LEGENDARY HEROES OF MYTHOLOGY Packaged in a hardbound, cloth-covered case, this 10-DVD Alpha Video set includes Hercules Unchained and The Giant of Marathon with Steve Reeves, Hercules Against the Moon Men with Alan Steel, Samson with Brad Harris and Alan Steel, Samson & the Seven Miracles of the World with Gordon Scott, Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules with Reg Lewis, Goliath and the Dragon with Mark Forest, Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules with Georges Marchal and Mike Lane, The Giants of Thessaly with Roland Carey, and Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops with Gordon Mitchell.

Of all Trojan War movies, this is the best. Like The Iliad of Homer, THE FURY OF ACHILLES begins toward the end of the war and ends before the episode of the Trojan Horse. The focus is strictly on one man, Achilles, and his fate.

Unlike any other Trojan War film I’ve seen, this one includes Homer’s gods and their divine intervention in human affairs. Achilles’ near-invincibility is a supernatural fact, as demonstrated in a scene when he’s stabbed and the blade is destroyed as if blasted by lightning. Yet the film doesn’t feel like a fantasy; it’s a psychological drama in which the main character is driven by his understanding of his divine destiny. An oracle has revealed that Troy cannot fall until its champion, Hector, dies; Hector cannot die until Achilles slays him; and once that happens, Achilles must die. This is the burden of greatness — and doom — that lies upon Achilles. No wonder he’s full of anger; his victory means his death.

Even dubbed, Gordon Mitchell gives a powerful portrayal of the warrior who is both hero and monster. His physique is statuesque but his features are so rugged as to be ugly (think of Charles Bronson); he is sexually alluring, physically intimidating, and frightening to look at.

The script is surprisingly, sometimes amazingly, literate, verging on the poetic. Especially memorable are Achilles’ explanation of his invulnerability to the captured Briseis, which ironically reveals his vulnerability and wins her pity and affection; Patroclus’ plea to Hector to kill him after he’s been wounded; and Hector’s farewell speech to his wife and the people of Troy before he goes out to battle Achilles. The climactic duel between the two warriors is riveting.

I wonder if the makers of TROY saw this movie? If so, they learned nothing from it. If they had simply remade this film, reproducing its insights into the tragedy of Achilles and Hector, Brad Pitt might now be the proud owner of an Oscar!

(The best print available on DVD seems to be in the boxed set WARRIORS 50 MOVIE COLLECTION; this barely passable full-screen print gives only a hint of what the movie must have looked like in its original widescreen version.)

Reeves reprised the role of Aeneas in WAR OF THE TROJANS (available in a widescreen edition along with GIANT OF MARATHON). After his arrival in Italy, the warrior must again take up arms to achieve the peace he desires. The scale of the sets and the rustic costumes evoke a convincing atmosphere of Bronze Age Italy. (Small details like the king’s peculiar-looking crown are based on authentic artifacts). The curious customs of the natives have the ring of historical truth; the bird-shooting contest on horseback is a brilliant bit of cinema.

In both movies, the use of elements from The Iliad of Homer and The Aeneid of Virgil is intelligent and laudable; together, they deliver a memorable vision of the earliest legends of ancient Rome. Anchoring both films is Reeves’ portrayal of Aeneas. Hercules made him world famous, but this is the role he was born to play.