her father says that she must ride off alone and tell her brother, Emiliano,
to hurry back and I guess also get killed.

(04:04):
Sabina begs her father to come with, but he sends her off alone and he and his
steward prepare to fight off an entire horde alone.
Several barbarians are now breaking down the door and three enter into the courtyard,
including Igor.
One at a time they fight with Sabina's father.
When one comes close to disposing of him, Igor says don't kill him.
Instead, Igor pulls an amulet from around the man's neck.

(04:26):
Igor then turns to leave, then laughs, spins around and throws his spear into Sabina's father.
Igor laughs hardly and leaves the courtyard.
Sabina rides through the hills in search of her brother. He's out riding with his friend,
Marka. He rides in her direction and when they meet, she, on her to us, delivers the shocking news.
Emiliano follows Sabina back home where they find their father impaled against a tree.

(04:49):
The barbarians have finished with this bit of pillaging and plundering and they
ride on to the next town.
And now Emiliano has buried his father in a crude grave with two branches in the shape of a cross
marking the site. The town's remaining citizens gather around.
Emiliano vows his revenge against the man who killed his father, who died protecting all of them.
Did he? He tries to rally the townies but they feel helpless against an army.

(05:12):
Also, they aren't bodybuilding champions. So what are they going to do?
He makes a couple of them admit to losing their loved ones and cause anyone who doesn't
join him in his scheme, cowards who should listen to their conscience.
Then the narrator voices in again, but revenge seemed to hopeless task even as the
Emiliano and a small band of rebels set up camp in the woods and planned the reprisals.
The barbarians were plotting to and celebrating the conquest of their own.

(05:35):
And we see the barbarians have apparently taken over the Veronian castle.
The barbarians are celebrating their conquest of Verona.
Drunken debatery is going on and the highlight of such is a dance by Landa,
who tipped toes and twirls around four swords lying on the floor to everyone's delight.
The main barbarians are there, King El Boina, Igor the leader of the Horde,
and his Lieutenant's Fable. All of them list openly for Landa.

(06:00):
The dance ends and the king offers her a toast.
Landa says next to Igor, but doesn't look happy to be there.
El Boina congratulates Delpho on his finance daughter, but he's still wishing that he had a son.
Get over it, dude.
Igor tries to compliment Landa as well.
"If only I could find the right words," he says. "There always are the wrong words," says Landa.
Then El Boina calls his men in for a meeting.

(06:21):
Pointing to a map, he explains his goal of taking over Milan and Pavia.
"And Pavia will be his capital," he says, messing a knife through the map into the table and
taking a bite of an apple. "That map is just some city names printed on a tablecloth."
Anyway, everyone is to head out tomorrow, except for Igor,
who's remained here in Verona, and the entire Northern region will be under his command.

(06:44):
El Boina has charged Igor with getting Duke Delpho to sign an agreement.
They need the Slovonians on their side, and they'll send reinforcements to the settlement they
left in Pais. It's the only way open to Pannonia, and so they must hold it. It's the key to their stronghold.
Next we see one of the barbarians is riding through the forest, but he's lost his partner.
He continues calling out for him and finally finds him lying in the brush.

(07:07):
He kneels before him and a stranger comes up. This stranger is wearing a cat mask and clogged
gloves like a feline Freddy Krueger. "Me, how?" The man screams at the sight of this vision,
and the cat man sticks his claws into the man's throat.
"It's really funny, costume."
The next day, another group of soldiers ride across the plane. A terrible scream is heard,

(07:30):
and then the cat man appears on a hill swinging a boulder on a chain or rope or something.
It weighs no more than a chunk of styrofoam to him. He charges at them and knocks a few barbarians off
their horses, and then he rides away into the woods. The barbarians follow. The cat man stops in a
clearing and swings his rock around a bit, and then all the barbarians run away. Chickens.

(07:51):
The barbarians are camped out with a fire when the cat man jumps from the brush. He yells out and
begins beating them with a club. They steal their horses and rides off. Back with Igor,
he's stealing a little tough love out to those who don't obey. His favor brings in a
miscreant and Igor whips him with his catanine tails. Launda comes in dressed to go clubbing in
South Beach. Igor is so happy to see her, he throws everyone out. One guy literally.

(08:15):
He follows Launda onto the terrace to tell her that she can't treat him so coldly,
and she challenges his assertion. Igor tries to convince Launda to see things his way,
by reminding her that he can send her father to a not so nice province. Not as nice as Verona anyway,
but if she were to cooperate with Igor, things wouldn't have to go that route.
Launda says her father's a great warrior and he can take care of himself.

(08:38):
And then she takes off before Igor can try any other emotional blackmail.
She asks to leave and he says he's done with her for now.
Spavol tells Igor that he knows why Igor wants to marry Launda.
Igor thinks Spavol knows too much and that could be bad for his health.
Spavol says that if Igor marries Launda on Delpho's death, he gets all his territory and all his

(09:00):
things. Thanks for explaining that to us. Why is that so hush hush? It's kind of obvious.
Before Igor can answer this, a messenger interrupts them. One of the garrisons was attacked by a
Goliath, a giant monster that roars like a lion. He has the strength of 10 men.
Igor says you came all the way to Verona to tell me that.
The messenger says the garrison doesn't know what to do. They're terrified because you're all coward,

(09:23):
shout, Igor throwing the messenger out. Spivo asks Igor if he's going to be going down there.
Nami says Igor, this sounds like a job for Delpho.
Miliano and Marco are looking down on a new fort built by the barbarians.

(09:44):
Miliano wonders what's with the walls and Marco surmises that they're to keep out the Goliath
and that the men are going to come with their families too.
Case in point, Delpho has brought Launda.
On the other side of those walls, Spivo catches Delpho and Launda out on the streets and decides to have a word.
Noting her quiver of arrows, Spivo says he'd like to go hunting with Launda.

(10:04):
She suggests he'd take any other woman in her stead.
She's very generous to offer up all the other woman.
Spivo apologizes to Delpho for just pleasing his daughter. After he leaves and is out of earshot,
Delpho tells his daughter that he wishes she would curb her tongue. After all,
anything said to Spivo will get back to Igor. Launda says she does what she wants because she's

(10:27):
also a salvonian, whatever that means. And now we're at the Goliath camp. Miliano is checking off
everyone's to-do list. Everything is done. Or at least the horses are freshly shot.
Miliano tells Marco that they need more provisions from town and ask for the number of centuries
at the fort. A lot says Marco though he can't give an exact number.
Marco suggests they can send a man on market day when the gates are open.

(10:50):
And Miliano says that he will do it. Marco tells him that they will capture him the moment he sets
foot into town. They would recognize him immediately by his massive thighs. But
and Miliano insists it be him. He won't miss another man's life. His sister, Sabina,
is he who's dropping during this entire conversation.
Market day comes and for us it ends almost immediately. Sabina is there and she complains to one

(11:12):
of the guards that she's not sold a thing yet. But the guard doesn't care. Everyone has to clear out.
And they bang a gong for emphasis. Sabina asks one man who that was who was demanding everybody shut down.
And he tells her that it's Jens Sereko with the right hand of Delpho. Then this barbarian tells Sabina
that she doesn't have to leave right this minute. She could hang with him for a while and he could

(11:33):
sneak around the back way. She seems interested in finding out about this secret entrance.
Delpho is ragging on Jens Sereko for neglecting El Boiena's orders and being too nice to the town's
folk. His army must be provided for. He tells Jens Sereko to get all the grain and anything else he
can round up from the valley and take as many men as he needs to. But don't come back empty handed.

(11:54):
Back on the street, Sabina is still stuck talking with that man. She's ready to be shown that
back way out. But instead the man throws her onto a pile of straw. She struggles against him.
Landa comes over and starts beating the man with a strap chasing him away.
Landa asks Sabina what her business is here. Sabina explains that she was there trying to tell
her where is the market. Landa thinks they should close the down the market. It's full of spies.

(12:16):
She tells Sabina that she's too pretty to be hanging out with this rebel anyway.
Sabina asks Landa why she stays. Landa explains that as the chief's daughter, they should be running
away from her. And Sabina looks pretty impressed by this display of eminent energy. And now we're at
some kid named Bruno's house where the barbarians are taking all of their grain. Bruno's mother

(12:38):
frets but Bruno tells her that he's got this and he unties the horses from the wagon that's laden with
grain. As the barbarians are fixing to leave, he also signals Goliath the catman who's watching the
proceedings from a nearby hill. The man holding the reins tells the horse he's to giddy up. But as they
are untethered from the wagon, he ends up getting pulled away. Emilio the Goliath catman rides in and

(13:00):
starts swinging his axe and takes out the remaining barbarians as two of the villagers retrieve the horses
and secure them to the cart with all the grain. Bruno puts his mother at top it and climbs on
himself along with the men who retrieve the horses. Come with me, he calls down catman and they eagerly
follow him with their part of grain. Now we're in Delphal's quarters where Gentzerico comes

(13:20):
bearing bad tidings. The Goliath formerly thought to be ancturnal, also attacked during the day.
Delphal demands to know where Gentzerico was during all this, but he was in the village with the others.
Gentzerico says the Goliath striked sphere into the hearts of all the men, but Delphal is sick to death
of hearing about this stupid Goliath guy, but he killed three men with one blow. He's a monster.

(13:42):
Spivo says he'd like to introduce Goliath to his sword. Delphal has Gentzerico spread the word that
he is offering two persons of gold to anyone who defeats the Goliath. Spivo says that's not enough,
threatened the people or worse for hiding him. Spivo recommends a campaign of terror and violence,
but Delphal thinks that would leave him shorthanded for the fieldwork. Who's going to harvest his grain?

(14:02):
Spivo asks if Delphal questions the orders of Igor. Igor snows Delphal, I am in command here.
Buides his Spivo, but don't forget. Igor speaks for Alboena. Delphal says that one could never forget Igor.
He'll be glad to hear that, says Spivo.
Then Landa comes up and asks her father for permission to go out. Then Spivo asks for someone's

(14:23):
Delphal's men to go in a Goliath hunting party with him. So we catch up with Landa, who is riding
through the forest, her quiver runner back. Nearby, Emiliano has caught a pig in a trap. Marco comes over
and complains that he hasn't caught anything in his trap. Also, nearby, Sabina is rescuing a goat
from another trap. If that was Marco's trap, maybe he was more successful than he thought.

(14:45):
Maybe Emiliano releases the pig and has Marco take it back to camp. Then Emiliano goes to check on the
other trap where he finds Sabina and a sprung trap, but nothing was caught. He rescues the trap when they
hear his scream. Running over, they find Landa, her horse tripped one of the traps and she's lying on
the ground unconscious. That's so's the horse. It's feet are bound. There he said. Sabina recognizes

(15:10):
the woman and tells her brother who she is. She's the daughter of the Duke who's in charge of the fort.
Hearing this, Emiliano retches his strap for a beating, but Sabina stops him telling him that she
was kind to her when she was at the fort. So Emiliano goes to check on the trapped horse.
Sabina wakes up Landa by tapping her on the head. She's smacking her on the forehead.

(15:32):
It started to thunder. Sabina tells Landa that she's among friends.
Landa notices Emiliano and asks who he is. A woodcutter, he says. Then he continues. Your horse was hurt.
I had to kill him. Emiliano tells Sabina to take Landa back to the road. But Sabina says Emiliano
should do it. He knows those woods better than she does. So Emiliano tells Sabina to head on home.

(15:55):
It starts to rain and Landa passes out again. So Emiliano has to carry her.
They go to a hollow tree, but not to eat cookies. Once inside, Landa is magically revived.
Landa tells Emiliano he doesn't look like a woodcutter. It looks can be deceiving. He says, handing
your horses brains to Landa. Emiliano says that horses aren't more important than people.

(16:15):
Landa says, what's that supposed to mean? Emiliano gripes that her people are trying to destroy his.
You don't like us very much. Do you ask Landa? Why should we snarls Emiliano, reminding her of all the
looting and pillaging and burning, etc. that they've done? And is it any wonder that he hates her
in her people? Landa smiles, your no woodcutter. Who are you? But by now the rain has stopped so Emiliano

(16:39):
leaves. She says, aren't you going to show me the road? He tells her she'll find it, and that's
a come looking for him. But what if I want to see you again? You won't find me, he says.
This time she just lost her horse. Next time she might not be so lucky.
Sabina and his men are walking through the woods. They hear a noise and Sabina says,
"Be very quiet, we're hunting, go quiet." They pick through a bush to locate the source of

(17:01):
the chopping sounds. It's shirtless Steve Reeves, even Sabino looks impressed.
"Svivo has his men surround Emiliano. Who are you?" Sabino asks. A woodcutter says Emiliano.
"Only a woodcutter? I wonder," says Sabino. They orders his men to take him away.
Next we see Landa is spending a lot of time hanging out in the woods on the off-chance of meeting
Emiliano again. She's looking for him in their special tree. Now that barbarians have their

(17:26):
suspected galaeth, strap to a pole by the arms. Sabino pushes the tip of his short sword into
Galaeth's abs, marring them with a big cut. Sabino demands they turn the log to break galaeth
literally and make him confess. "And still Emiliano refuses to confess.
Defgo says that maybe this isn't the galaeth, but Svivo is certain he's got the right man. I mean,

(17:46):
look at him." Galaeth might be biceps shred the straps trying to hold him to the log.
Svivo orders his men to hold him back, which they do by drawing their swords.
And that's when Landa returns to find her honey bun with a dozen sharp weapons pointing at him.
And she is outraged. Landa tells her father that this is just a piece of woodcutter and he once
showed her through the forest when she was thrown from her horse. So what if he did, says Svivo?

(18:08):
He's my prisoner. Defgo agrees that the prisoner belongs to Svivo and Landa has no say over his fate.
Landa says they should prove he's the galaeth before his fate is decided, and Defgo was on board with
this idea. Because if there's ever a doubt, their law is that the decision goes to the prisoner.
And now there's going to be a demonstration of strength and agility.
The Lancers are assembled and are instructed to throw their lenses into a board.

(18:31):
Then Emiliano is tied, as as many men as necessary, tried to drag him backwards into those
Lancers in a kind of a weird tug of war. Yeah, they've got the pointy side aimed at his back.
But no matter how many men take the rope, Galaeth breaks free. So he wins that round.
And then round two, sound the gong, begins. Galaeth is tied by the arms to two horses,

(18:53):
pulling him in opposite directions, as men whip them. But once again, Galaeth prevails, pulling the horses
to him. And it seems like the barbarians are now cheering for Galaeth. Yeah, it's difficult to
gauge the crowd's reaction here. Defgo says he has never witnessed anything like this. He
tells Emiliano he's free to go. Svivo says, wait a minute, he's obviously the guy we're looking for.
I say we kill him. But Defgo reminds Svivo who the chief is around here. And once again,

(19:17):
tells Emiliano he's free to go. I hate being on Svivo's side, but he's totally right here.
So the Galaeth leaves the fort and the cheering hoard parts to leave him a path to freedom.
Now we're at Albueno's stronghold in Milan. He interrupts some loop plane to demand answers

(19:41):
from his men. They took Milan and Verona in two days. Why can't they get Pavia under control? He
decides he's got to go there himself. And then he tells Igor that he's going to send him on a very
important mission. And anyone who's what happened to the music and demands a women resume playing.
Back in the forest, Emiliano is rolling over a fallen tree with his bare hands to hide a bunch

(20:02):
of stolen sorts. An arrow whizzes by over his head. He looks up to see Landa, her bow drawn,
and another arrow pointed at him. Yes, why she did that? Landa says that she made a mistake in letting
him go because now she sees him hiding stolen arms. She asks who he's going to kill. A barbarian,
he says, walking towards her. Yes, which she's going to do about it. Then he pulls her in and goes

(20:26):
to kiss her. She pulls back, but Emiliano doesn't care. After a moment, Landa gives in.
And uncle. Now Svivo has come to Milan to yell at Igor. Svivo reports that Delpho, the Galaeth,
go free. Igor thinks it's time to get rid of Delpho. Svivo wants to go there, but Igor says,
no. Igor is going to go there alone. And instead of Igor going to Pannonna to get the sacred crown

(20:49):
and return it to Albueno as the king wished, Igor is going to send Svivo on that mission.
And then he'll go to the fort and deal with Delpho. Svivo says, oh, nice. You get Landa when Delpho dies
and Igor agrees. But Albueno needs that crown, so guard it with your life. He tells Svivo.
Then they toast to their change of plans. Emiliano has returned to his camp.

(21:10):
Marco wants to speak with him. Marco wants to know why Emiliano stopped them from attacking Svivo.
Must have been something that happened off-screen because I don't remember that happening.
Meeting there. Marco thinks the same thing everyone else is thinking that Emiliano's judgment has
been clouded by thoughts of a woman, and not just any woman, of our barri-in woman.

(21:30):
Emiliano doesn't take the criticism kindly and pushes Marco to the ground. But Marco's okay.
They threw him all under the chariot for a woman. Emiliano offers a non-apology, then sulks out of frame.
And then we see where Emiliano was headed. He and Landa meet in the woods for a trist,
but they're not alone. Jens Heriko sees them and runs off to Tadal to Delpho. Landa tries to

(21:53):
make out with Emiliano, but he lays on the ground like a dead fish. She asks what his deal is,
and he tries to call off their whole affair. She's affronted. She thought he loved her. She gave up
everything for him. She even loved her father, for now. And every time that Emiliano has killed one
of her people, she says she felt it as if she did it with her own hand. But Emiliano has a solution to

(22:16):
this. He just bands Landa from the forest. She's crying and begging with him, but he just keeps
yelling at her to go away. He stares off looking kind of constipated as she goes. Landa returns to her
father's house in tears. Her father comes up to her and slaps her twice. That was for her betrayal of
him. He had released that man, and she was curousing with him like she was a common slut.

(22:38):
Landa tells her father it's not like that. She loves Emiliano, but that doesn't matter to Delpho.
When Igor finds out Delpho is a dead man, and if that would land on once for her father,
she doesn't answer. She thinks about it for a long time. He owes it her to confirm that her lover
is the Goliath. She still says nothing. Delpho vows that she'll never see him alive again. Landa says,

(22:59):
"Well, then she'll have nothing to live for. He's her whole life." That's pathetic. Delpho says he'll
kill the both of them. And on the way out, tells Jansarico to guard her quarters. A short time later,
Landa tries to sneak out, but finds that she's under guard. She closes the door and starts to cry.
Next we see Emiliano, Marco and Bruno are sticking out the port, and they see Igor and his men arriving.

(23:24):
Maybe they're just passing through, Marco says, hopefully. Emiliano says, "I don't think so." Inside
the port, it's party time. Up on a day, as Igor confronts Delpho, angry at him for letting the
Goliath go. But he passed the test, claims Delpho, which, what? That proved he was the Goliath, duh.
Igor calls Delpho an idiot, but Delpho reminds Igor that he's in charge around there, not Igor.

(23:48):
Igor looks taken aback, but then laughs. It's all in good fun.
Igor asks why his daughter isn't entertaining them tonight.
Delpho says that Landa's not feeling well, but Igor doesn't care. Delpho can go and fetch her or
Igor will. So Delpho goes off to retrieve Landa, and Igor helps himself to another trip to the buffet.
Delpho goes to Landa and tells her that Igor suspects him of letting the Goliath go.

(24:11):
So if she would tell him where they could find the Goliath, it would be very helpful to his future
health, but she refuses to betray the man she loves. Well, if she's not going to do that, says Delpho,
to show that they are good citizens, she must dance for Igor, or they're both dead. She still says,
no, even after he says that Igor is going to kill him. Outside, Igor is growing impatient,
but Landa comes to gyrate around some small fires on the ground as seductive music plays.

(24:36):
She does this clearly for Igor's benefit, pulling off part of her top as she dances.
Then she grabs a couple torches and adds them to her act. She puts them next to Igor's face,
but he doesn't flinch, and then she collapses on the ground and the dance is over, everyone cheers.
Then she stands and walks away. Igor catches up to her and asks where she's going.
He came all this way just to see her. She's not impressed, so he reminds her that her father's

(25:01):
life is in his hands. He grabs her and she struggles. She gets hold of the knife from Igor's belt and
slashes Igor's left hand. She smiles as he gasps in pain. Just then Delpho runs up and asks Landa what
happened. Landa drops the knife and runs away. Delpho, you'll pay for this too, promises, Igor.
Marco, Emiliano and the rest of the men are taking position on top of the cliffs. Their arrows and

(25:24):
spears at the ready. They're on either side of a large gorge looking down at the bottom of it.
Emiliano tells them all via hand signals to wait for a sign. Emiliano sends Bruno away back to his
mama as he's only a boy. Bruno, kind of, but not really, goes back home. They don't have to wait
long before the barbarians come through the gorge. It's Svivo and his men accompanying the crown.

(25:45):
Emiliano gives the order to fire it. Emiliano's men unleash a volley of arrows and spears
at Svivo's men, but Svivo isn't hit. Emiliano's men descend on the gorge and fight whoever's left hand
to hand. Svivo rides off leaving his men alone. Emiliano who joins the group for one-on-one combat is
using a club to drop several barbarians at once. Even Bruno, who didn't go home, gets into the throng.

(26:10):
Bruno incapacitates the guard watching the barbarians cart and climbs up to see what he had been
projecting. That's Alboino's crown. He excitedly calls Emiliano over to take a look.
Now we're back with Svivo, who's written to the fort to report the ambush. He's saying the woodcutter
was their leader. Igor tells Delpho that he is responsible for this and Alboino will hear of it.
He'll have Delpho's head. Delpho seems to think that Igor will be in just as much trouble.

(26:36):
Why wasn't he on that crown mission, you know? Igor sends Svivo to go terrorize
the villagers, telling that this will be a regular occurrence till the crown is returned.
And Svivo agrees. Fine, he says, and he goes. But when Igor threatens Delpho, Delpho's men protect him.
And now cue the scouring of the shire. Svivo and the barbarians are attacking the village.
Men are speared. Mothers are shouting the back with arrows. Buildings are set aflame.

(27:00):
Children mourn their fallen parents. Parents mourn their fallen children.
And chaos rules in the street. There's even a three-in-one spear killing machine to deploy it on some
of the villagers. All survivors are taken prisoner. And Miliano is out in the forest when Giovanni,
one of the elder rebels, rides out to see him. And Miliano tells Giovanni to go back. That's kind of

(27:21):
his thing. But Giovanni insists he just wants to help a Miliano. After losing his wife in the
beginning of the movie, he doesn't really have anything to live for anyway. So he might as well
die for a Miliano. Miliano gives him a patronizing smile and pets him on the shoulder. And then we cut
away. Svivo reports to Igor that the destruction was complete. The dungeons are filled with rebels,
except for the ones who escaped to the hills. The century announces that there's a rebel at the gates.

(27:45):
And he's alone. Svivo and Igor exchanged knowing smiles as a Miliano is brought before them.
Svino tells Igor he knows who this is. This is the Goliath. Igor steps up and steps a Miliano
across the face. Igor wonders at the audacity for Miliano to show up here like this. But
Miliano says that if any harm were to come to him, they'd never see their sacred crown again.

(28:06):
Dog of a peasant curses Igor. Miliano says that they'll get the crown back on his terms.
Igor is furious. Miliano asks if Igor wants to hear his conditions or not.
Igor sends everyone, well, almost Delpho, Svivo, Landa, and a couple others remain. And
Miliano says that he wants freedom for himself and all the prisoners and reparations for all the

(28:27):
damages and freedom for everyone in the valley and ice cream every weekend. No, he didn't say that.
Igor thinks he's asking too much, but Miliano reminds him that the crown is worth more than that.
Delpho tells Miliano to go and bring the crown and his conditions will be respected. Now go and get
that crown. But Miliano wants to see the prisoners first. Delpho doesn't want better and has the

(28:49):
prisoners released. Now go and get that crown. Instead, Miliano picks up a torch and tosses it into the
air. In the forest, Giovanni sees the signal and pulls the crown from his hiding place. He mounts a
horse and rides toward the fort. Igor is waiting impatiently. Landa smiles at Miliano, who totally
ignores her. Igor gives this silent message to Svivo. Giovanni delivers the crown to Miliano.

(29:12):
And as he's about to hand it to Delpho, Igor snatches it away, saying, "Now we have you." Svivo shoots
an arrow at Delpho, but one of Delpho's men takes the shot. And then a fief for all begins.
Igor's men are fighting Delpho's men and vice versa. Miliano and Giovanni are fighting too, though I
don't think they're taking sides. Landa just tries to stay out of the fray, but some of Igor's men go

(29:32):
after her. She goes on to Miliano, but he's too busy fighting barbarians. So she shakes them off
with the force of her indignation. One of them even falls over. Miliano takes out a bunch of men
by throwing a tree trunk at them. Igor sends Svivo to get the girl. Svivo runs over to where Landa
was last seen, but ends up at Quebec with Janserico. Svivo stabs Janserico in the chest, which really

(29:53):
seems to tick Janserico off. He grabs Svivo's arm, still holding his sword, and makes Svivo stab
himself several times. Then he chokes Svivo out before Janserico falls to the ground himself.
And there's more fighting. Igor grabs the crown and climbs up some stairs to a lookout ledge.
Then the cavalry rides in. Marco was leading a small band of rebels, and they join the fray.

(30:15):
"Hooray! A man gets gonged while fighting Bruno. Bruno heads up some stairs and kicks over a
teaky torch, and that starts a fire. He comes down the stairs, and then he's brutally stabbed by six
men, cheats." From his hiding place, Igor throws a dagger into Delpho's back.
Miliano catches Delpho as he falls, and Landa runs up father. Then Miliano runs over to face

(30:38):
off with Igor. Miliano has an axe against Igor's sword. Igor is disarmed, so Miliano throws away his
axe. He grabs Igor and notices the ambulance around Igor's neck. "He gives a pitch-perfect,
manny, petink, and delivery of you. You killed my father, but fails to finish the classic quote."
Igor tries to make a run for it down the stairway, but Miliano jumps over the edge and rips down

(31:00):
the stairway, sending Igor to the ground. Then Miliano picks up Igor over his head and throws
him into the wall of the fort. A bloody and battered Igor rolls over convulsors and dies.
Miliano returns to Delpho and Landa. As Delpho dies, he asks Miliano to look after Landa.
"She just cries, and then it's the next day. Miliano and his men are riding home. Sabina and Marco

(31:24):
share a horse, because we didn't really mention it, but they like each other, as do Miliano and Landa.
All is forgiven between them, I guess." The march into the sunset with a hoard of barbarian
prisoners and nowhere to hold them. "Tryunphant music plays us to the close.
Fine, it says, which in Italian means that's the end."
Welcome back to the American International Podcast where we're talking about Goliath and barbarians

(31:53):
from 1959. "Money yet always been tight at AIP, and Sam Arcoff and Jim Nicholson concluded that they
needed to make better pictures, or at least pictures that didn't look cheap, without breaking
their already strained budgets. That, and an need for more movies to distribute, led them to look
overseas at productions in England and then Italy, according to Faster and Furiouser by Mark

(32:13):
Thomas Piguet." Will McLaughlin said in his October 10th 1959 column that quote, "American International,
a company which here too far had specialized in the horror and teenage type of movies will shortly
enter the spectacle field with two productions made abroad. Goliath and the barbarians star Steve
Reeves of Hercules fame and Hollywood's Bruce Kabbitt who has been working for Italian studios

(32:34):
during the past several years." The original, which was based on the little barred invasion of Italy
in 568 AD, was filmed at insured debate-only studios in Rome and filmed in late April of 1959.
AIP didn't buy a finish cut of Goliath and the barbarians. They financed the film's completion when
the producers ran out of money. In his autobiography, Arcoff said that he and Nicholson,

(32:57):
"took a real chance on Goliath and the barbarians. Their liaison in Rome producer
Fulvio Lucisano recommended the film to them during their first trip to Italy. Arcoff said they
viewed some rushes like what they saw and agreed to fund the movie." He said, "I signed the check
for $20,000, handed over to the Italian producer and we went down to the studio with him. As we enter

(33:17):
the stage, we were greeted with cheers and shouts as if we were war heroes."
"We're Goliath and the barbarians release in the United States, American International
Trimmed almost 15 minutes of film from the original, which was called "Iotero Ray de Barbarri."
In September of 1959, Norman Weiser announced in his column that Les Baxter had been hired to
compose a new score for Goliath and the barbarians. The original score had been composed by Carlo

(33:40):
Inichenzie. "Exster said in a 1981 interview for a soundtrack that he was sent to London in 1959
to write the score, but the orchestra he used was not named in the AIP and credits. The liner notes
to the soundtrack LP issued by American International Records credit the London Symphony Orchestra.
A fictitious orchestra made up of invited musicians from both the London Symphony Orchestra and

(34:02):
the symphonia of London for the score." Goliath and the barbarians was released beginning in December
of 1959. The world premiere was held in the Roosevelt Theatre in Chicago, where it set records for
attendance. In some theaters, it appeared on a double bill with sign of the gladiator.
AIP's trailer for their US release of Goliath and the barbarians added Mr. Hercules himself,

(34:23):
beneath Steve Reeves' name, to make sure that audiences knew that he was the same actor from the
blockbuster Hercules that was released earlier that year. In the November 19th, 1959 edition of the
Chicago Tribune, Herb Luean recounted hearing the feminine shrieks as a lineup of muscleman
competed poolside for Chicago's Mr. Goliath title, which was a publicity stunt for the release of Goliath

(34:44):
in the barbarians. In December of 1959, the well-apparations announced in her column that AIP had hired
Mourna Ross, a six-foot blue-eyed Burnett from New York, to be Goliath's mate,
in a national tour to help exploit Steve Reeves' latest picture, Goliath and the barbarians.
Adding, James H. Nicholson is giving Mourna a featured role in Take Me To Your Leader, a comedy fantasy.

(35:06):
"I looked her up and she doesn't appear in those movies, but she is one of the rat pack in some
of the beach party movies. That's the only AIP connection that I could find." Taglines for Goliath
and the barbarian include, "I will kill 10,000 barbarians and they will call me Goliath."
A thousand and one women dream of his embrace, 10,000 barbarians feared his strength and called him Goliath.

(35:27):
"10,000 sites, 10,000 thrills, the fabulous giant of giants."
See the savage attack of the barbarians. See Goliath and the test of strength. See the
orgy of the exotic sword dance. See the night monster from the hills. See Goliath and the test of
20 spears. See the violent love of a barbarian princess. "Did you see any monsters in this movie?"

(35:52):
"I wish." "Be too." The Waco citizen published a photo from the AIP press materials as a coloring
contest to promote the movie. The entries to be sent into the editor of the paper would be judged
on "Netanus and Colors" and the first place prize was $5. Second place finisher received five
pairs of tickets to the theater and the third place winner got two pairs of tickets.

(36:12):
"It's funny to think it's $5 worth more than five tickets to the theater." Five pairs of tickets.
Well, they're probably only 15 cents. AIP released the less-backster score on its American
international label with liner notes that spelled out the prologue narration adding, "To this,
less-backster tells a story in music, once again proving that he is the great talent of today in

(36:33):
relating passion, fury, and mood in terms of music. It is a big new sound. The album was produced with
their own patented trisonic sound technology, combining three separate tracks recorded in high
fidelity." In late 1973, AIP resurrected Goliath and the barbarians to play as a drive-in co-feature with
the release of the new Italian import "Battle of the Emisons." AIP's meager investment in Goliath and

(36:57):
the barbarians paid off when it became a big hit. The film earned $1.6 million in North America during
its initial release and kicked off the new wave of blockbusters, according to Pastron Furious.
The Rikili's producer, Joseph E. Levine, was invited to watch the undubbed original and said it
would never make a dime. When the movie opened at the Detroit Palms on Christmas Eve,
the owner gave most of the staff the night off. The box office take that night was $3,500,

(37:21):
which is over $38,000 in today's money and more than the theater had earned on a single day for
any movie in the last five years. Positive responses rolled in from theater owners across the country.
The head buyer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Houston-Galveston area circuit sent
Barcaff and Nicholson a telegraph thanking AIP for Goliath and the barbarians, saying it brought them
the biggest pre-Christmas grosses of any film in the history of their company. And, Duncan Kennedy

(37:46):
of Public's Great States Theatre's Inc. said in his telegram, "Goliath and the barbarians open
in 15 of our towns to blockbuster grosses. This engagement in all situations extending through
Christmas should set records everywhere." Arcaff said that Goliath and the barbarians grossed
enough to put AIP back on sound financial footing and launched us into the spaghetti era at full throttle.

(38:07):
Arcaff estimated that it ultimately earned $1.6 million in North America.
Reviews for Goliath and the barbarians were mixed. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote,
"Outside of the kids and the strength cultists who will take the bulging torso of Steve Rees
in Lewis' substantial theatrics, it is hard to imagine who could care about Goliath and the barbarians.
Only occasionally in its brief passage does this Italian-made English dub film pull up to the

(38:32):
intelligence level of an average eight-year-old and seldom does it manage to be more than conventionally dull."
Francis K. Diboski reviewed Goliath for the Galveston press, saying, "Colorscope adds lavishness to
the film spectacular now with the state theatre. In Goliath and the barbarians, a fantastic era of
the past has been recreated. Realistic action keeps the movie aflame and it has provided spectators with

(38:54):
much grandeur of scenery and costuming. The original Italian story is of a time place not to be
renewed and experienced except to the magic of the cinema." "Mildred Martin in the Philadelphia
Enquirer called Goliath and the barbarians another Italian mistake adding the actors, even the
extras seem like leftovers from amateur night. Carlo Campogalliani's direction, if you can call it that,

(39:16):
gives the whole the feeling of the Marx Brothers night at the opera.
Statistics slaughter and oceans of gore make this unsuitable for children. It won't do adults much
good either, not even as a bad joke." Edith Lindeman of The Richmond Times Dispatch wrote in her review
that Steve Ulyssi's Reaves is back with another of those big brawling couldn't happen here
adventures which show off his muscles and require nothing mental on the part of the audience.

(39:41):
Despite the corny plot and corny or dialogue, despite some lugged in dancing scenes and a couple
of sequences to show the orgyastic tendencies of the barbarians, the picture is as entertaining as
the Sunday comics. There are four cartoons to round out the bill. Bugs' blooding is more credible
than Goliath. But who cares? "Mildred Richmond and the Richmond news leader Pan Goliath saying it

(40:02):
should appeal to bloodthirsty youngsters incarcerated in movie houses while their parents are
shopping. The picture, according to the standards of a 10-year-old, has everything, and even the
romance is at a minimum, though everything else is at a maximum." Dorothy Nassers of The Buffalo
Eating News wrote, "Recibly acclaimed the handsomeest man in France, Steve Reaves is far from convincing
as the lover boy of Goliath and the barbarians. His physical prowess is the big sell, and the attractive

(40:27):
massage is intermittently uglified by a sphersem mask." She also wrote that the industry isn't very
healthy when producers rely on sinew and brawn to topple box office records. However, Reaves famous
muscles have been in such demand that he is reportedly in the $100,000 per picture bracket.
The reviewer in the Bloomington Illinois pentagraph wrote, "From its stirring opening,

(40:48):
Goliath and the barbarians never lose its grip upon audiences, for the excitement does not
lessen. It mounts." For sure, Gutsy's scene, it has never been topped. Reaves is entirely
believable as the man who can kill three men with one blow, but can be equally attractive in a
peeling to women. Barbara Cossy, in the El Paso-Herald Post, concludes through review, saying,
"This type of movie must be doing well. There have been lots of them lately, and I wonder how many

(41:13):
psychiatrist couches are filled with dreams of sultry slagirls, galloping hordes, and savage barbarians."
According to Gary Smith, an American international pictures of golden years,
AIP planned to make a follow-up called Goliath and the Dragon from a script written by Lurusoth,
and starring Deborah Pageant, which was announced in December of 1959. While Goliath and the
barbarians was still being rolled out to theaters in the United States. When this fell through,

(41:35):
the studio bought another Italian film called The Revenge of Hercules, and retitled it Goliath and
the Dragon. The producers of the U.S. TVT release of Goliath and the barbarian used an edited Italian
print with the original Italian film, title and the Quedson Italian, synced to American International's
English dub of the film.

(41:58):
So one thing I noticed in all the reviews that I found, they were all with the exception of the
New York Times one and one that was attributed to a full name. They were all written by women.
I thought that was really unusual for 1959, because most every review I've ever found in
papers of this era are written by men. So I thought that was kind of unusual that the editors of

(42:18):
the paper thought maybe this movie is so silly, it's not worth a man's time, or it's a muscle man,
so maybe women are the target audience. I thought that was kind of odd that they were all women.
Every name except for the New York Times one, whose name was Bosley, I assume that's a man.
Every reviewer was a woman.
That is interesting. Maybe just the poster which showed a shirtless Steve Reeves was enough of a

(42:41):
clue that this may be of interest to the average man.
No, and some of the reviewers seemed to think this was a kids movie, while others thought it was
unsuitable for kids because of the oceans of Gore, which I must have missed. There's a bit of
a stabby stabby, but there's not Gore.
The only blood I remember is on Igor's face at the end. I want to guess that.
The hand. His hand gets slashed.

(43:01):
Emiliano does get a little slice in his chest there.
One guy does get an axe to the face, but it's not bloody. There's just a lot of quick shots of people
being brutally murdered by medieval weapons. There's a lot of arrows embedded in bodies.
Right, but it's not Gorey. When I think of Gorey, I think of literal flowing blood.

(43:23):
We don't really see that. That's the kind of violence that people complain about back when
Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. Oh, wow. I mean, the melting Nazis was the only really
Gorey thing about that movie. The only Gorey thing, but there were a lot of people who were
impaled by things, but it usually wasn't a company by much blood.
No, and that used to be the tradition. I think in old movies, we see people get shot.

(43:44):
I think we just watch one. We haven't actually talked about it yet.
Where somebody gets shot and they're dead and there's just not a mark on them. There's not even a
little bullet hole. I think that movies just go out of their way not to show too much literal violence.
It was just suggestive of what had happened. I guess this is maybe a little bit above and beyond
that. It's in color. Maybe that adds to the perception of Gore. I wouldn't say it's a kids movie

(44:10):
because there's no monsters here. No. Despite what the tagline would have you believe.
That's really what was missing. That's what I want to see in this kind of a movie. There needs to be
some sort of supernatural battle. A dragon. Well, it's not supernatural and it's not biblical.
It's not the biblical collide. It's just someone who adopts that name as his handle. He doesn't.
He's just given it. Or really, yeah. He probably would have called himself the Catman.

(44:34):
I don't know. This movie, to me, there is violence. Of course, there's a ton of fighting,
but it doesn't come across as like real violence and stuff that would really frighten me.
But then this was what, 65, 70 years ago. So I'm not more jaded than they would have been.
I've seen much worse. So to me, it's just kind of silly fun. We haven't seen a lot of the

(45:00):
Pepplem films that AIP had released as of yet. I think this is the fourth one we've done.
It's hard to keep count, but that's probably right. Goliath and Dragon was the first.
And that was the other Goliath movie that we've done. And I think that one was probably special
in its cheesiness that anything else is going to have a hard time. Moving up to the bar that that movie

(45:21):
said. Well, I think my favorite one was the one that was kind of a parody. I think it was a
Colossus movie. Colossus in the Amazon Queen, which we covered when we were doing a short series
on American International Television, really leaned in to all the tropes that the Pepplem were famous for.
And they had fun with it. And I had fun watching it. So I think to me, that was my favorite, but yeah,

(45:44):
Goliath and the Dragon was much better than this. This is our first Steve Reeves movie.
It is. And this is the first of the Pepplem that AIP ever produced.
Yes, they did get sign of the Gladiator before this, but they didn't have anything to do with that
production. Here they did actually pony up some cash. And then they changed it over so that
it would be suitable for American audiences. They realized that this being a dub movie, they could

(46:08):
make it say whatever they wanted. And so the original storyline was really no object.
And we see that way that they play fast and loose with some of the character names.
Not even remembering from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie that
Jocomo is Giovanni or vice versa. Yeah, when character Giovanni is introduced to the
beginning of the movie, he's called Jocomo. But when he comes back at the end, his name is Giovanni.

(46:30):
And we're just supposed to flow with it. And then Emiliano's sister is called Lydia in IMDB,
but Sabina in the dubbing. And there's another character. I think it's Gen Serico.
Has a different name in IMDB, which is fine. Doesn't make our job any easier? No, it doesn't.
We have to figure out who's who. We don't have the press book for this one. So we don't know what

(46:53):
they were telling people, people's names were. All we have is the credits on screen, which are the
original Italian. And then what is an IMDB, which is basically the original Italian.
So we have to figure it out as we go. And we probably pronounce them wrong.
Even within the movie, they pronounce them wrong. El Bueno is... El Bueno. El Bueno.
It's pronounced at least two different ways. Right. So I just say whatever happens to come out of my

(47:18):
mouth, I don't know what's right. Even I'm not consistent. I want to talk about some of the inconsistencies
in this movie. First of all, locations are kind of hard to gauge here. Oh yeah. We're all over Italy.
Northern Italy. Okay, we're all over Northern Italy. We tried to map it out a little bit because we
do get names of cities that we know. Like Verona, Milan, Pavia is a real city. But then they

(47:44):
start talking about the Valley of the something and Pais. And those were not a map that I could find.
And we never really get introduced like here's where now in Milan, now we're in Verona, now we're in
Pais or whatever. We don't really know. Maybe they don't know. Is it Polonia or Pernonia that's nearby?

(48:05):
I don't know the area. It's hard to say. When they first take over Verona, which is where
Emiliano and Sabina and Marco and everybody are from. Right. Albuena charges Igor with setting up
the camp there. That's basically his area. And then they had this other territory that they're having
toll taking over. It just doesn't make sense. It can't be that far. Why didn't they go back to the

(48:28):
city that they sacked in the beginning of the movie and set up their headquarters there? Because
nobody ever goes back there as far as I can tell. Then they build a fort out of sticks in the middle
of nowhere. And that's where most of the action takes place after that. When they could just go back
to the town that they sacked and be comfortable in the room for everybody. That fort can't be that far

(48:50):
because all the rebels are making their way there. They're obviously not going back to town because
it's gone. But yeah, they live somewhere though. We do see that one scene where after the crown
gets captured and they have to go teach the villagers a lesson. I don't know where that village is.
I don't know where Bruno's mom's house was. We just kind of find ourselves in different places and
nobody bothers to explain where they are. I couldn't even find filming locations for any of this

(49:16):
just the indoor studio. But a lot of these scenes are outdoor. Especially the battle scenes on the
gorge and the scenes in the town. The fort is outdoors, but that's probably built in a studio.
I think the biggest inconsistency in this movie though, a plot hole, if you will, is Delpho letting
the Goliath go home because he's so strong. He passed the tests of strength and that means he gets

(49:39):
to leave. When it really should make you draw the opposite conclusion, that's our guy. That's the
one we've been looking for. I think if you forgot what the object of the challenge was, he'd turned
into an entertainment spectacle. And Emiliano won that. Delpho's won up in Emiliano's good races after
that too. Not that it did a much good at the end, but he tried. Emiliano tried to save it.

(50:05):
At the same time to choose a side, Emiliano was more inclined to join him with Delpho,
besides he wanted to give it his daughter. Why would he join with Igor and Svavod? They did
nothing but try to kill him the whole move. Well, I mean, he could have just tried to kill everybody,
which is what he was going to do. Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, because it was Delpho's fort.

(50:25):
Well, he was in charge of it, but it was a barbarian fort. And then another inconsistency,
we didn't mention it, but the scene in the marketplace where some guys terrorizing Sabina,
he throws her down to a pile of straw and tries to rape her. He looks so much like Igor that I
thought it was Igor the first time I watched it. And then we had to go back again. Well, Igor's

(50:46):
defining traits are he's shaved ball except for a big ponytail on the top of his head. Yeah,
top not flowing out of the back of his head. And he wears animal skin vest long mustache. He's got
the mean the merciless facial hair set, but there's other people that look like that. And some of them
are Igor's men and some of them are Delphos men. Well, they're supposed to be tribes. Right. They

(51:08):
say at the beginning that the barbarian hordes were composed of many races. So I think I was just
supposed to be one race. It's probably supposed to be Asian. Yeah, like the Huns. Yeah. Right. But
you would think that because it's really hard to tell who's who. And there's a side where people
wear shaggy vests and they have unkempt blonde or black hair. It's kind of orange. They all look like

(51:30):
doctors. Yes, from the back exactly. Orangey blonde and or brown. And then there's a side where
they have the top nods in the bald heads. And they're all just sort of mixed amongst each other. So
they don't have uniforms. We can't tell who's the good guys, the bad guys, the in-between guys.
So that was kind of annoying. Yeah, you really had to know your people if you knew he would

(51:50):
gonna fight at the end there. Yeah, how do they know? Everyone looks the same. They're all dressed in
the same outfits. Thanks for Steve Reeves who's just wearing shorts. Yep. And how does he think that
little cat mask is gonna disguise his physique? He's the only guy that's been bench pressing this whole
movie. The thought that he needed disguise himself was pretty fun. He's just a simple woodcutter. Can't

(52:14):
you tell by his massive pecs? I think it's fun though. I think this movie was fun. Can't take it
seriously. It was fun. It was just kind of a disappointment compared to the other ones we've seen
because there were no monsters. I wanted to see something bigger than just fighting people.
Yeah, that's why I think this didn't even really need to be a Goliath movie or Hercules or

(52:38):
Colossus or any one person. This is more like the group effort to expel the invaders.
And obviously they made it a Steve Reeves vehicle, but it could have been about everybody working
together instead of Steve Reeves always having to stare off into the light looking noble saying he'll
do it on his own. That probably would have been a better movie, but it wouldn't have been a spectacle.

(53:01):
I don't think. I think they're trying to be a character that doesn't really exist in that. They
kept on having him feel sorry for himself all the time. I have to do this alone. It was like,
no, we're here. No, go away. I have to do this alone. He refuses the love of a, well, not so good
woman because she's not part of his persona. That's the lone wolf or cat, if you will. The beginning

(53:24):
of the movie is at the funeral and he goes, who's with me and nobody goes, so you're all cowards
and then when they try to go with him, go away. I think he just wanted a few foot soldiers. He didn't
want someone actually at his side, except for Marco, who we don't have any sort of backstory on.
There's sort of a brief little attempt at a romance between Sabina and Marco, but it seems pretty

(53:47):
one sided in that gets dropped until the very end. Or would you say be the highlights of this film?
Well, I thought one highlight was at the very beginning right after the narration, there's three
messengers come riding up to beg for mercy if they're not soldiers. They're just three guys and
tunics sitting on horses. And I guess they're like, please don't sack us. And then at once they all

(54:10):
get the spirit in the chest and fall off their horses. And I know we both laughed out loud at that
point because it was so funny. And then just to go straight to Verona at that point,
life is going on as normal. Yeah, we just go straight to Verona. Now they know that there's
a thundering horde of barbarians headed their way, but they're not going to hide. They're not going

(54:31):
to take any precautions. They're just going to go strolling about babies everywhere, women everywhere.
They don't have to worry. They sent those messengers. Yeah. Like they're so confident that that's
going to work. That's crazy. They should all be barricaded up somewhere, armed to the teeth,
and ready to fight for their lives. But instead, they're just like ants in an ant farm waiting to get

(54:53):
lasered by some kid with a magnifying glass. If they didn't know it was coming and they probably
wouldn't have known it was coming, it would have been different. Right. But they knew it was coming.
They said, guys out there to tell them to stop. Would you mind very much not stop it? I think that was
kind of a highlight, but not in the way that the producers would have intended. And then there's

(55:13):
other scenes where it's just really silly. The fight scenes can be kind of ridiculous.
Steve Reeves always needs to pick up some massive tree trunk and toss it at people
or just to show off his, I guess, manliness. I think when Steve Reeves is in the cat mask and he's
on the horse and swinging that rock around and the barbarians chase after him and then they turn around

(55:35):
and they go, oh man, they helped. They killed a bunch of them. They knew what they're in for.
They just didn't have any plan. Yeah, they were willing to chase them, but if he's going to turn
around and face them, this is not in my pay grade. Well, what's even funnier is when Steve Reeves puts
the cat mask on and he's hunting around. He makes these terrible noises. It's really hard to tell you

(55:57):
what they sounded like, but it's sort of like halfway between a cat and maybe like a screeching
owl or something. It's just so weird. That's probably in the dubbing, though. You can't blame him for
that. Maybe, but I mean, I could have made a more terrifying noise and I probably have even today,
but that wasn't just hilarious. What about Landis dancing? That takes up a good portion of this film.

(56:23):
She has two long dances. I didn't mind that. It's a nice little breather for us when we're trying to
take notes and she's not terrible. She's very, very pretty. So I can see by that would add to this
movie's attractiveness to men and maybe teenage boys. So that didn't really bother me. I didn't

(56:44):
think it was that funny. They're dangerous. They're dangerous dancers. She's got swords laid
on the ground and she's like jumping among them and she never touches them with her feet.
In the second one, she's got flames. She's got fire. Bortus, who's dancing with?
Yeah, I can get what they were going for. I don't think they were that dangerous, but I mean,
it was so easy. Like I can't dance, but she could. I don't know. It was just sort of a time-waster,

(57:09):
I think. This is so she could show off her mid-drift. Yeah, I don't know that I see how this movie may have
done as well as it did with $1.6 million box office take. And to set off this whole new direction for
AIP, we're going to start importing these Italian films. So I think that's kind of a surprise that
yeah, I was. This film had that ability to do that. Of all films, but they didn't get a chance to see

(57:34):
the ones that we saw that they came later first. So maybe if they've been released in reverse order,
and they'd seen Glide in the Dragon first, maybe they'd be like, "Oh, this one doesn't hold up.
I'm not going to go see it again. I'm not going to tell people to go see it." But it must have been this
fantastic new thing that they'd never seen before from AIP. Because there was the other studio release

(57:55):
Hercules earlier. But maybe people were just itching for this in full color. AIP is known for their
black and white, low budget horror/crime movies. And this was just a breath of fresh air, I guess.
They were able to take everyone by surprise like this. The theater owners included.
I guess maybe it did seem bigger in scope compared to a lot of the stuff that was being released at the time.

(58:20):
And obviously time and place matters. We watched it in our living room on a television
in 2025, 65 years ago. We might have been wowed a little too in the theaters. We'll never know
that time machine. I think it's safe to say that we're not going to see a lot of continuity between

(58:41):
the Goliath characters. Obviously it's not the same Goliath and Goliath in the Dragon. This guy
was assigned the name Goliath by his enemies. And in Goliath and the Dragon, Goliath was the guy's
job. He was the Goliath chosen by the gods and stuff. So it was his curse in a way. Yeah. How do you get
a job as a Goliath? Go through LinkedIn, Monster. It's not what you know. It's who you know.

(59:05):
Gotta know the gods. Yeah, I know Zeus. We go back really far. We might even say he spawned me.
All right. So let's give a letter grade to Goliath in the barbarians using our scale where A is
awesome. I is intermediate and P is pathetic. How do you rank Goliath in the barbarians, Jeff?

(59:25):
Well, I remember when we first started doing the podcast and how I dreaded doing any of the
Pepplem films. And as I said, this is the fourth one we've done. And I haven't hated any of them yet.
I've kind of enjoyed them some more than others. And this one's no different. This one I say is okay.
Like I said, I would like to see bigger feats of strength than breaking straps and not

(59:51):
impaling yourself when you're pulling on people and the other trick city did. He moved a couple of trees.
He didn't do anything really, really impressive. No. And that's what was missing.
Maybe you're not going to battle a dragon in every movie, but maybe if he tore a part of the
board with his bare hands or something, you would have been a little bit better. He did pull down a

(01:00:11):
staircase. I guess I have to live with that. There was a little bit of a love story here. And
they seem like an oddly matched couple, but I don't think it really hurt the film or helped it in
any way to have it there. I thought the relationship between Landa and Igor was more interesting when
she kept on putting him off and turning him out rather than giving in, which was a lot more interesting

(01:00:33):
to watch than her falling all over Steve Reeves and him just laying there saying, okay, this again.
He's not a good boyfriend. But this is okay. It's an okay way to spend 80 minutes. And
I want to give it an eye. What are your thoughts on Goliath and the barbarians?
I think that's to quote one of our other network podcasts. This movie is fine.

(01:00:56):
It's not going to be something you regret watching. Nor will you be eager to see it again.
I would say that if I can speak for people listening, what really I'm just speaking for myself.
I didn't kind of not want to do this one when it came up, but we can't deny the gods of random
selection. So we did it. And I found myself enjoying it a little. But I think one of your points that I

(01:01:22):
hadn't really thought of till you made it is that yeah, he doesn't really do anything that amazing in
this movie. And the fact that this is one guy and they're a horde, a literal horde of hundreds and
hundreds of men with spears and arrows and swords. And they're all on horseback. Why couldn't they take
him out? Why do they just stand there one at a time while he picks them off? Why don't they take precautions?

(01:01:47):
One thing that made me kind of laugh is that scene in the gorge where the Svevo and his men ride in
blind. Why don't they scout that out ahead of time? Look, I'm no military expert, but even I know,
you don't ride into a blind alley without someone looking ahead to see if maybe there aren't people
with spears on the top of the cliff. But they just waltz in like they have nothing to fear when Goliath

(01:02:08):
has been stalking them this entire movie. They should be afraid. They should be cautious at least.
But Svevo, I guess, is just not that smart. So that and the sort of inconsistencies where
let's prove he's the Goliath. Well, he is. So let's let him go. It's just dumb. There's a lot of dumb
in this movie. And sometimes dumb makes it fun. And sometimes dumb just makes you roll your eyes.

(01:02:31):
And this movie has some of both, which is why I think it also deserves an eye. It's halfway to good,
halfway to awful just sits there right in the middle. It is kind of funny that he chooses to wear
a cat mask and roar like a lion and they even say he roars like a lion. He has a strength of 10 men.
We call him Goliath. What else will we call him? Cat man. No, no, no, no, no, no.

(01:02:52):
Yeah. Do they ever say who rewrote the script for AIP? We don't know because this seems like the
English credits are lost at least lost to us. We were able to find anything anywhere.
So we don't know who took on the project of trying to Americanize this movie. But I think that they
might have done it rather quickly and without anyone checking to make sure that everything made sense

(01:03:16):
because a lot of it doesn't. And yeah, that's a big thing. Maybe in the Italian version, he did call
himself the cat man. And so they just dubbed over that and called him something else. That's
the right thinking. He probably wasn't Goliath. He was probably just a meleano and just this big guy.
The Lion King. But in America, we need that little twist. So what are we going to call him? What's going to?

(01:03:39):
We need a strong man name. Yeah. So if it's not Hercules, Colossus, Atlas...
what are the hundred different names that they choose from? This one's Goliath. Not that Goliath,
but A Goliath. A Goliath? And he wears a cat mask.
It consists in seeing his not this movie's core strength. The core strength are Steve Reeves's abs.

(01:04:02):
So go see it for the abs if nothing else. To find out more about Goliath, the barbarians and other
films be reviewed on the American International podcast, visit our website, aippod.com. There you
can watch trailers, see posters and lobby cards. Check on our merch and message us and tell us what
you thought of the movies that we review. Again, that's aippod.com. And now I think it's time to head

(01:04:25):
back to civilization for the American International podcast. I'm Cheryl Lightfoot. And I'm Jeff
Markin. And we'll meet you at the drive-in. Follow the American International podcast on Instagram
and Letterbox @aip_pod and on Facebook at facebook.com/AmericanInternationalPodcast.
The American International podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Markin. A man whose mind is

(01:04:49):
distorted by hatred. And Cheryl Lightfoot. A girl hungry for too many things.
The American International podcast is part of the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
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