Giant of Marathon was made during a very busy 1959 for Steve Reeves, as he completed "Hercules Unchained", "The Great White Warrior", and "Goliath and the Barbarians" while also making Giant of Marathon. Steve Reeves was by far the king of these so called "sword and sandal" epics churning out of Italy during the late 50s and early 60s...and why not? Reeves had a muscle bulging physique second to none and was by far the best looking of the muscle guys who made these Hercules type films in Italy. The story concerns the city of Athens and all of Greece being invaded by sea and land by the traitor Darius and his Persian army. Reeves is the hero of the olimpic games and a hero to all of Greece. As such a duo of traitors tries to convince him to team up with the Persians and attempt to lure him with wicked women and seduction. Along the way a very lovely Mylene Demengeot, a 1960s Angelina Jolie look alike with the big lips becomes his love interest. Plenty of action on land and sea and a good wresting match with Reeves and a blubber gut wrestler who feels insulted by Reeves. Check out the underwater scenes with Reeve's greeks planting long speared boulders in the water to sink Persian ships. This is a typical Reeves muscleman epic. Just watching the lovely Demengeot throughout is fun for the male audience. Reeves basically single handedly wipes out the persians and the traitors and wins his love interest in the end. Good fun for the Saturday afternoon crowd and Reeves fans in general.
Review of The Giant of Marathon
