Giants of Rome (1964)

Cast:

Richard "Many Ninja movies, I've made..." Harrison is Claudius Marcellus
Wandisa Guida is Livilla
Ettore Manni is Castor
Philippe Hersent is Drusus
Rulph Hudson is Germanicus

What the box says:

The forces of Rome are out to defeat the Druids but are shocked to learn their enemy has a powerful secret weapon that could spell defeat for them. Claudius Marcellus, a Roman Centurion, leads a small band of soldiers behind enemy lines to discover the location of this doomsday weapon and destroy it before the Druids can use it to attack Rome.

Plot:

In Rome, some of the higher politicians wnat to recall Caesar back to Rome and keep him away from all his loyal soldiers.

Elsewhere, the Gauls are starting to unite against Caesar. Fearless leader, Caesar decides to send a commando raid to destroy the Druid superweapon before sending the legions against the Gauls.

Claudius Marcellus and the rest of his crew are sent off to search for the superweapon. They're chased by the Druids but are able to evade them. Unfortunately, later, they're caught. The head Druid tries to interrogate Claudius who refuses to reveal his mission and Caesar's plan. Claudius is sent back to the cell with the other commandoes and Lydia, obligatory love interest, amd Drusus.

Well, the prisoners overpower the guards and escape. Chased by the Druids, they manage to hide in a cave. One sneaks out through a small exit but is caught by the druids that torture him. The Romans hear him cry through his torture the rest of the night.

In the morning, they find that he is mortally wounded but dies after Claudius finds him. Keeping on the trek to , the Romans attack a Druid raft and force the druids: Vernius and his sister Heydowa, to lead them to the Druid stronghold. Marching on, Vernius is killed trying to escape the Romans.

The Romans approach near the Druid stronghold and plan to attack the super-weapon. Lydia and Claudius of course profess their love before Lydia is sent to report to Caesar. Drusus frees Heydowa as a bargaining chip to be freed by the Druids. She attempts to signal the Gauls, but Drusus stabs her before she's caught.

To contact Caesar, they split up to evade the Gauls. Drusus runs off to warn the Gauls who repay him with the loyalty all treasons get, fatality.

Claudius, Castor, and Veris head back to destroy the super-weapon. In the melee, Veris is killed. Castor rushes to slow the Druids while Claudius breaks some of the catapult chains.

The Druids prepare to use the catapult against the approaching weapons. Let the flaming pitchloads be readied.

Caesar legions approach as the catapult starts tossing the flming rock loads.

Claudius pulls more of the chains which causes the catapult to crash and burn destroying the other catapults. He charges at the Head Druid Braeonis for the movies ultimate climactic fight.

Romans versus the Gauls march and battle. Afterwards, Claudius is reunited witth Lydia. Caesar will continue. He sends Claudius and Lydia back to Rome to get married.

What I say:

Sword and Sandal movies, normally give us the impression of some sort of Hercules movie. This is Roman not Greek. That doesn't necessarily mean much when a number of Roman movies have Heracles instead. The peplum movies had another empire to base their movies into thanks to the Roman empire. With Italy, it had a hard time finding any sub-genre it didn't like.

Trying to keep track of which commando besides Claudius is the challenge. Alternating between Gauls and Druids also couldn't keep track of which group was group. Probably in the original version it made more sense and just had the enemy groups as different sides of the same bad coin.

A commando group sent on a mission does seem Dirty Dozen-ish. Well, this group isn't a bunch of failures except when led by Lee Marvin. It is hard to see how that a catapult is such a high-tech super-weapon even with tossing flaming loads of rocks. Well, this is a movie that doesn't have any death ray or a technological weapon used to repulse flying saucers away.

Quotable Dialogue
"Your bad aim is my good fortune."
"Caesar not only wants the impossible. He wants it right away."
"Caesar doesn't need dead heroes."
"Caesar is his only Caesar, you are a hero."
"I caught her flashing light signals to the Gauls."
Morals of the Story
Julius Caesar ruled Rome in 52 B.C.
Soldiers love to perform gymnastics.
Cold shaving a bald head is funny.
Swords are routinely used as signal mirrors.