The Rebel Gladiators
| The Rebel Gladiators | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Domenico Paolella |
| Produced by | Splendor Film/ Ferdinando Felicioni |
| Written by |
Domenico Paolella Sergio Sollima Alessandro Ferrau |
| Starring |
Dan Vadis Jose Greci Alan Steel Gloria Milland |
| Music by | Carlo Savina |
| Cinematography | Carlo Bellero |
| Distributed by | Medallion; Palisades Intl. |
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Language | Italian |
The Rebel Gladiators (Italian: Ursus il gladiatore ribelle/ Ursus, the Rebel Gladiator) is a 1962 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.[1][2] The film is part of the Italian "Ursus" film series, but for some reason, distributors in other countries omitted Ursus' name from the title when the film was shown outside of Italy. Dan Vadis plays mighty Ursus, and Alan Steel plays against type as the villainous dictator Commodus. Steel is particularly unlikeable in the part, making this film very effective in the "villain" department.
Cast
- Dan Vadis: Ursus
- Josè Greci: Arminia
- Alan Steel: Commodo/ Commodus
- Tullio Altamura: Antonino
- Nando Tamberlani: Marco Aurelio
- Gloria Milland
- Gianni Santuccio: Emilio Leto
- Sal Borghese: gladiator
- Bruno Scipioni
- Andrea Aureli: gladiator instructor
- Carlo Delmi: Settimio
- Pietro Ceccarelli
Plot
The newly crowned emperor Commodus (Alan Steel) kidnaps the beautiful Arminia, who happens to be betrothed to the mighty gladiator Ursus. Obsessed with a desire to physically best all other men, he uses the girl as a hostage to force Ursus to fight him in the arena, but when Ursus beats him up and actually forces the dictator to beg for his life, he accuses Ursus of being in league with a group of usurpers who oppose Commondus' tyrannical rule. Ursus finally leads a slave revolt that overthrows Commodus, who is killed in the uprising, and Ursus is reunited with Arminia.
The fight in the arena between Ursus and Commodus is very realistically staged, and really looks violent. However, Commodus is merely beaten up in this sequence. The villain's death at the end of the film is almost anticlimactic, as he is killed trying to hide behind a female hostage by an arrow in the back fired by a minor character. Ursus does nothing but watch mournfully, making this one of the most anticlimactic "villain's death scenes" in any peplum. The viewer almost feels bad for Commodus, after he is shown throughout the entire film as a vicious, self-absorbed murderer and bully.