Good idea lost in the noise
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
View MoreIt really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
View MoreOne of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
View MoreTHE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY is an expansively made peplum movie, made at the peak of the genre when the films still had big enough budgets to do their subject matter justice. Certainly this is an authentic-feeling version of the Trojan War story, full of brightly armoured soldiers shining in the sunshine, attractive women at the mercy of their husbands and rulers, and the requisite amount of chariot races and battle sequences.The narrative begins towards the end of the famous war, after the death of Hector. Troy continues to be besieged by King Agamemnon and the Greeks, including John Drew Barrymore's Ulysses and Arturo Dominici as possibly the weediest Achilles ever put on screen. The Trojans are depicted as the heroes here, managing to win victory against the Greeks time and again thanks to the efforts of the shoehorned-in Steve Reeves, playing Aeneas.With Reeves as the protagonist there's a definite HERCULES feel to the production, with some extra strongman tasks that I don't remember from the original story. A bit where he goes up against Ajax (played by fellow strongman Mimmo Palmara) is a highlight here, but there's much to enjoy if you ignore the plodding dubbed dialogue. Incredibly enough, it doesn't end too badly for the Trojans, as a sequel (THE LAST GLORY OF TROY) was to follow.
View MoreThere is nothing much to say...this is the best movie by Steve Reeves, not Hercules definitely!! I've watched this 10 years ago on TV, and ,only after 10 years i get a chance to buy this movie in VCD. I just couldn't find any DVD copy available, it's a rare movie in Malaysia, huhuhu..The acting and performance from most of the actors are surprisingly good, the plot movie is great where it is about the wooden horse, and yet the dialog and the dubbing in English version are not really too bad. definitely the best Steve Reeves movie ever.i also recommend The Avenger and Morgan The Pirate...u can also check out A Long Ride From Hell, it's really a good western movie.10/10 stars
View More"The Trojan Horse" is one of the best Sword & Sandal films ever made. The story of Troy and Helen has been made several times and up to now, none of them have surpassed it, including the bloated Brad Pitt version. The Robert Wise version, HELEN OF TROY, is in many aspects, superior to this one but the actors weren't that impressive, the script was bad with making a love story out of Paris and Helen but the worst aspect of the Wise version was the ending. There was no ending! After the Trojan horse attack, the film ended then and there. Had the Robert Wise film had a better script and a better ending with more appealing actors, it would have surpassed this one but it doesn't because the script in "The Trojan Horse" is excellent: surprisingly smart, detailed and with some sharp dialogue. The score is excellent. The cast is strong. But best of all, this version has a great climax. It ties up the characters' fates, including Paris who's portrayed here as a villain (which is the complete opposite of Wise's HELEN OF TROY). Helen is also shown to being basically a vain woman who doesn't care much about anyone but herself.Steve Reeves gives his finest performance as Aeneas and it's one of the best portrayals of a heroic figure ever captured on screen. It reminds you why these stories of mythical heroes still resonate up to this day. Reeves is also in top shape. The man was physical perfection.My only complaints about "The Trojan Horse": first, the battles. There are a lot of battles, more than were needed. They seem to go on forever. A little editing here and there would have helped a bit. And the production values were good but nothing compared to Wise's HELEN OF TROY. The City of Troy looks good from the outside but within the walls, those houses look like sets. In fact, the castle in the sequel, "War of the Trojans", was more realistic and visually appealing than anything in this film. The Trojan horse itself was good though. Better than the ugly one in TROY. But those are minor complaints. Everything else is top notch.If you like Sword & Sandal films, make sure to watch this one and it excellent sequel. They make a great double bill.
View MoreI had missed out on a chance to watch this on the big screen during the B-movie retrospective at the 2004 Venice Film Festival; with hindsight, I feel that it's a picture that should be viewed in theaters as the TV screen simply can't do justice to its spectacular widescreen photography! As a matter of fact, of all the peplums I've been watching of late, this has probably been afforded the highest budget; it's certainly the most handsome production of the lot...I had watched two other films about the famous and lengthy Trojan War - Robert Wise's HELEN OF TROY (1955) and Wolfgang Petersen's TROY (2004), a Maltese co-production that was filmed (for the most part) over here - but this Italian version more than holds its own when set up against them! Steve Reeves has perhaps his most substantial role (apart from that of Hercules, which made his name) and, despite his notable physique (which is put to the test against legendary Greek hero Achilles), his character is a peace-loving man and certainly more thoughtful than usual for him. His wife (Paris' sister, whom he married in secret) is played by lovely French actress Juliette Mayniel - who had earlier movingly played one of the victims in Georges Franju's seminal horror masterpiece EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959); interestingly, director Giorgio Ferroni had just made a good variant on that film called MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN (1960)! Understandably, the narrative only tackles the last year of the war, so that Hector (perhaps the strongest figure in TROY) is already dead when the film opens; similarly, the relationship between Paris (actually presented as the villain of the piece, if still basically wimpish) and Helen (whose role is pretty much left in the background) has deteriorated considerably - which only serves to give the senselessness of the unending carnage added poignancy! At the forefront of the plot are two other historical figures: in fact, Achilles is so impressively personified by Euro-Cult regular Arturo Dominici (best known as Javutich, Barbara Steele's powerful and devoted acolyte in Mario Bava's BLACK Sunday [1960]) that the film loses some steam once he is famously dispatched by an arrow in his heel; similarly, John Drew Barrymore (as Ulysses) is a dominant personality during the film's first half but, once the Trojan Horse is constructed (conveniently off-screen), he pretty much disappears from the narrative! The same fate, alas, befalls the characters of Priam, Menelaus and Agamemnon; all of these roles would receive a lot more stature in TROY, and also the luxury of such stalwart performers as Peter O'Toole, Brendan Gleeson and Brian Cox respectively! Another regrettable element in the film is the fact that every soldier that is felled bursts out into exaggerated wailings and screams, which renders the otherwise efficiently-handled battle scenes unintentionally amusing! So, while the film does sag a bit during its last lap, the scenes depicting the destruction of Troy by the wily Greeks and the subsequent flight of the survivors (including Reeves and his new-born child, Mayniel's character having died giving birth to it!) are certainly worth waiting for - though obviously done on a lesser scale than would be the case in TROY - and the film, as a whole, still emerges as one of the best peplums out there...
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