ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

arthur_tafero There were several attempts at doing Roman Empire movies in the 50s and 60s. Several of them were good, and others were not so good. The tagline: "with a cast of thousands!" would often accompany these types of films. This one would have read: "with a cast of hundreds!" because it was obviously a low-budget film. Low-Budget films should not attempt epics. Alan Ladd, a fine actor, was horribly miscast in this one, and could not escape his cowboy persona. The whole film had almost all the soldiers as calvary, when historically, the opposite was true. It was the Roman LEGIONS, not calvary. The direction and screenplay was a mess; it was all over the place. The dialogue was unintentionally laughable, with the exception of one good line for the entire film "No man really understands a woman". But a film cannot hold up with one good line of dialogue. The female lead was some horse-faced woman who was supposed to be sexy. Every other woman in the film was better looking and sexier than she was. Let's not even mention the hilarious attempts at acting by most of the cast. This was an epic, all right; an epic disaster.

clanciai This is not a film you should miss if you are an admirer of Alan Ladd, although this was one of his last films and he is rather tired; but he makes a startling performance as the outcast, one of three brothers who are the main champions of Rome, banished for assumed cowardice - he is never allowed to state his case or defend himself against the alleged charges. His voice is already marked by the cancer he died of a few years later at only 50, and the impression he creates by his character is of deep melancholy - he is rather an anti-hero than a hero, although he ultimately manages all his challenges.It's not a great or important film, but it's one of the best Peplums - there is a great variety of Peplums of very second rate quality, all dealing with ancient times in Greece or Rome, often with mythological subjects and always with great fights and stylish monumentality. In this film the quality is further enhanced and lifted forth by the excellent music, one of Lavagnino's best. So if you can endure the hardships of various laborious Peplums, this should come in as a healthy change with a different and more earnest string moving the heart.

bkoganbing The worst part about Orazi e Curiazi is that this might have been the best offer Alan Ladd was getting at this time and he took it for the money.As he proved in The Black Knight which had much better production values, Alan Ladd had no business doing these ancient costume epics. He hasn't the flair for swashbucklers, what was Sue Carol thinking when she signed him for this role. Around this time people like Victor Mature and Cornel Wilde were doing some European type sword epics. but they were both good in the genre.Ladd is one of three brothers selected by the King of Rome, Robert Keith to fight three brothers from Alba to see who's going to be the big Kahuna on the Italian peninsula. This was in the real ancient days before Rome became an Empire. Guess who winds up the winner.What's even worse is that Ladd does not exactly triumph by means that would be consistent with these Italian sword and sandal epics. He's not terribly heroic here.This film also turned out to be the farewell film for Robert Keith who was with Ladd eleven year earlier in Branded, a western and a much better film. Of course at that time Ladd was Paramount's number one action hero.I can't say that this is for Alan Ladd fans only because I think his fans would be pained by the experience.

Poseidon-3 Ordinarily, sword and sandal epics such as this require a tall, virile, heroic, muscle-bound lead at the helm. Perhaps the filmmakers were going for something different... and they succeeded. The result is a middling-at-best piece of forgettable, low-budget celluloid. As the story begins, Rome and Alba are locked into a long, costly war which neither side seems to be fully capable of winning. Ladd, a commander in the Roman army, falls from grace when he is captured after a battle and not killed. His brother marries his intended bride and plans to run the city of Rome once the present ruler Keith is dead. Eventually, however, the opposing forces realize the futility of the constant warring and decide to place their fates in one solitary battle. Each side must present a trio of brothers. They will fight each other (in the title event) until one side loses all three and the to the victor goes the upper ruling hand. So Ladd is asked to return to Rome and help win his city's independence. Meanwhile his sister has inexplicably fallen in love with one of the opposing brothers following their temporary kidnapping of her! It's an understatement to say that Ladd is miscast here. At 5-1/2 feet tall and 48 years-old (but looking much older), he hardly brings to mind the hearty, powerful type that this role calls for. Besides, his decidedly 20th century hair and nicotine-infused voice, with it's patently mid-western accent, undo any hope of period verisimilitude. He appears to be trying to suggest strength and skill in the fight scenes, but they're nearly all done in close-up so that his grimaces can take the place of any actual physical exertion. The rest is handled by stunt men. This just wasn't his milieu. His daughter appears in the film as well, but her acting career never really materialized. Keith (who makes Ladd look younger by comparison) does a decent enough job, but this is hardly a prestigious end to his lengthy career. A few notable scenes include Ladd's tussle with a trio of wolves and his deep woods dispatching of his opponents (however, wouldn't a true warrior have stood and fought in the appointed battle area and not run off into the trees in order to trap his enemies?) Viewers will also note the preposterously top-heavy (and not exactly easily hidden!) helmets of some of the Alban troops. Fans of Ladd may enjoy this more (and there appears to be a version twenty minutes longer than the currently circulated 85 minute copy), but most gladiator movie fans will feel that something is left wanting.