Hercules (1958 film)

Hercules (Italian: Le Fatiche di Ercole, lit. 'The Labours of Hercules') is a 1958 Italian sword-and-sandal film based upon the Hercules and the Quest for the Golden Fleece myths. The film stars Steve Reeves as the titular hero and Sylva Koscina as his love interest Princess Iole. Hercules was directed by Pietro Francisci and produced by Federico Teti. The film spawned a 1959 sequel, Hercules Unchained (Italian: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia), that also starred Reeves and Koscina.

Hercules
Italian film poster
Directed byPietro Francisci
Screenplay byEnnio De Concini
Pietro Francisci
Gaio Frattini
Story byPietro Francisci
(Adaptation)
Based onThe Argonauts
by Apollonius of Rhodes
Produced byFederico Teti
StarringSteve Reeves
Sylva Koscina
Gianna Maria Canale
Fabrizio Mioni
Arturo Dominici
Mimmo Palmara
Lidia Alfonsi
Gina Rovere
CinematographyMario Bava
Edited byMario Serandrei
Music byEnzo Masetti
Production
companies
O.S.C.A.R.
Galatea Film
Distributed by
Release date
  • 20 February 1958 (1958-02-20) (Italy)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
Budget$2 million[1]
Box office$5 million
(US/Canada rentals)
66.6 million tickets (worldwide)

Cast
Steve Reeves as Hercules
Sylva Koscina as Iole
Gianna Maria Canale as Antea (left) and Fabrizio Mioni as Jason

Production

The film was shot in Eastmancolor, using the French widescreen process Dyaliscope. An American Bison served as the Cretan Bull.[2]

The roar sound effects of the creature (at the end of the film, guarding the Golden Fleece) is taken from Godzilla (1954 film).

Distribution

Hercules was released in Italy on 20 February 1958.[3]

American producer Joseph E. Levine acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film and Warners advanced Levine $300,000 for the privilege of distributing the film in the US.[4] The film opened at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore on 26 June 1959.[1] It had an intensive promotional campaign costing $1.25 million and a then-wide release of 550 theatres.[1]

It premiered in England on 18 May 1959 and in Spain on 23 November 1959.[5] In 1961 Levine and Warner Bros. reissued a double feature of Hercules and Attila (1954) with the tagline The Mightiest Men in All the World...The Mightiest Show in All the World.[6]

Box office

In Europe, the film sold 5,838,816 tickets in Italy, 2,917,106 tickets in France,[7] and 2,373,000 tickets in Germany.[8]

Upon its North American release at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, it set a house record with $30,000 in its first week.[9] Hercules became a major box-office hit.[10] In 1959, it earned $4.7 million from distributor rentals in the United States and Canada.[11] The film went on to earn $5 million in rentals from 24 million ticket sales in North America.[12]

In the Soviet Union, where it released in 1966, the film sold 31.5 million tickets.[13] This adds up to 66,628,922 tickets sold worldwide.

Merchandise

In America, the film generated a Dell comic book adaptation with illustrations by John Buscema[14][15] and a 33 RPM long-playing RCA Victor recording of the film's soundtrack.[16][17]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 presentation of the movie, episode #502, was first aired on 18 December 1993, on Comedy Central. The MST3K presentation edited the original movie to fit the TV show's time constraints, which causes Hercules's characters to go from "the midst of one plot development before the commercial ... [to] somewhere else entirely" afterwards.[18]

Although two other MST3K episodes featuring Hercules movies (Hercules Against the Moon Men, at No. 49, and Hercules Unchained, at No. 61) were ranked in the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers, Hercules did not make the cut.[19] In his rankings of all 191 MST3K episodes, however, writer Jim Vorel ranked the episode #78, the highest of the four Hercules movies that aired on Comedy Central. "It’s a mish-mash of Greek myth," Vorel writes, that is "the most purely entertaining film in the series. ... The total abject devotion of all the other men toward Hercules is naturally hilarious."[20]

The MST3K version of Hercules was included as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XXXII DVD collection, released by Shout! Factory on 24 March 2015. The other episodes in the four-disc set include Space Travelers (episode #401), Radar Secret Service (episode #520), and San Francisco International (episode #614).[21]

Biography
  • Hughes, Howard (2011). Cinema Italiano – The Complete Guide From Classics To Cult. London - New York: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84885-608-0.

See also

References
  1. "'Hercules' Has 6,000 WB Dates Lined Up". Variety. 15 July 1959. p. 32. Retrieved 20 May 2019 – via Archive.org.
  2. Hughes, p.3
  3. Eder, Bruce. "Hercules". AllMovie. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  4. Scheuer, P. K. (27 July 1959). "Meet joe levine, super(sales)man!". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 167430798.
  5. Della Casa, Steve; Giusti, Marco (2013). Il Grande Libro di Ercole. Edizioni Sabinae. p. 23. ISBN 978-88-98623-051..
  6. p. 22 Smith, Gary Allen Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on More Than 350 Historical Spectacle Movies, 2nd Edition McFarland; 2nd edition (January 22, 2009)
  7. "Le Fatiche di Ercole (1958)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  8. "Top 100 Deutschland 1959" [Top 100 Germany 1959]. Inside Kino (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  9. "'Horse' Okay at $11,000; 'Hercules' Hot 30G; 'Ship' Slow 5 1/2G". Variety. 1 July 1959. p. 8. Retrieved 20 May 2019 – via Archive.org.
  10. "Joseph E. Levine: Showmanship, Reputation and Industrial Practice 1945 - 1977" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  11. "1959: Probable Domestic Take", Variety, 6 January 1960 p 34
  12. "Joseph E. Levine, movie mogul known for flamboyance and daring". Santa Ana Orange County Register. 1 August 1987. Retrieved 7 April 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com. He took his first step into bigtime producing in 1956 as president of Embassy Films, when he bought the Japanese monster movie "Godzilla." (...) In 1959, "Hercules" grossed $5 million and was seen by 24 million moviegoers.
  13. "«Подвиги Геракла» (Le fatiche di Ercole, 1957)". Kinopoisk. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  14. "Dell Four Color #1006". Grand Comics Database.
  15. Dell Four Color #1006 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
  16. Lucanio (1994). With fire and sword: Italian spectacles on American screens, 1958–1968. Scarecrow Press. p. 181. ISBN 0810828162.
  17. Kendall, Club (1993). Film Score Monthly. Lukas Kendall. p. 119.
  18. Episode guide: 502- Hercules. Satellite News. Retrieved on 16 July 2018.
  19. Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Update #41. Kickstarter. Retrieved on 16 July 2018.
  20. Ranking Every MST3K Episode, From Worst to Best. Archived 25 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine Vorel, Jim. Paste Magazine. 13 April 2017. Retrieved on 16 July 2018.
  21. MST3K: Volume XXXII. Shout! Factory. Retrieved on 11 July 2018.
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